It's that time of year when everyone is in a Super Bowl frenzy. The countdown is on for party planning and food preparation. The amazing thing is, even if your team didn't make it to the big game, you still have a great excuse to prepare a fun, informal meal and hang out with family and friends. It doesn't get better than that!
This year, my family's Super Bowl celebration will start early. My son's swim team, the Broomfield Barracuda’s, has served up a challenge to the fellow foodies on the swim team by hosting a 'Pre-Super Bowl Chili Cook Off.' The cook-off challenge will group and judge chilies based on the following categories: Best Red, Best Green/Other, and Best Overall Chili. What a great opportunity to make use of my
Crock Pot Trio Cook and Serve Slow Cooker again and try out a few new chili recipes. Hey - maybe I'll even win a prize!
I selected three recipes for the Chili Cook Off:
Chef Boy-R-Bob's Chili Verde,
Twice Drunken Chili, and
White Chicken Chili. This leverages all of the Trio's crocks and allows me to enter each category of the competition. To ensure the recipes are cook-off-worthy, I prepared all of the chilies and had family and friends taste-test them and provide feedback.
For the 'Red Chili' category, I selected the
Twice Drunken Chili recipe from
Celebrations. The Mexican beer base and ease of preparation drew me to this recipe. This chili proved to be a hit with the guys! The wheat and hops of the beer combined with the jalapeno chilies and spices provided a unique flavor that the guys truly appreciated. For me, the wheat and hops flavor was a bit overpowering. The guys did recommend increasing the spice level and adding more jalapenos to turn up the heat. I'll be making these modifications to the recipe in preparation for the cook-off.
For the 'Green/Other Chili' category, I selected two recipes: one green and one white. For the
Green Chili, I found an amazing recipe on
DenverGreenChili.com. Of the three chilies I prepared, this recipe created the most popular chili. It was ranked high with everyone that tried it. The mixture of spices, jalapeno peppers, serrano peppers and green chilies gave the chili verde a perfect blend of flavors. Using bacon fat to brown the pork tenderloin chunks helped keep the meat tender during the browning stage and gave the meat a nice coloring. This chili is wonderful by itself or as a garnish topping for scrambled eggs, burritos – and the list goes on.
The last recipe I prepared was a
White Chicken Chili recipe, for the ‘Other Chili’ category, found on
Better Homes and Gardens Recipes. If you are looking for a healthy and hearty alternative to your traditional red-chilies, this recipe will not disappoint your taste buds. Of the three, this was my favorite recipe. This chili filled the air with the delectable smell of roasted chicken. The ingredients and spices provided a rich flavor without the stinging heat of other chilies. I do agree with the feedback I received from the taste-test, that the spices could be doubled for this recipe to give it a more robust flavor.
If chili is part of your Super Bowl party plan or just sounds good on a cold day, I recommend trying any of the recipes. Each has a unique rich flavor. Based on your family’s preference, you can try the Red, Green or White Chili. All are sure to please the family.
If you are in the Denver Metro Area and would like to partake in the Cuda Chili Cook Off Challenge, please come join us. It will be held Saturday, February 6, 2010 from 2:00 to 5:00PM at the VFW Club, 11700 Wadsworth Blvd, Broomfield. All you can taste for only $5.00 per adult, $3.00 per child and $15.00 per family up to 5 people.
At your Super Bowl Celebration - let them eat ‘Chili,’
bgizmo