February 17, 1999
Chili spices up Valentine weekend
It can leave an auctioneer speechless. It can cause a mime to shout. It can even bring a stilt walker to his knees.
It is chili, a seemingly simple dish that evokes a passion bubbling up from our ancestral stovetops and the double boiler depths of our nation's melting pot.
For those with cayenne pepper in their veins, anyway you boil, simmer or cook it, chili transcends mere beans and burger. After all, what other food could bring more than 500 people to downtown Traverse City on a Saturday afternoon to gobble up such gastronomy as "Three Alarm Chili of Death" and "I Wanna Kill You" chili - all with a greasy smile?
But for a mere 6 bucks, residents could jump in spoon first, or pop a few Tumms before partaking in the fifth annual Downtown Chili Cook-off at the City Opera House. Chili connoisseurs could also vote for their favorite of 33 different concoctions whipped up by 14 area chefs and cooks. Competition proved hotter than a jalapeno pepper, as these culinary artists refused to swallow their pride until there was only one undisputed No Bean champ or Three Alarm title holder.
While making a mess of chili may take a few rattlesnake beans here and some green apple slices there, appealing to every taste bud is tantamount to finding sliced mustard seed in a sea of Dave's Total Insanity Sauce. Like acid reflux, however, everyone is willing to offer up their ideas of perfection.
"First it has to start off by grabbing your taste buds with flavor not heat," noted Brad King, part owner of Cathie's Tote and Dine of Traverse City, a perennial cook-off powerhouse which provided seven different samplers including Smokin' Chipotle Pepper Chicken, Caribbean Green Apple and Y2K Millennium Meltdown chili.
"The heat should come on afterward and do about a half nelson on the taste buds."
Then there are those like Adam Sticker that go for the chili pepper pile driver.
"I went for heat. I really wanted to force the issue and make it hot," said the a.m. kitchen manager at North Peak Brewing Company of his Three Alarm chili. "I got a chance to let loose a little bit and that's what cooking is all about: creating."
Others, however, merely wanted to push the envelope of taste not shred it. As head cook at Oryana Natural Foods, Dan McCarthy said he personally likes to sweat when consuming chili, but knows heat can be too much of a good thing.
"It can get too hot. You ruin the flavor and you don't get the taste of beans or vegetables," said McCarthy, who prepared a mild nutty white chili complete with cashews, white beans and green chilies.
For cook Chris Tim of Poppycock's, the perfect chili is a matter of taste - that and some unsweetened chocolate, amber ale and plenty of Pablano Verde peppers. The mastermind behind the Three Alarm Chili of Death, Tim said he isn't afraid to tweak tamales and fine-tune spices when creating a recipe.
"You have to keep trying your chili as you make it, adding different things as you go. It's usually off the top of your head and is always an experiment in process," he noted.
While a consensus on the quintessential chili remains bogged down in a culinary quagmire, everyone believes in at least one thing - their recipe is the best.
"Every mom and every grandma has their idea of how chili is made. That's the great thing about it, you can do anything," said Steve Schroeder, a chef with Pepper's Tavern and Grille, who brought his own white chili creation containing chicken and black eyed peas.
"Chili is an all-American food. You don't have to be high class society to eat chili but high class society does eat chili. It is something that can be enjoyed by everyone. Chili truly appeals to the masses."