So You Think You Can Judge A Salsa Competition?

I was randomly approached and asked if I wanted to be a judge for the 2010 World Championship Salsa Competition. My response was “are you sure, I have never done anything like that before?” I quickly found that no prior experience was necessary. There are some guidelines to the judging process but it really comes down to how the entries taste.

After I got signed up to judge, got my fancy judging medallion and judge’s apron I had to wait around a bit. I took this opportunity to ask some of the other judges how it all worked and what I should be thinking as I participated. It seemed pretty simple, work around the table you are assigned to tasting as much or as little of each sample. We would be judging the best in the world of salsas so it isn’t a matter of good versus bad, rather how good. If the salsa really knocked my socks off I was told it would be smart to put a mark on the judging form next to that entry so I could come back. Palate cleansing with water or beer in between was advised. If the entry didn’t make a strong impression, no mark and no return, so it would effectively not be culled down to my 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices. As I went I shouldn’t make any outward expressions about my likes or dislikes so as not to influence others. Once I had made a second (third or more) visit to the ones I liked I would have to pick the top 3 in order. Judges are also obliged to provide a comment on each entry to help competitors understand how their entry was received. Comments should be positive, e.g. “I personally thought there was too much salt”, “I would have liked more heat” or “excellent balance of flavors.” Got it, this is going to be fun!

The judging organizers corralled all the judges and addressed us with the process, explained the rules (which were presented well in what I heard above) and had one additional order of business, picking the judges for the final table. I was randomly selected to judge the 26 final competitors and cast my vote for the World Champion of Salsa. I never thought I would have that on my resume! This meant more waiting, but I had struck up conversations with several folks by now so the time was easily passed.

( Very organized and waiting for judges )

I found out some more inside scoop on these types of cookoffs. Not only would you expect competitors to travel the country to enter chili cookoffs, but there are also folks that travel more regionally to participate as judges for the competitions. Loving chili and salsa and supporting the community around cookoffs is more interesting than I would have ever imagined.

When it was time for the final judging I stepped up with my pencil, ballot and bottle of water. The tasting was done by placing a spoonful of salsa on a chip from a numbered container. I chose not to eat the chips to cut down on the extra salt influence as I tasted. This was a preference and not something everyone did. The water wasn’t working well as a palate cleanser so I grabbed a beer. Miller Lite! For those who know me, I like my beer with a bit more character for casual drinking and I often share my disbelief in how much light colored, flavorless beer we drink in America. I found a scenario where those attributes worked out OK, salsa judging. A combination of beer and water seemed to give me a reasonable fresh start to taste each in the sequence of samples, but I still don’t think Miller Lite will show up in my fridge any time soon!

( Grabbing a sample )

( Lunch anyone? )

( The serious business )

( Margot had to take a picture of this! )

( And me drinking it. She's too funny. )

Tasting and judging these entries was hard. These were the best of the best. Salsa is an open category which means the contents of the salsa can be from a wide range of ingredients and whether it registers as salsa to any one person might be a question. There was only one salsa, it contained cheese, that I would really say was not what I typically consider salsa. But it was good and made it this far so I gave it the fair evaluation that it deserved. There were several sweet and/or fruit influenced salsa including one that tasted like the Caribbean islands. I really liked that one and it made me think of eating chips with it on the beach in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Nice vision. There were others that tasted like they contained dill pickles, sweet relish and several that were very, very hot; almost too hot. Ultimately I picked 3 that had good balance, waves of flavors and freshness to them. I would eat those consistently if given the opportunity. I cast my ballot and headed on to see what the chili world had to offer.

I would encourage anyone who was interested in the chance to judge a sanctioned salsa or chili competition to check out the International Chili Society’s web site for a list of events. Contacting the organizers of the event ahead of time should be done to determine if they are in need of judges, although some will still have spots open on the day of the event and will sign you up on the spot.

I would like to thank Margot for taking all the pictures. Being able to provide a step by step in pictures was a pretty cool outcome.

Cheers!

--Jason

Red Chili Champions

*** Competition update: After this post was published the complete results of Sunday's contest were made available. Luck was shining on more of the folks we have introduced you to in the last few days. David Garcia took first place in People's Choice and Mary Alice Kropp took second. Add LeeRoy Watson's second place finish in the Verde People's Choice contest and Margot and I feel so lucky to have been in the right places at the right times to meet all of them. Congratulations to everyone who competed!!! ***

Red chili is big business. Everyone we talked to on Friday and Saturday told us to expect more people and more showmanship during on the last day. The size of the crowd ebbed and flowed and it is likely there were more people overall, but at its peak the crowd seemed similar to the day before.

