THE GREAT BERKSHIRE CHILI COOKOFF

Dubbed the “kickoff cookoff” by chairman Nick Diller of the Sheffield Kiwanis because it was the first of what’s planned to be an annual event, the first Great Berkshire Chili Cookoff went to a tasteoff when a second round of judging was needed to decide a winner. “We couldn’t have been more pleased with the outcome. The two winners are real sweethearts”, said Diller. “They even donated back some of the prize money to the Kiwanis.” All proceeds will be used to fund the Sheffield Kiwanis Youth Scholarship and sports activities.

The tie was between “Gold Miner’s Chili” and “Krafty Lady Chili”. Steve Falkowski won $300, his wife, Audrey, won $150. That’s right, husband and wife competing against each other in a chili championship. We wondered of that presented any particular problems. “None whatsoever”, answered Steve, “it doesn’t matter who wins... as long as it’s me!”. He was kidding , of course, we think. Though each have their own secret recipes, they really are a team and the prize money they kept will be used for their trip to Reno, NV, in October, where Steve will compete in the World’s Championship semifinals. If he succeeds there, it’ll be on to the finals where first place is worth a cool $25,000.

Diller was a little disappointed with the turnout at this first-ever in the Berkshire event, but he has high hopes for the future. “The key is education, we’ve got to get the word out to the public that chili cookoffs are great family events. They’re very popular in other parts of the country.” The Great Berkshire Chili Cookoff will be held the second Saturday of every May. Diller hopes that the local restaurants and taverns that boast great chili will get involved. So do we.

CHILI LINKS

These are not all chili recipes. As my mom says, "Man does not live by Chili, alone!" (What does she know? She says the same thing about beer)

There are CHILI-HEADS, CHILI organizations, CHILI recipes, CHILI products for sale, CHILI mailing lists, CHILI of the month clubs, JELLIES, a CHILI magazine & some CHILI fun.

There's the International Chili Society & The Green Chili Association that provides the organization RULES for Chili contests.

How about CHILI recipes? Then there's MORE recipes and MORE... How about Road KILL Chili? Want CHILI Christmas lights ?

So you can not make it from scratch, here's some PEOPLE that will SUPPLY CHILI mixes for YOU to use.

Want a new RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE ?

HAVE FUN and listen to some MUSIC!



CHILI AND THE C.I.A.

With one exception, the contestants we met at the great Berkshire Chili Cookoff are like covert agents. They carry on ordinary day-to-day lives only to emerge in their true guises when the action gets hot. One leases warehouses in New Jersey, another is a medical technologist in Westchester county, a third works at Hamilton Standard in Connecticut. All the while they’re conjuring secrets and concocting new methods to be used in their next operation. Only one is overt, a professional chef, and he’s been at the C.I.A. since the dark days of the Nixon administration.

He’s Jim Heywood, chef-instructor at the Culinary Institute of America, and creator of the award-winning “Hogsbreath Chili”. Jim will be chairman of the NY State Championship Chili Cookoff that will be held at the CIA’s Hyde Park campus the weekend of June 14-15, part of the renowned cooking school’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Heywood got serious about chili while he was preparing to open The American Bounty, one of four student-staffed restaurants on the CIA campus. His research proved that chili is an original American dish, not a Mexican one as many people believe. We asked Jim the secret to “hogsbreath Chili”. “Keep it simple”. He answered “and don’t be afraid to experiment.” Asked to divulge a secret ingredient, he declined. When we remind him that one of the conditions for winning the world’s championship is that the winning recipe gets published and the winner gives up his copyright, he quipped, “I can always forget something or other”. Not that we believe he would; he’s just too much of an up-front guy.



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