Chili Fest

Some like their chili mildly flavorful, with just a hint of spiciness. Others prefer the hot-as-fire chili, the kind that burns all the way down and had you swigging beer between every bite.

On Saturday, there was something to please the palate of even the most finicky chili lover at Suffolk Chili Fest, a cook-off held in Bennett's Creek Park.

Nearly 1,000 people from across the city converged upon the North Suffolk park for the event, co-sponsored by the Bennett's Creek Sertoma and the more recently formed club in the downtown area, Sertoma in Suffolk. Chili Fest was a fundraiser to support the club's philanthropic work with literacy and the speech and hearing impaired.

Nine teams- some made up of hometown folks, others who spend weekends traveling around the country competing in chili cook-offs-gave away gallons of chili over the weekend.

Despite overcast skies, chili lovers turned out in force to this year's debut event. Walking around from one team's tent to another, people spent the day sampling the simmering, spicy concoctions served up in tiny plastic cups.

When it comes to chili, people's taste seems to run the gamut.

By mid-afternoon, sleepy Lake residents Michael and Jennifer Wendel had worked their way through the culinary offerings served by each team. Both agreed that team No. 8's chili was their favorite.

"They used great meat, and the chili had a little bite to it," Wendel said. "It's perfect. We think it's great that Suffolk has started having this festival."

Aubrey Whedbee said he preferred team No. 6's chili. "I like the consistency of theirs the most, and it had more regular seasonings than some of the others had," he said. "It was good."

Kayla Whedbee, 9, agreed, saying she liked the beans in that particular chili. "I like the beans in their chili", she said. "All the other beans tasted horrible, but I'd like to have a plate of those beans."

While she enjoyed the chance to taste all the samples, Theresa Alvarez said her favorite-hands down was the chili that used steak, rather than the traditional hamburger, as it's meat base.

It wasn't much easier for the judges to pick their favorites, said Millard Zydron, head of the judging committee. A panel of 10 people judge the chili based on standards set by the International Chili society: good flavor, texture of the meat, consistency, blend of spices, aroma, and color.

"At the end of the day, it came down to personal preferences," he said. "The judges had a tough time making their decision. There were 5 three-way ties when we were voting."

Awards also were given to the people's choice winner, which was selected by counting ballots cast by people in the crowd who checked off their favorites.

In many cases, the chili makers had as much character as the chili they served up.

While serving up his blend the Dog chili, Greg Kniemeyer of Reston did everything but bark. He frequently served his chili wearing a pair of dog ears and plastic hound nose; he even pretended to beg a couple of times.

Judges later tossed Kniemeyer a little dog bone: a $1,000 check for winning first place in the judges' ICS category.

The Greater Suffolk Council, which won third place in both ICS and people's choice competitions, doesn't exactly have a recipe, said Dave Arnold, who came up with the chili entered in the ICS contest. GSC also won the competition's showmanship award.

"I couldn't tell you (a recipe) if you put a gun to my head," said Arnold. "I cook by philosophy, not by recipe."

A few tips-instead of using ground beef, Arnold used tri-tip beef. The meat, cut from the bottom of the sirloin, hold up a little better when cooking for several hours. He also uses only fresh ingredients when possible and grinds and cuts all the spices himself.

"Using commercial chili powder in a gourmet chili is blasphemous, and a little lazy," he said.

Their goal: "We tried to make our chili spicy enough that it would make your tongue tingle."

Casey Downey, owner of Clean Cut Image Lawn and Landscape in Suffolk, started off cooking 10 gallons of chili.

"With that, we figured we still (will) be eating chili at work all next week," Downey said. there were so many people out there that his friends ran out to the grocery store and bought enough ingredients to double that recipe. Their mixture took first place in People's Choice Awards.

"This was a lot of fun, but I'm surprised we won. There were a lot of people people out there who have been doing this for seven or eight years," Downey said. He says he already is planning to enter next year's contest.

Domino Ireland, a chili maker from Raleigh, said he doesn't follow a standard chili recipe that he's willing to share.

But, he said, two secrets to his good chili is that he runs all of the spices through a coffee grinder and puts a handful of raisins, knotted in a (new) woman's stocking, in each pot of chili.

Ireland claims that together, the nylon, raisins and acidic chili have some sort of chemical reaction that puts an extra "sheen" to his chili. "It just makes it look better," he said.