So you think you make a mean chili . . .
Now is your chance to prove it. Get your friends together and organize a Chili Team to compete for a weekend at the Smith Cabin in Lake Tahoe.
This year we have two categories—Texas Red and Open. And we are expecting a lot of cookers so the competition should be "hot"
To help us reach our fund raising goal of $30,000, we encourage you to participate in Team Fundraising. Each cook-off team can raise money in advance by asking you co-workers, friends and family to sponsor you. Sponsor forms can be downloaded from this site. The team with the most money raised wins a weekend at the Smith Cabin in Lake Tahoe. So get out there and raise some money - it all goes to a great cause
Official Rules of the Smith Ranch Chili Cook-off
1. Everyone must have a good time (no sore losers) and the decision of the judges is final, unless overruled by your host!
2. All Chili must be cooked on site from scratch i.e. raw meat and regular spices, no commercial chili spice mixes allowed!
3. You must provide your own heat source (i.e. camp stove, crock pot, electric skillet, etc.) Power outlets will be provided but limited; after all we need all the power for the amplifiers for the BANDS!
4. Contestants must provide all their own cooking and serving utensils as well as all spices and other chili ingredients. Serving plates, bowls, and eating utensils for the tasters (all 600 of them) will be provided by Smith Ranch.
5. Chili ingredients may be prepared in advance. You can chop, slice, skin, dice or grind anything before you get there, just don’t cook it! Anything goes, you can put whatever you want in your chili, not sure if people will eat it . . . but we have large trashcans available!
6. All cooking must be done on-site beginning no later than 1:00PM and ending by 3:30 PM so that judging may begin. Contestants may arrive as early as 11:00AM to begin their set-up and cooking. No beer before noon that’s when all the kegs will be tapped !
7. Everyone in attendance will judge chili. Every partygoer can purchase voting tickets and each team will have a container for people to place their vote. The team with the most votes wins the People’s Choice award.
8. Additional “special” judges will be selected at random from the ranks of the guests by your hosts the Smith’s and Adkins. The hosts will not be asked to settle any disputes caused by the judging and will remain impartial at all times, USUALLY! Bribes may or may not be accepted by your hosts, it all depends on the nature of the bribe!
9. Chili will be judged in two categories:
A. Open Category – Anything goes into the chili that’s edible (Road kills excluded)
B. Texas Red Category – No beans, rice, macaroni, tofu, polenta, grits, veggies, bread or other fillers allowed. Level of “hot” will be important in this category.
Prizes will be awarded for 1st place in each category and the People’s Choice Award. Prize for each category is a weekend at the Smith Cabin in Lake Tahoe
The Peoples Choice Award can be judged on any of the following so be creative:
A. Theme of your booth (cook table)
B. Name of your Chili Cook-off Team
C. Audience appeal (bribes can help in this category)
D. Taste as judged by everyone by placing a ticket in your voting jar
E. Anything else the judges feel is worthy of consideration
An almost Official “Terlingua International, Frank X. Tolbert – Wick Fowler Memorial Championship Chili Cookoff.” These here rules are the only rules and must be followed in order for your bowl to be officially judged!
