Meal No. 1459: 2016 Chili Cook-Off Gathering

A tradition that I started when I was on faculty at Wake Forest was to host a chili cook-off for my students, our alumni, and the teachers who worked with our program and with our student teachers. It's one of the few regular events that has persisted from that time, given how my work and social life has transformed since those days.

But I always look forward to it, whether it's a major gathering with multiple pots of chili, or if it's a small crew and I just make a pot or two of rich meaty goodness. The 2016 gathering was one of the smaller affairs, with eight of us spooning up chili and complementing it with some hunks of Granny Wilson's honey wheat cornbread.

With the older members of the dinner crew hanging out in the kitchen, and the younger jet-set upstairs for music, pool, and beers, I brought out the warm bacon and Swiss dip and split it between the two sub-groups:

For the evening's main event, I made two versions of chili: the always-dependable and generally well-received simple beef chili with beans, and a slow-cooker meat blitz from a Williams-Sonoma recipe that had always been good...until Sunday night! (Not sure how I screwed it up, but it was dis-a-ppoint-ing.

We had two items on the dessert menu: French yogurt cake, and a key lime version of Willa Whitley's frozen lemon custard. It had a tangy punch and went well with the yogurt cake, but boy-howdy there was a lot of it left over!

Come have some, won't you?

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"Swiss and Bacon Dip," from Rachael Ray. Available online at the Food Network website.

"Simple Beef Chili with Kidney Beans," from Cook's Illustrated, Number Sixty-One [March-April 2003], p. 10-11.

"Six-Hour Chili," from Williams-Sonoma online.

"Granny Wilson's Cornbread," a recipe shared with me by Linda B. Dunlap.

"Lemon Custard Ice Cream," from Willa Whitley and shared by Donna Whitley-Smith.

"French Yogurt Cake," by Andrew Knowlton. In Bon Appétit, May 2012, p. 30.