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New Columns appear each Tuesday. 07FEB06 Doral Chenoweth writes about the business of restaurants and the food industry in the Columbus, Ohio, Metro area. Reader comments are welcome by telephone. 614-538-1822. Email the Grump: thegrumpygourmet@wowway.com Send food stuff here: iPLATE@grumpygourmetusa.com Send weird stuff here: alferd_e_packer@wowway.com E-mail messages must include name and telephone for a reply. |
 CHILI HEADS: Nancy Drake, Supreme Court staffer, standing, checks to see if a winner has emerged. Chili judges, left to right: Randal Robinson, Jill Winn, and Michael Evans.  CHILI COOKERS: Eight of 10 contestants pose with the Chief Justice.  ONE TOP JUDGE AND OTHERS: Ohio's chief justice Moyer, left, sampled the chilis but had no opinion on results rendered by the professional foodies, left to right: Michael Evans, Randal Robinson and Jill Winn.  AND THE WINNER IS: Deb Boyd does a repeat. She won in 2005 and this year won with a rather spicy hot Gut Grenade Chili. All the judges were in agreement. Chief Justice Thomas Moyer merely observed.  PALATE PLEASER: It took lots of cornbread to enhance lunchers putting down 10 pots of employee-made chili. Nancy Drake, one of the bakers, shows what's left of a dozen pans. |
07FEB06 High Court Judging Decides Just Who is Chili Champ 
1991 International Chili Society champ Randal Robinson. Food judging is not an exact science. For one thing, too many food events go for the so-called celebrity judges. For some reason, pizza competitions like to have disc jocks gorge while making strange sounds. Chili judging usually draws the pros - legit food people who know what they're tasting. Competition in pizza making is between businesses making and selling pizza. On the other hand, chili makers tend to be individuals who have some flair (and closely held recipe) for making a pot they are sufficiently proud of to go up against others. When it comes to chili judging, we now have a champ who won her title in the highest echelons of Ohio government - at least as far as locale goes. Employees of the Ohio Supreme Court, no less, make chili. Ten of them pitted pot against pot a week ago. And four food judges who know what they are doing in chili named a winner. Deb Boyd, Lancaster, won all four first place votes. Her entry: Gut Grenade Chili. Boyd is a repeater. She won the High Court title in 2005. She will be banned from entering in 2007, but will be one of the judges. Boyd's recipe, minus measurements: Onions, chicken broth, chuck roast, hamburger, pork, San Antonio red spices, Pendery's Original Spice, Spice Hunter, cayenne, garlic, Chile Arbol Molido, cumin and salt. She said this year's recipe was slightly changed from 2005, but did not elaborate. Leading the judging pack this year was the ultimate chili champ, Randal Robinson, an attorney in general practice. He was named 1991 champ by the International Chili Society and became the first person who lived east of the Mississippi to win that cactus competition. His prize: $25,000. Michael Evans, owner of Michael's Pizza, An Italian Kitchen, Westerville, also judged. While he serves chili in is restaurant, Evans is best noted for his first place win in a pizza competition held in Milan, Italy. He said he would be testing a new chili recipe for his eatery, one based on Boyd's collective ingredients. Jill Winn, Justice O'Connor's assistant, took two wins in 2005: People's Choice and Empty Pot, the latter determined by how fast her entry was scooped up by employees attending the judging. The Grumpy Gourmet also consumed and voted with the 2006 majority.
Entrants and their degree of Scoville-Capsaicin heat: Patti Fisher, mild; Jessica Shimberg-Lind, mild; Pam Leslie, mild; Deb Boyd, hot; Ken Butcher, hot; Sandy Ringer, hot; Kris Steele, mild; Aritha Peaks, mild; Robert Berger, hot; and Ruth Dangel, mild. Official title of this event: The Annual Supreme Court-Chili Cook-off. by Doral Chenoweth 614-538-1822 |
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