High winds Friday prompt Connie Dahlgren of Florida to hold onto her chili pot and tent roof at Charleston's Appalachian Power Park.
New England might not be known as a major stomping grounds for chili chefs, but the sauce with the south-of-the-border zing definitely has its followers north of the Hudson.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- New England might not be known as a major stomping grounds for chili chefs, but the sauce with the south-of-the-border zing definitely has its followers north of the Hudson.
"You've gotta keep warm in New Hampshire," said Michael Kropp of Londonderry, N.H., as he diced beef into tiny cubes on a cutting board next to a kettle of simmering chili sauce at the International Chili Society's 43rd annual World's Championship Chili Cookoff in Charleston. "Chili's big up there. Every state in New England has at least one big contest."
Kropp, a software engineer, was among 70 chili chefs taking part in a "Last Chance" red chili cookoff Friday - a wild-card event that allows the top 10 finishers to compete with 166 state and regional champs in Sunday's $25,000 world championship event.
Kropp won a regional contest in upstate New York, allowing him to compete in Charleston today for the world's title in the salsa division. His wife, Mary Alice, won the green chili crown at the same regional event, giving her the right to vie with 145 other state and regional winners for today's contest to determine the world's best green chili chef.
But competition is most intense in the red chili division, in which carefully guarded formulas of beef, spices and tomato-based sauces are steeped to as close to perfection as is possible on a camp stove in a tent.
The Kropps got into competitive chili-making in 2002, and quickly rose to the top ranks of the avocation.
"We went as spectators to a contest a few miles from our home," said Michael Kropp. "I thought I could make a better chili than the stuff we were sampling and, two weeks later, I was in my first cookoff."
Since then, the couple's van has been packed and ready to travel to cookoffs from Maine to New Jersey throughout the spring and summer, and more often than not, to the international contest in the fall. They have been to the world championships in Reno, Las Vegas and Omaha, where Kropp captured fourth-place honors.
"Hearing your name called at the world championships, and then going onstage - it's a pretty big thing," Kropp said, "but getting to know people from all over the country and being a part of this big, friendly community is a lot of fun, too."
In a tent across from the Kropps, Martha "Marty" Leitner of Sandy Valley, Nev., was draining fat from a batch of finely chopped tri-tip beef roast she had just sautéed for her red chili entry in the Last Chance contest.
The year before she entered her first competition three decades ago, she had never cooked chili.
"I started out using big hunks of meat and vegetables, but over time, I learned from the judges and other competitors to use ingredients that aren't so big they dominate the flavor, or get all mushy," Leitner said. "Meat and sauce is really all the judges want."
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- New England might not be known as a major stomping grounds for chili chefs, but the sauce with the south-of-the-border zing definitely has its followers north of the Hudson.
"You've gotta keep warm in New Hampshire," said Michael Kropp of Londonderry, N.H., as he diced beef into tiny cubes on a cutting board next to a kettle of simmering chili sauce at the International Chili Society's 43rd annual World's Championship Chili Cookoff in Charleston. "Chili's big up there. Every state in New England has at least one big contest."
Kropp, a software engineer, was among 70 chili chefs taking part in a "Last Chance" red chili cookoff Friday - a wild-card event that allows the top 10 finishers to compete with 166 state and regional champs in Sunday's $25,000 world championship event.
Kropp won a regional contest in upstate New York, allowing him to compete in Charleston today for the world's title in the salsa division. His wife, Mary Alice, won the green chili crown at the same regional event, giving her the right to vie with 145 other state and regional winners for today's contest to determine the world's best green chili chef.
But competition is most intense in the red chili division, in which carefully guarded formulas of beef, spices and tomato-based sauces are steeped to as close to perfection as is possible on a camp stove in a tent.
The Kropps got into competitive chili-making in 2002, and quickly rose to the top ranks of the avocation.
"We went as spectators to a contest a few miles from our home," said Michael Kropp. "I thought I could make a better chili than the stuff we were sampling and, two weeks later, I was in my first cookoff."
Since then, the couple's van has been packed and ready to travel to cookoffs from Maine to New Jersey throughout the spring and summer, and more often than not, to the international contest in the fall. They have been to the world championships in Reno, Las Vegas and Omaha, where Kropp captured fourth-place honors.
"Hearing your name called at the world championships, and then going onstage - it's a pretty big thing," Kropp said, "but getting to know people from all over the country and being a part of this big, friendly community is a lot of fun, too."
In a tent across from the Kropps, Martha "Marty" Leitner of Sandy Valley, Nev., was draining fat from a batch of finely chopped tri-tip beef roast she had just sautéed for her red chili entry in the Last Chance contest.
The year before she entered her first competition three decades ago, she had never cooked chili.
"I started out using big hunks of meat and vegetables, but over time, I learned from the judges and other competitors to use ingredients that aren't so big they dominate the flavor, or get all mushy," Leitner said. "Meat and sauce is really all the judges want."
Leitner qualified in California for the world crown in the green chili event, and figured, since she was in town for the championship, she might as well try for a slot in the red chili cookoff.
"It starts out as a hobby and becomes a passion, and then kind of becomes an obsession," she said, which explains her decision to drive 2,100 miles to compete in Charleston.
Kevin Simmons of Milton got into competitive chili-making 12 years ago, after visiting a chili cookoff in Huntington.
"It's turned out to be a great hobby," he said, as he prepared his entry for the Last Chance event. "You get to travel around the country and meet a lot of great people."
Simmons also has done well enough with the hobby to compete in three previous world championships. A win at Charleston, he said, "would be an unbelievable accomplishment. There are a lot of really great chili cooks here."
Weather conditions ran the gamut during Friday's activities at Appalachian Power Park. Morning rains gave way to afternoon sunshine and summer-like temperatures, followed by brisk winds that threatened to topple tents and another downpour of rain.
Those placing in the top 10 in the last-chance competition on Friday were Jay Carr of Huntington; Rose Warmuth of Wheeling; Mike Usiak of Chicago; Rick Decker of Pleasanton, Calif.; Bob Kyle of Dearborn, Mich.; Amelia Brady of Summit, Mich.; Kit Hoff of Columbus, Ohio; Cindy Reed Wilkins of Houston; Tom Esford of Trinity, Texas; and Maureen Barrett of Willow Springs, Ill.
Today's events at the 2009 World's Championship Chili Cookoff include a People's Choice Chili Sampling, open to the public, starting at 1 p.m., involving chili verde, or green chili; the announcement of salsa winners at 4 p.m., and the announcement of chili verde winners at 5 p.m. Stonestreet will perform from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The WVU-Syracuse football game will be shown on Appalachian Power Park's big-screen television starting at noon.
On Sunday, the Davisson Brothers will perform from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. People's Choice sampling will begin at 1 p.m., followed at 3:45 p.m. by a "Shoot-N-Holler" contest in which participants down a shot of tequila then shout as long and loud as possible. Winners of the traditional red chili contest will be announced at 5 p.m.
Admission to the event is $5, which includes tickets to sample the world's best chili.
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelham...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5169.
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