Texas Independence Day Celebration and Chili Cook-off recap

by Josie Singleton of Eat This Fort Worth

Today is Texas Independence Day! I started the festivities early by judging a Chili Cook-Off at The Ginger Man in Fort Worth last Saturday. The Ginger Man hosted a Texas Independence Day Celebration & Chili Cook-Off benefiting Kids Who Care on Saturday, February 28th. Local bands The Great American Novel and one of my favorites, Dove Hunter, provided some great music. The Kids Who Care gave a cute performance as well.

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Texas and being a Texan than beer and chili. 12 teams participated in the cook-off and started cooking at 11AM that morning to make some amazing chili.

The judging panel consisted of Louis Sheppard (local chef and Panther City Bandit band member), Tony Diaz (The Good Show producer and Goodwin band member), and me (local food blogger). Once the containers of chili started stacking up at the judges table it looked as if we had taken on a dare or were part of a food eating contest. We were given our scoring sheets where we scored each chili sample on a scale of 1-10 for aroma, color, taste, consistency, and bite. We briefly discussed what makes good chili and decided it’s truly a matter of personal preference; this became especially clear once the tasting started.

I was stumped on what beer to order drink with the 12 containers of chili that awaited my tasting and was recommended a Franconia Lager (from McKinney) which was absolutely perfect. I enjoyed every bowl of chili I sampled and my hat’s off to all the folks who worked so hard. As the tasting and scoring went on I found that I want a chili that’s not too chunky and not too fine, the meat should be tender, beans are alright if it’s super spicy or if the beans stay firm, and an unexpected flavor twist or a slow burn is always welcome.

Some chili stood out more than others. One of my favorites had hints of cinnamon and I could see myself devouring bowls of it on a cold day. Another one grew more addicting with each bite as the heat kicked in. Other interesting touches I tasted were peppers which I recognized from my mom’s Mexican cooking, large chunks of meat, shredded brisket, and tomatoes. I’m now inspired to come up with my own chili recipe. We judged truly according to our preferences because we found big differences in our scores as we compared notes at the end and even we were surprised at the winning results.

If you can’t score yourself a bowl of chili in celebration of Texas Independence Day - Tex Mex, or any other form of meat should do just fine. Don’t forget to wash it all down with some Texas beer and cheers to being Texan!