Text 9941, 100 rader
Skriven 2014-02-15 18:11:48 av Nancy Backus (1:261/1381.0)
   Kommentar till text 9861 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
Ärende: Re: chili cookoff  was: yogurt
======================================
-=> Quoting Ruth Haffly to Nancy Backus on 13 Feb 14  13:46:51 <=-

 RH>> The judges were our new youth pastor, his wife and a male friend of
 RH>> theirs. The youth pastor and his wife are from Louisiana but I got the
 RH>> impression they're not into hot stuff (have to ask about Tabasco
 RH>> sauce) so I lost out.
 NB>> I guess it depended on what their definition of chili was... and, as
 NB>> you surmise, maybe they don't care much for hot...  oh, well... :)

 RH> It's all in fun anyway. The first couple of times I entered, I came in
 RH> 2nd to the youth pastor who made one similar to mine, but hotter. I
 RH> went with the other style the 3rd year (as well as the usual) and won,
 RH> then we weren't here for last year's contest. I understand a mild chili
 RH> took top honors then--sounds like the judges are getting less and less
 RH> fond of heat. (G)

Could be.  :)  And it also depends on who the judges are, and what they
are looking for... and as you say, it's all in fun anyway...  :)

 RH> My mom never served it with anything but bread, to help stretch it.

I often serve it with cornbread, just because I like the way the tastes
go together, and to augment the veggie protein when there's beans in the
chili...  ;)

 RH> She also made it very mild because Dad doesn't like hot & spicy. I
 RH> started playing around with her basic recipe, as well as that of my
 RH> MIL, to come up with our family friendly version. When I take it
 RH> somewhere, I'll set out cheese with it, as well as an assortment of
 RH> pepper powders and sauces for folks to heat up or cool off their chili.
 RH> (That came from making it a bit too hot once in AZ.) 

Makes sense... people can have their portions to suit their own tastes,
with a basic chili for starters...  :)

 RH> Found a Mr. Food recipe for the competition style while we were in
 RH> HI and started experimenting; we like both chilis now.
 
And that's the one you'd likely enter into a proper chili competition.
 
 RH>> There were maybe a dozen different chilis in the competition; I
 RH>> think I was the only one to do 2. That was partly to ensure there
 RH>> would be enough chili for all who came.
 NB>> And so that you could go all out on the one, and still have something
 NB>> for those who couldn't appreciate the heat... ;)

 RH> Exactly! Actually, I have Steve do the seasoning as he is better able
 RH> to "layer" the levels of what's used. I can tell if it's a one note and
 RH> gone or a lingering thruout the mouth type of heat but he's better
 RH> about getting it "just right", overall. 

Team work...  I'm sure you've picked up some bits from his expertise
over the years, though... :)

 RH> Tho the other night when I made deconstructed fajitas & found out we
 RH> were out of the commercial fajita seasoning, I mixed up up a reasonable
 RH> sub. Used a bit of medium ground sea salt, fresh ground black pepper,
 RH> dried chipotle and ancho powders, mexican cinnamon and oregano & a bit
 RH> of orange peel--used on boneless, skinless white chicken, orange bell
 RH> peppers and yellow onions. Cooked & served over long grain brown rice
 RH> with a bit of sour cream and habenero sauce, no left overs.
 
As I said...  :)  As it was just for your consumption, you could just
punt and hope it worked... and it did just fine...  :)   Sounds quite
tasty...  :)

 RH>> Desserts ranged from Steve's tropical trifle to banana pudding to a
 RH>> blueberry pound cake (and others).  Overall, nothing too fancy in that
 RH>> line (except the trifle) because we have a dessert auction later in
 RH>> the year.
 NB>> So one doesn't want to outdo one's self yet...  :)

 RH> Not yet; I've got to figure out what I'll do; Steve is already
 RH> planning another trifle.

That appears to be one of his specialties...?   Our pastor's wife
sometimes has made a trifle for church dinners... he's been known to
bake pies... both are good cooks...  :) 
 
 RH>>> and they had no idea what kalamatas are. One said she didn't
 RH>>> like black olives; I told her that these are nothing like black
 RH>>> olives. (G)
 NB>>> After all, they're purplish olives... (G)   Oh, and taste
 NB>>> different, too...  ;)
 RH>> True, and true. Much better tasting than black olives but probably a
 RH>> taste not everybody enjoys.
 NB>> Some might have to develop a taste for them...  :)

 RH> Possibly, but I wouldn't bet too heavily on it.

If one doesn't like black olives, there's a good chance that they'd find
the kalamata better, depending on what isn't liked about the black.. of
course, probably also an even chance that the kalamata would seem to
have too strong a taste for them, too...  ;)

ttyl          neb

... Psychosclerosis: hardening of the attitude.
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.20
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