The energy level however, was definitely turned up to 11. Competitors were calling out their identification numbers to remind cookoff-goers who they should vote for in People’s Choice. Booth flair was in high gear with decorations, snarky signs and lots of goodhearted ribbing between competitors. The potent smell of spices in the breeze shortly after noon when the cooks could get to cooking was wonderful.

We checked back in with Garcias, who we met on Friday, and found them hard at work getting their competition entry started. They had a good location at the end of the first row of booths to the right of the stage. I’m sure they saw a lot of traffic once their samples were ready. We both found their chili to be pleasantly smoky with a nice texture to both the meat and vegetables.

( Alicia & David Garcia hard at work. )

As we walked around the booths a jacket with competition dates embroidered on it caught our attention. The owner was Charlie Ward. He and his wife Barbara were both competing in the day’s event. They have been competing in chili cookoffs for over 27 years and Charlie is the only ICS competitor ever to have won twice in three different countries. Between the two of them they have cooked or judged in 48 of the 50 states. They hail from Rosamond, California home to Edwards Air Force base, a frequent landing spot for the Space Shuttle. They were so happy to talk to us. It was very easy to see their passion come through.

( Barbara said the embroiderer thinks there a few more years left! )

( Twenty-seven years of smiles. )

We asked Terry Brow what made Canadian chili different. Jokes about how chili was invented in Canada were fast and furious, but the answer was to come in the taste. Margot identified a hint of maple syrup imparting a nice earthy backbone. Yet another wonderful usage for a plentiful product around these parts.

We checked in with hometown team, Mike and Mary Alice Kropp, again who were the only NH residents competing in the final day. Mary Alice was the official qualifier but was surrounded by family as she crafted what she said “was the best pot of chili I’ve ever made.” The line flowing out from their booth was consistent with both a beef-based and a vegetarian offering to please visitors. Mary Alice told me to come back at 2 PM after her entry was complete and turned in for a taste of her carefully crafted chili. I did, and I wasn’t disappointed!

( The flag was flying proudly over an event bringing all of America together. )

( Jason really enjoyed the chili samples! )

Through all of our adventures we have learned that everyone has a story. That is one of the main reasons why people blog after all, to tell their stories. During our Chili Cookoff weekend we met many wonderful people who graciously offered us a glimpse into their chili story, and their lives. One such person was Lee Wood from the RatPack in Massachusetts who we had the pleasure of meeting on Saturday.

Like most of those we met we asked Lee how he got started in chili, and the answer was one of the best, and most heartwarming we heard. Lee got into the chili scene with his brother Darren as his partner. As a team these two brothers managed to make it to the Worlds many times, Lee has qualified 9 times for different categories. Then, in 1999 Darren was diagnosed with cancer and within 9 months of diagnosis lost his battle. It was a hard blow for sure and something that still brought tears to Lee’s eyes 11 years later.

Lee continued to talk about his and Darren’s collaborations the main one being “The Silly Hillbilly Chili” booth that they built together to bring to competitions. This booth was a trailer decked out with a hillbilly theme. Those that worked the booth dressed and played the part for the crowds. Lee lit up as he recalled Darren’s ability to lose himself in his character, working the crowd and making sure that everyone was a having a wonderful time. With a Banjo player and their father on harmonica Darren was grab people from the crowd and dance and carry on, from the youngest child to the oldest lady no one was safe.

Before he passed Darren made one request of his brother Lee: that he would not get rid of the booth until they won a world title. Lee made sure that the booth could last, coating his brother's hand painted designs so they could weather the elements for as long as it took. Lee, his family and friends agreed that once the promise was fulfilled they would have a huge bonfire and send the Hillbilly booth off right. When we finished speaking with Lee he said that he was hopeful that this year would be the one that they could win for best booth and that they could finally honor Darren’s request. Lee told us that he had just received approval from the Manchester Fire Department the night before to bring the booth in on Sunday.

We were both very excited to see this booth and to meet up with Lee again today. We looked everywhere for the Silly Hillbillies but were unable to find them. We are not sure what happened but we hope that Lee, if he is reading this, can let us know. Lee, thank you for allowing us to hear Darren’s story and we will never forget. So booth or no, you and Darren have touched our lives.

( Curtis, Lee and Jason spending time before the salsa judging. )

To finish another beautiful autumn day Manchester-area perennial favorites Mama Kicks provided soul and blues inflected rock from the stage. Lots of children took to dancing and admiring the skill and energy of the band. The audience recognized the energy with applause after many expertly executed covers of much-loved songs.

