{"id":565,"date":"2010-07-06T11:59:45","date_gmt":"2010-07-06T18:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodiddy.wordpress.com\/?p=565"},"modified":"2010-07-06T11:59:45","modified_gmt":"2010-07-06T18:59:45","slug":"4th-of-july-party-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/?p=565","title":{"rendered":"4th of July Party Fun!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wow, what an awesome weekend.<\/p>\n

I have to say, I’m a little exhausted today. Party prep included hours and hours worth of yard work, pool, food and chili contest prep and lots of running around.<\/p>\n

We have lived in our house for 8 years. We went for 5 years without a backyard – just waist-high weeds that we would whack down before every 4th of July to lower the risk of rogue fireworks setting our yard\/house on fire. We saved \u00a0money to do our yard right. One Saturday afternoon we drove to Manteca, CA on a whim to tour through a pool builder’s showroom. We decided to put in a pool that day. We are research people, we always have a plan… not that day – it was definitely out of the norm for us. I am so happy we made the decision to put in the pool. It’s led to hours and hours of enjoyment, some pretty kick ass parties and our backyard is beautiful. For the past 3 years we have hosted my Dad’s birthday\/4th of July.<\/p>\n

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This year we decided to do a chili cook-off. Our block did one a few years back and it was a lot of fun. I did a little research online and found that Rachael Ray had \u00a0a chili cook-off page<\/a> on her website. She had a downloadable judging sheet as well. Being Ms. Graphic Designer, I wanted our judging sheet to match the invites and 4th of July theme. I re-designed them using Adobe Illustrator. Rachael’s is on the right, mine\u00a0is on the left. Wasn’t quite sure why Rachael’s sheet said to rate on a scale of 1-5 and the numbers only went to 4 – whatever, ours worked great – minus the oversight of leaving off the word “heat” in the 4th category – would have been helpful since some of the entries were smokin’ hot.<\/p>\n

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I also designed tent cards to place at each chili station.<\/p>\n

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I put down leather placemats to protect the kitchen desk from the crockpot heat. I also gave everyone a spoon and small plate to set it on. The chili started arriving and it was fun to see the different crockpots. We had everything from stainless to floral. I bought small plastic tasting cups and spoons for the judging. Each party guest grabbed two score sheets (I did a second one that contained the letters D, E, F) to\u00a0accommodate\u00a0the amount of entries. \u00a0I set up a card table and had the dining room table and kitchen counter for people to sit at.<\/p>\n

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Dan started off the judging. It was hysterical to watch how people went about it. Some lined up all of their tasting cups and labeled them with a sharpie, others did one at a time. Some people ate\u00a0Fritos\u00a0and drank beer in between tastings, others had more cheese in their tasting cups than chili. Some of the recipes were super spicy, others were more tomato based. There was a nice variety of meats and beans. I just wish I had taken pictures during the tasting. My Uncle did, but I was too busy tasting myself.<\/p>\n

I spent many hours online researching different chili recipes. I ended up tweaking my usual one and I thought it turned out really good.<\/p>\n

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Foo’s Chili Recipe<\/strong><\/p>\n

3 Tablespoons Salted Butter
\n1 lb. Boneless Beef Chuck
\n1 lb. Ground Sirloin – mixture of 10% and 20% lean
\n1 Large White Onion – I used a white Spanish sweet onion
\n2 Garlic Cloves
\n5 Ounces Guinness Beer
\n1 Tablespoon Flour, 2 Teaspoons Cornmeal and 2 Tablespoons warm water mixed well.
\n1 28 Ounce Can of Crushed Tomatoes
\n2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
\n1 Large\u00a0Jalape\u00f1o\u00a0– Seeds and veins removed – 1\/8 inch diced
\n2 15 Ounce Cans of Red Kidney Beans
\n3 Tablespoons Chili Powder
\n2 Tablespoons Cumin
\n1 Teaspoon Cocoa Powder
\n1 Teaspoon Coriander
\n3 Tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar
\n2 Cups Beef Stock plus\u00a01 Additional Beef Bouillon Cube
\n1 Tablespoon White Pepper
\nSalt to Taste<\/p>\n

Directions:
\n<\/strong>Heat butter in large sauce pot or dutch oven over medium high until very hot. Add diced beef chuck and cook until seared and browned around the edges. Add the ground sirloin and cook until all of the beef is browned. I added some salt during this process. Remove the meat and set aside, draining off only 3\/4 of the fat – leaving the rest in the pot. Add diced onions, garlic and 2 tablespoons of the chili powder and cook until soft. Add the meat back into the pot. Then add the Guinness and let boil for several minutes. Then add the flour, cornmeal and water mixture to create a thick paste. Add the crushed tomatoes,\u00a0tomato paste, jalape\u00f1o, kidney beans, remaining spices, brown sugar, cocoa powder and beef stock. Bring everything to a boil and then simmer uncovered for 1 hour – stirring occasionally. Then turn the heat down to super low, cover and simmer for another 2-3 hours. I let the chili cool down, put it in the fridge overnight and then got it into the crockpot the next morning at around 11:00 AM on the lowest setting. The judging happened around 4:00 PM. I never once needed to add water or more beef stock – it was a nice\u00a0consistency.<\/p>\n

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After all of the judging sheets were tallied, my recipe won 3rd Place.<\/p>\n

Dan and I went to a local trophy shop and bought a gold, silver and bronze medal and had them engraved on the back with the date and name of the event. Everyone loved that little touch. My girlfriend Deede won 1st place – her recipe and photo to be included in another post – she had to work yesterday, so didn’t get a chance to send me the photo or recipe – so stay tuned.<\/p>\n

My brother took second place. His chili was awesome. He didn’t use a recipe, he just added as he went – he was even in and out of my spice cabinet throughout the afternoon. His was sweet and then had a serious kick at the end. He let on that one of his sweet secrets was “maple syrup” – Deede and my brother definitely went the spicier route – mine was more tomato based. I’m guessing that could be tweaked by not adding the tomato paste or by adding less crushed tomatoes.<\/p>\n

The rest of the 4th of July Party menu consisted of the following:<\/p>\n