St. Petersburg’s Grand Central Chili Cookoff

Last weekend was the St. Petersburg Grand Central Chili Cookoff. This was the third year I’ve attended this event and it’s one I look forward to. It is amazing how varied and how original some of the chili recipes can be. I honestly don’t know how the judges reach a conclusion. I know it would have been difficult for me to choose only one winner.

There were about 36 booths, including local artisans who were selling their wares. Of those booths about a dozen were chili cookoff contestants. Scattered among the various booths were local entertainers. That’s a typical and very effective Florida outdoor festival–one of many, but one very much worth attending.

I haven’t been able to find a list of the official winners of the 2009 Chili Cookoff, but If I were to award prizes for categories of my own design, here’s who I would have chosen:

• Most Original: Island Seafood Market
• Most Rustic: Red Knights Firefighters Motorcycle Club
• Most Traditional: VFW Post 39
• Most Unique Flavor: Nitally’s
• Most Useful Idea: Tampa Bay Woman Newspaper

That order of categories in no way implies 1st, 2nd, 3rd place, etc. In my mind, each category is equal and different. My order is totally random.

I’ve got to figure out a reasonable facsimile of Island Seafood’s Chili. I adored it. It was made with white beans and a mix of seafood. Wow…! It was sort of like Senate Soup, but much spicier and with chopped seafood in it. It’s going to be a personal quest to try and duplicate that here at home.

The Red Knight’s venison chili was super. I’m a fan of wild game meats. This chili was right out of pioneer traditions.

The Tampa Bay Woman Newspaper chili had green sweet peppers in it. Now, I’ve tasted a lot of chilies before, but I’d never had any with sweet peppers in it. I was surprised by how much it added to the mix. I’m sure countless people already know about adding sweet peppers to chili, but it was new to me. And was instantly added to my own recipe.

Nitally’s chili had a decidedly Thai flavor which was not only unusual, but addictive. I could have made a pig of myself at their booth.

The VFW men’s chili was a very traditional, can’t-beat-this-basic-chili, chili–extremely good. Now, this was the men’s chili; the women’s group from the post also had their own chili, but I didn’t try that one.

Today’s weather is cold (by Florida standards), rainy, and windy. So, after a friend with whom I had breakfast this morning mentioned freezing chili–another something I didn’t know you could do!!!–I decided this would be perfect weather to make some (more or less traditional) chili so I’d have some to freeze…and eat, now, of course.

There’s a zillion and one chili recipes on the Internet, but here’s mine for what it’s worth. Maybe you’ll see something in it you’d like to incorporate into your own personal chili recipe. Anyway, aren’t all chili recipes an improvisation of sorts, totally fluid, changing with what’s in the pantry?

• cover bottom of LARGE pot with extra virgin olive oil
• dice two LARGE Spanish onions and sauté in the oil on high heat
• coarsely chop three medium sized sweet peppers (I use the red/green/yellow 3 pack my store sells)
• add to sautéing onions and stir in, letting onions and peppers soften
• add 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar
• add 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
• stir and reduce heat to medium

After the onions are soft, stir in, one at a time, each of the following spices, following each spice with just enough vegetable (or chicken) broth to keep mix from getting too dry.

• 2 tablespoons powdered garlic (powder, not salt)
• 1.5 tablespoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 1.5 tablespoons oregano (I use Turkish, but Mexican quite OK)
• 0.5 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 tablespoon paprika (smoked if you can get it)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 0.5 teaspoon of Sriracha sauce
• if you’re into really scorching hot chili, add cayenne and hot sauce to your own taste…although I like many hot foods, I like my chili kind of wimpy

Stir the above as adding the ingredients until you get a smooth, slightly moist–but not runny-mix; but, too dry would be as bad as too runny…use your eye!

Take heat back up to high and quickly add the following (best to already have all cans opened in advance).

• 4 15-oz cans (drained) dark red kidney beans
• 1 6-oz can tomato paste
• 1 15-oz can tomato sauce
• 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
• 2 15-oz cans diced tomatoes
• 3 12-oz packages of texturized vegetable protein (any brand; any other protein will, of course, work)
• (note: this recipe doesn’t need ANY extra salt because of all the salt in the canned beans and tomato products!)
• bring to boil
• reduce heat to medium low
• simmer until you can’t wait any longer; serve; always good with corn bread (I just use the cheapest store mixes for that)

I just had two bowls of it and it hit the spot!

My sister likes to make her chili with black beans. I’ll bet that tastes good! She also grows much of her own food so she has two bushes of those tiny HOT Thai peppers–she tosses in about three (whole, not chopped or anything) to cook along with the rest of her chili ingredients. I’m sure you’ve all got your chili tricks. Please feel free to volunteer them in the comments. Comments are appreciated by me and all the readers.

Next year, if you aren’t already a fan of the Chili Cookoff, keep an eye on the Grand Central District Association website for the dates of next year’s Cookoff and other events throughout the year that the the Association sponsors. You might also try an afternoon stroll through the Grand Central district at any time, for this is where many of the galleries, antique stores, indie restaurants, and artisans are located–St. Pete’s answer (and a good one) to New Orleans’ Magazine Street.

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Tagged as: ACTIVITIES, Florida, FOOD, recipes, St. Petersburg