Let's hope this isn't the last time this event, and many others like it, come to Manchester. We loved sharing our local color with folks from all over. We can tell they enjoyed it and are going home with stories of those crazy people from New Hampshire who really like their chili!

Cheers!

--Margot & Jason

The final day's results have been partially posted at the ICS web site.

World Championship Chili Cookoff

October 2nd is LIVESTRONG Day. We dedicated this blog and the fun we had to all those who have been affected by cancer. We are are, we are fighting, we will. We must have HOPE. FIGHT BACK!!!

The energy on the second day of the World Championship Chili Cookoff was incredible and choosing how to illustrate in words and pictures turned out to be harder than we thought. So, we’ll start with some of the stories Mike and Mary Alice Kropp shared with us on Friday night and take it from there.

When we asked about any “whoopsies” that they might have experienced Mike (on the left prepping some cilantro) was quick to share two that he thought made for good stories. In 2007 Mike placed 4th in the World Championship for Red Chili, something he is and should be quite proud of. That year during a busy lineup of back to back weekend competitions disaster struck and his pot tipped over spilling competition chili over on the adjacent cooler. Picture Mike and a friend scraping chili back into a pot in hopes of salvaging it! More recently Mike had another unfortunate experience when he poured tomato sauce into the Chili Verde pot, only realizing it at the last of the sauce hit the pot. Bummer! Not one to give up, he plodded on and submitted his Chili Verde with a some added tomato to the judges. As you might expect the judges commented on the color and flavor and a good finish wasn’t to be had. In the end it makes a great story win or lose.

Saturday brought the wonderful fall weather that everyone was hoping for. Margot and I headed to the Welcome Center to hook up our press passes. All of the volunteers were friendly and helpful, another confirmation of the family theme we experienced the night before. We laughed that hanging out at the welcome center would be a story in itself with so many Manchester personalities coming through.

This story isn’t worth telling without the next happening being mentioned. We weren’t inside the event but 90 seconds and we were approached with the question “what are you doing right now?” Our answer had to do with finding competitors and guests to interview, but that would have to wait. I (Jason) was asked to participate as a judge in the salsa competition. I had to ask if they were sure because I had never done anything like that before. They assured me that there would be other new faces and that judging always included volunteers to keep everything fair. "Where do I sign up?" But, we are going to make you wait for another post for that story.

This event brought out the many faces of Manchester playing host to folks from out of town that hail from everywhere. The Rustic Overtones provided a nice groove for several hours during the afternoon and people filled the aisles between the cooking tents, the beer garden and the restaurant tents. Whether it was competitors working furiously to finish their pot or serving samples to lines of chili fans, the excitement was palpable.

The growing crowd.

Patiently waiting for the sample pot to be ready.

Many competitors were extremely social with guests.

Friends enjoying some chili on a beautiful day.

A DIY sample serving utensil. Brilliant!

A cancer survivor shouts out loud and proud on LIVESTRONG day!

Rick and Susie Decker from California. Six time World Championship

competitors. They had quite a trailer based kitchen they towed from home!

Scott Barrett carefully tending to his competition entry.

Chili Verde sample from Joni Deere winner of Kansas State. She

said "she converts a lot of red chili fans with this."

Margot and our friend Will picking up a sample.

Maureen Barrett, 2009 World Champion in Red Chili.

A red chili sample. None of the red chili's we tried bowled us over.

Sunday will bring on the People's Choice samples to try.

The back of a shirt Margot saw at the cookoff. Sums it up pretty well.

We caught up with LeeRoy Watson a couple of times, first when we picked up a sample and a second time when he was cradling his Chili Verde entry on the way to the judging table. As you can see from the picture below, he means business and watches his operation with focused attention. But is pays off, he and his Chili Verde came in 2nd place in the People’s Choice competition on Saturday. Congratulations to LeeRoy and his whole family! We are so happy to have met him on Friday night so that we could come back to cheer him on. We included a photo of our People's Choice ballot that helped propel him to a great finish. What fun! We had never had Chili Verde until we tried his sample. Immediate conversion. The flavors are fresh and the soft texture of the pork is incredible. The mellow heat from the green chilies is totally different. He shared his recipe with me in hopes that I could take away a few tips to try my hand at Chili Verde for the first time at home. I'll try.

Would you want to cook in his kitchen?

Congratulations LeeRoy!!

