A Contest For A Contest

One of my favorite times of the school year is here, The Annual Chili Cookoff!  Eleven years ago I won, but have only placed as high as second or third since.  When I noticed that Weber had a couple of chili recipes, I decided to reserve them for this occassion.  This year, my entry will be the Chili On The Grill on page 120.

In honor of this contest, I am proud to announce another giveaway contest!  The details will be provided below!

First up was to roast the tomatoes for the sauce.  I did see at the store the other day that you can now buy "fire-roasted" tomatoes in a can, but that rather takes the sport out of it.

The skins came off, leaving the roasted goodness to be placed in the blender.  It only took a couple of seconds on a really low speed to get them to where I wanted them.  I learned the other day that you shouldn't over-blend tomatoes, as they become mealy if you do. 

While this was coming to a simmer, I started grilling the aromatics.

From here I had to put together a simple rub of chile powder (my homemade stuff), salt, and pepper. 

I found it interesting that the recipe called for both pork and beef.  I've done this in the past, but only with beef and a ready-made pork sausage.  This was using two rather lean cuts of meat, so I was a little apprehensive.  Regardless, I seasoned the meats to get them ready for The Forge.

 After only eight minutes they were ready, and had to be cut up and added to the sauce.

The second round of seasoning was pulled together and added to the sauce mixture.

Then the last step was to add the beer and broth. 

After a bit of simmering, we have a chili!

But wait! 

That's right...Weber and I have a major point of contention.  I was born and raised with the notion that beans have absolutely no part of any chili.  I cannot comprehend why you would ruin a perfectly good chili with legumes.  However, the point of this exercise is to let Weber teach me a thing or two, an exercise that has been quite fruitful for the last year.  Thus, I forged ahead and did the dirty deed.

Other than a minor salt addition, this tastes like a well-balanced chili.  It's got a decent amount of heat, good texture, and a nice ratio of solids to sauce.  It's not much like a chili I would normally make, but again, the point of this blog is for me to step outside my box.  I can't say that this chili has a smokey flavor, but it definitely has that grilled flavor that permeates throughout the flavor profile.

So, on to the contest! 

This is the same company that gave away a $35 gift card to multiple online stores that they operate back in October.  They want to give away another $35 gift card, and you have plenty of options!  The winner from last time picked out an awesome gift for her kid that she was even able to personalize through the website!

Because they run so many sites, and a wide variety of products, you can get anything from baby stuff (like Bru did), to cookware, to an awesome Eames lounge chair!  Again, I personally like the cookware stuff, but start browsing their sites and see what you may like!  Click on the link above, and then near the top-left of the screen you can click where it says you can shop all 200+ of their stores.  As for some minor details, this is for U.S. and Canadian readers only (let me know if you are reading this from another country, as I'm really curious), and there may be some International Shipping charges for Canadian addresses that the gift card cannot cover.

Personally, I'd use the gift card towards one of these.

So how do you enter?  Well, of course I'm going to make it interesting.  I would like to further delve into the beans/no beans debate for chili.  Leave a comment on this blog (not Facebook), explaining your stance on whether beans have a place in chili or not.  Although it is not necessary, extra consideration will be given to those who can phrase their opinion in the form of a haiku.  A winner will be announced in about a week!  Don't forget to leave your name (and email if I don't know you that well) in the comment so that I know to whom I can award the prize!