Chili cook-off warms cold day
With temperatures below freezing, more than 100 people warmed up at a chili cook-off, where the competition was as hot as the spicy stew.
For the 12th annual competition at Saint Andrews United Presbyterian Church, seven contestants on Saturday vied for the top spot and the coveted “golden spoon” — a serving spoon that is not really golden — given to the winner to wield for one year, a culinary version of a championship belt.
To attend, participants had to pay $10 at the door or $7 if they pre-registered. This year, about 130 attended. They're given a sampling of all seven meat medleys and cast their vote on their preferred dish. They're then given a full serving of their choice.
Proceeds are divided between Saint Andrews and Operation Spay Neuter of Butler County.
Organizers this year were still counting the money at the end of the night but Lesley Bachman, president of Operation Spay Neuter, said in a previous report that last year's cook-off raised $2,000 for the group. Operation Spay Neuter partners with local veterinarians to subsidize the spaying and neutering of pets when people who can't afford to do it on their own. They also perform the operation on feral animals.
This year, attendants voted Mike Heitzer's chili con carne as the top one.
“The secret is lots of meat. And you don't want just hot,” said Heitzer, who has worked for Butler Memorial Hospital as a cook for the past 37 years. “You want a smoky flavor. Anybody can make something hot. But you want that something extra.”
Joyce, Mike's wife, admired his cooking prowess, jokingly comparing him to the “Soup Nazi” from the sitcom “Seinfeld.”
“Everybody knows when he's out sick at the hospital,” she said. “Soup's not as good.”
She said that the two of them have participated in the event since it first started.
“This has gotten bigger. When we first started coming here they didn't even have tables to the back. Now, it's packed.”
In the first year, the event only attracted four contestants, according to Carol Landis, one of the organizers and a church volunteer.
Heitzer's victory unseated the previous year's winner, Dave Uram, Slippery Rock University's executive chef.
As a cook for more than 900 students, Uram can concoct a wide variety of dishes. This year, he worked with his sous-chef, Joe Radvinski, to create a chili that would be true to the dish's origins, he said.
“We used pulled pork, cilantro and poblano (peppers). It's more Mexican-inspired, almost a pozole soup,” he said, referring to a traditional Mexican stew.
Uram's late grandfather, Don Roberts, used to be an organizer of the event “And we wanted to keep it going for him. He's a special guy.”