We did hear some concerned words from a number of cookoff-goers about the amount of samples available and that some booths had completely run out even before the 3 PM closing time suggested by the brochure. There are two sides to this issue. There is reasonable ground to assume that a chili cookoff event would have an abundance of samples available to the public. Not being familiar with chili cookoffs we started out under that assumption. After talking with competitors on Friday night though, we quickly understood that unless they are competing in the People’s Choice event they aren’t going to have a huge volume to sample, and either way it might not be their prized chili. As one competitor said, “we aren’t here to give out samples, we are here to win an award.” Understandable when you have all the facts. The point we took away from our understanding coupled with the comments we overheard from cookoff -goers is that more emphasis needs to be placed on getting this truth out, especially to people new to how cookoffs work and in a city that isn’t known for this type of event.

The business of the day was carried out in the judging tent. In the picture below you can see the judges circling around tables of numbered containers sampling, scoring and deciding the 2010 Chili Verde World Champions.

The full results from Saturday’s competitions can be found at the ICS web site. Check back tomorrow for stories from Red Chili day.

Cheers!

--Margot & Jason

The World Champions of Chili Come to Manchester, NH

What do you do when you live in New Hampshire and love chili cookoffs? You pitch the Mayor of Manchester on submitting a bid to host the World Championship Chili Cookoff!

And that is just what Mike and Mary Alice Kropp of Londonderry did. Their pitch led to Manchester beating out Las Vegas to host the 2010 International Chili Society (ICS) event. When Margot and I spoke with Mike & Mary Alice at the VIP Reception there was considerable excitement in the air. Although Mike didn’t win a shot in the red chili competition from the Last Chance cookoff, there isn’t much cause for sorrow; he will be cooking in both the Salsa & Chili Verde competitions on Saturday. Mary Alice is going for the “three-fer” qualifying to cook in all three competitions this weekend.

( Jason, Mike Kropp, Mary Alice Kropp )

Earlier in the year we worked with Kiersten Stevens from Foodbuzz to get connected with Chris Wellington from the Manchester Economic Development office who is organizing the event. Chris arranged press credentials for us and invited us to the VIP reception for a chance to talk with city officials, organizers, competitors and judges about the cookoff.

Before the reception started we struck up a conversation with David & Alicia Garcia this year’s Idaho State Champions for Red Chili. They have been competing for over 10 years and “have won lots of second places until this year”. They shared a secret to their success with us. Alicia said that “constructive criticism has helped build a winning chili”. She confided that while she is very comfortable and enjoys cooking that “he (David) often says it needs a little of this or a little of that” and trying those things has helped them get better each year. This year they were especially proud of the chili tastings they held at local farmstands, drawing in big crowds, resulting in being asked to come back for three additional weeks because it was such a boost for the markets. This is their first time competing in the World Championship Cookoff. We wish them a lot of luck and will check in with them on Sunday during the competition and see how things are going

( David & Alicia Garcia )

We next met up with Ron & Dolene Michel and Sharon & Ralph Wilkinson from Calgary, Alberta. Ron & Dolene will be judging this year and have been involved in organizing or competing in ICS cookoffs since the early 1980’s. Sharon & Ralph are competing in the Salsa competition on Saturday. Both couples will be spending some time in the area after the competition with plans to travel along the Maine coastline before heading back to Montreal to fly home. I’m sure we’ll run into them again before the last winner is announced on Sunday.

As the room filled up and we continued to talk with different folks we began to get a sense that there was a real family here. More than once we were told that the World Championship is a reunion of friends from all around the country that most likely don’t see each other but this one time each year. This feeling is worth exploring and so we had to seek out more excited people to find out more.

Next up was LeeRoy Watson and his daughter Michelle from Arizona. LeeRoy started competing in chili cookoffs in 2004 after friends pushed him to enter a competition being hosted by a local bar. Michelle used to help with the dishes for her father, but now she competes with him in the same category, Chili Verde!! Both LeeRoy and Michelle use similar recipes and share ideas, but have their own tweaks that they employ to personalize their submissions. Leroy explained that his basic recipe for a Chili Verde contains pork, Hatch green chiles, onions, jalapenos and of course spices. Chili isn’t all about heat and finding the right balance of spices and heat is the key to winning. LeeRoy is the 2010 Arizona State Champion and he and Michelle have been lucky enough to finish first and second together more than once! LeeRoy and Michelle said something we also heard from the Garcias, that they drove from home to the competition so they could bring the equipment they needed without any travel restrictions. LeeRoy said he has been feeding his coolers of chili meat with ice since they left on Sunday. A World Championship Cookoff can be overwhelming, and both Leroy and Michelle said “we were surprised at how many people there were” at their first World Championship visit in 2007. Since then they have found that the “chili community is very welcoming” and that being here is a lot of fun. LeeRoy made sure we knew that we had to stop by for a sample on Saturday. You don’t have to tell us twice!

