Infomedians get pretty hungry at times. We like to think it’s due to all the calories we burn off while working on your websites, but we know it’s really just because we’re actually human and humans get hungry sometimes. It’s just how it is. But regardless, we thought it would be fun to host an Infomedia Chili Cookoff to curb our hunger and provide some fuel for us so we can get back to work on your websites…

Wake up. Work. Work. Eat chili. Work. Work. Go Home. Rinse. Repeat.

Anyway, we we’re right. It was a lot of fun! So much fun, we had 3 rounds of it and we even made a bracket in honor of March Madness.

Here were the rules:

• There will be 2 rounds of competition (1 per week) and then a final round to decide the winner from the first two rounds of competition.
• 8 total entries will be accepted so 4 batches of chili per day (teams are acceptable)
• If you are submitting a pot of chili please provide enough for 4 servings and also the items that go with it such as Fritos, cheese, sour cream, etc.
• Voting will be anonymous
• Your entry must be chili…not soup. stew, or any other brothy concoction.
• Winner will receive a trophy, bragging rights, and a cash prize
• If you win, you must provide your recipe

For both rounds, we had two contestants (which made it pretty easy on us, since it would have been much harder to eat more than two bowls of chili in a single sitting.) Some chilis were spicy. Some were classic. Some had lots of different kinds of meat in it. Some had lots of vegetables and seasonings in it. One chili even had corn in it. But the common denominator, was that every chili was delicious. Seriously. Im not even just saying that to be polite.

Voting was simple. Torn up slips of paper. A vote for Chili #1 or for Chili #2. And we even had some jokesters throw in a vote or two for “korn chips,” “cheese,” and “sour cream.” Everyone that ate both chilis was allowed one vote. Slips were counted and a winner was declared. Here’s how things went down…

And as promised…here is the famous winning chili recipe. Enjoy!

Miss Beasley’s Chili

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef or bison
• 5 strips of bacon (save grease from cooking)
• 1 – 8 oz steak chopped up into bite size pieces
• 1 minced green bell pepper
• 1 minced white onion
• 1 stout beer (12 oz. can/bottle)
• 2 – 16 oz cans kidney beans
• 1 – 10 oz. can of Rotel
• 2 – 8 oz cans tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons flour
• oil

Directions

Note: If cooking in a slow cooker, follow steps 1 – 5 then add kidney beans and bacon/flour mix into crock pot. Set on low for 6 – 8 hours.

1. Cook the bacon on a tray in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 425 degrees. 
2. Place dutch oven on stove top over medium high heat, add some oil to dutch oven. Mince the onion and green bell pepper. Sweat the onion and pepper about 5-7 minutes (until onion is translucent).
3. While onion and pepper are cooking, In a large skillet brown the bison/beef. Add browned meat to dutch oven.
4. In the same skillet used for beef, sear the bite-sized steak pieces until each side is lightly browned. Add steak to dutch oven.
5. Add the beer, chopped bacon, tomato sauce, Rotel, and all spices to dutch oven.
6. Bring chili to a simmer then add both cans of kidney beans.
7. In a small bowl, mix the saved bacon grease and the flour together, stir until smooth and add to the dutch oven.
8. After about 30 minutes of simmering it is ready to serve.