We had a few procedural secrets shared with us that we found interesting enough to pass along. Competitors will have samples available for the public during the event Saturday and Sunday, but many could be serving canned chilis that they may or may not alter. LeeRoy and Michelle believe that they will be one of the few, or maybe the only, Chili Verde competitors serving their own homemade chili. The other item, and this one is even weirder, is that the competitors that choose to participate in the People’s Choice event must put beans, rice or other filler in their samples; something not allowed for judged entries. Pretty technical if you ask me.

We were lucky enough to meet and talk to Carol Hancock the current president of the International Chili Society. Everyone knows Carol and the “family” element came out in all the hugs and greetings she was getting. We asked Carol “why Manchester.” Her response, “the people were fabulous.” She also indicated she was taken with the beauty of Veterans Park when she first saw it and that the commitment made by the city to raise the funds to host the event was very strong from the beginning. Carol introduced us to several other people including her husband Dave, her son Greg and Fred Parker founder of the Hard Times Cafe chain of restaurants. Thanks for helping us meet more of the family Carol!

Fred and Dave filled us on some ICS history, notable figures and further defined what the chili family is all about. Caroll Shelby (yes, that Caroll Shelby for you car geeks) is the last living founder of what is the current International Chili Society and is credited by the society for his unending vision and support of mission of the ICS. What started as a showdown between two men for who had the better chili has now turned into an event that brings in competitors from around the world.

Fred mentioned Ormly Gumfudgin, another ICS founder who passed away in 2009, as having had a considerable influence building the family we were enjoying time with. He attributed a quote to Fred Wieland a long time chief judge for the ICS who had planned to be at the World Championship but unfortunately passed away earlier this year. “If you don’t have fun today, it’s your own damn fault!” Dave explained that “competitors help each other out” and that the chili community spans “all age groups” and “all kinds of people.” Both Fred and Dave cheerfully answered our question about how much money has been raised for charities through the ICS. Since starting 45 years ago the ICS has raised nearly $90 million for local charities all over the country. The family gives back!

( Fred Parker, Carol Hancock, Dave Hancock )

Margot caught up with Audrey Falkowski who with her husband Steve has been competing in chili cookoffs since 1989. Originally from California, but now living in New York State they are elated that the championships are being held in New Hampshire this year. In 1997 Steve was the first World Champion from east of the Mississippi River, something Jerry Buma from Massachusetts also did 10 years later. Audrey recalled how crazy the crowd at the Northeast Regional Cookoff went in May when the Manchester location for this event was announced. That’s right, we know how to party! Audrey demonstrated the family ideal almost as if on cue, searching out Mike and Mary Alice Kropp so that she could introduce us. Thanks Audrey! Steve also made a point to Margot that we should come by the judging booth so we could get another view of the cookoff. That is one invitation we will be sure to take.

We talked with Mike and Mary Alice Kropp for a while. They shared funny stories about their cookoff adventures, some inside scoop on how they search for ingredients and they even laughed about Mike’s lucky spatulas; but we will save those nuggets for our next installment. We hope to have good news to share about their salsa & chili them when we do.

Thank you to everyone who spoke with us, Chris Wellington for working out logisitics and Carol Hancock for helping us learn more about this wondeful and fun event. Come back tomorrow and Monday for competition reports and our thoughts on the sights, sounds and food of a World Championship Chili Cookoff.

Cheers!

Margot & Jason

Check out theses links and news reports about the cookoff.

City of Manchester Cookoff Info

International Chili Society

Hippo Press

Union Leader

The World Championship Chili Cookoff

The 2010 World Championship Chili Cookoff will be held in Manchester, NH on October 1st through the 3rd. This is the finality of the 44th year the cookoff has been held and a big league event for the city to be hosting. By the end of the weekend the world-wide chili cooking community will have crowned their 2010 champions from beautiful Veteran's Park in the heart of downtown Manchester.

Foodbuzz helped arrange press passes for Margot and I to cover the event. It goes without saying that we are very excited to capture the spirit of this event and share it with all of you. We haven't decided yet what our posting schedule and topics will be, rather we plan to see what the vibe turns out to be and go from there. We expect to interview the staff from the Mayor's office who are organizing the effort for the city, the International Chili Society president, past and present competitors and winners, volunteers and attendees. And of course we'll do some sampling ourselves and take some notes on how to make great chili at home.

For more information about the event you can check out the links below that include logistics and ticket information if you want to attend.

International Chili Society

City of Manchester Chili Cookoff Page

Chili Cookoff Facebook Page

See you at the cookoff!

--Jason


 { the photo above was borrowed from the event page. we are promoting the event through our blog and hope our use of it is in that spirit. }