Chili cook-off raises money for Community Food Bank
The parking lot outside of the San Benito County Association of
Realtors filled with the aroma of home cooking Oct. 16 as the group
hosted its first chili cook-off to raise money for Community Food
Bank.
The Association members raised $880 for Community Food Bank at
the chili cook-off that drew four judges and dozens of tasters.
”
This is our first fundraiser we’ve put together as a chili
cook-off,
”
said Maricela Ramirez, the association executive.
”
We have many chefs in our membership so that’s how that all
started. When we started moving forward, we thought, let’s put it
to a good cause and get more participation.
”
Chili cook-off raises money for Community Food Bank
The parking lot outside of the San Benito County Association of Realtors filled with the aroma of home cooking Oct. 16 as the group hosted its first chili cook-off to raise money for Community Food Bank.
The Association members raised $880 for Community Food Bank at the chili cook-off that drew four judges and dozens of tasters.
“This is our first fundraiser we’ve put together as a chili cook-off,” said Maricela Ramirez, the association executive. “We have many chefs in our membership so that’s how that all started. When we started moving forward, we thought, let’s put it to a good cause and get more participation.”
Five teams competed for the coveted title of best chili in San Benito County. The entries ranged from traditional chili con carne dishes to a white bean chili with chicken and jack cheese.
Yvonne Claus Bessa, of JP Morgan Chase, and Robert Vierra, of WIN Home Inspection, worked together on their pOT of chili – which incorporated beans, hamburger and steak.
“Last night I soaked the beans and cooked the meat, and did all the prep stuff at home,” Claus Bessa said. “Then we assembled it here. Chili takes a long time so we got here early so all the ingredients” could simmer.
“We got bread bowls so I’ve got to work on presentation,” Vierra said.
At the next table over Sandy Troia and her mother Joan Donaldson were working on a different kind of chili while representing Intero Realty. Their pot included white beans and chunks of chicken meat.
“We wanted to bring something else other than the traditional chili,” Troia said. “This is healthy and fat-free with the chicken – until it’s done and we put all the jack cheese in it.”
The recipe is a family favorite, Troia and Donaldson said, and they usually keep the cheese on the side.
“The only thing we did at home was soak the beans,” Troia said. “We chopped the onions here. We cooked the chicken.”
The family camps out often so they were comfortable with preparing their chili outdoors.
“The only thing that was hard was doubling the recipe,” Donaldson said.
Joe Ortiz and Michelle Taylor, of Chicago Title, named their team the Windy City Chili Company. Ortiz said the chili is a family recipe that has a kick of spice to it.
“This may be a little spicier because it has a little jalapeno in it,” Ortiz said.
The chili is made with beans and sausage, and had jalapenos simmering along with the mix.
“I like to do it the day before and let it sit for all the flavors to set,” he said, of when he makes the chili at home.
Jennifer Szyndrowski, of Bank of America, also made a chili she cooks at home in fall and winter.
“My recipe is called purse chili because the ingredients, supposedly, you can put all in your purse,” she said. “This is the one I’ve done for a while.”
The chili has ground beef and large chunks of tomatoes mixed in.
Doug Kuerschner Jr, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker, and his son Doug Kuerschner III, concocted a chili recipe just for the cook-off. Kuerschner III is a chef at the Knife and Fork Cafe, and was at the family-owned Don Ciccio’s in San Juan before it closed down so cooking is something the pair was comfortable with.
While the son did not make it to the cook-off as he had to be out of town, the two worked together on the recipe and did some of the prep work at home the night before.
“He did it with the chorizo and ground beef,” Kuerschner Jr. said. “We’ve got corn-bread muffins with jalapeno and a honey-lime butter with red-pepper flakes.”
Kuerschner said next year he plans to make an all-meat chili, Texas-style.
The four judges included Mary Anne Hughes, the executive director of Community Food Bank, her daughter Tajni Diller, as well as Community Food Bank board members Marissa Brennan and Loree Van Bebber.
The judges were given a sheet to rate each chili on taste, consistency and aroma. The judges quickly turned serious when the bowls of chili were placed in front of them, each labeled for the blind taste test. They sniffed each bowl for aroma, then sampled several spoonfuls of each. After nearly half an hour of deliberating, they were still torn between two entries.
“They are all really good,” Van Bebber said. “They are just good in different ways.”
In the end the judges decided to employ a five-point system to the criteria to see which bowl would win out.
“When we voted from one to five [points] on the criteria, bowl No. 1 won out by one point,” Hughes said. “We were torn emotionally between the two.”
Though the judges negotiated with cook-off planners for two categories – traditional and non-traditional chili, and perhaps a cornbread category as well – they finally selected Yvonne Claus Bessa and Robert Vierra’s chili con carne with pinto beans, steak and ground beef. After the judging, visitors were able to purchase a hotdog lunch for $5 or sample the chili until 2 p.m. The money donated all went to Community Food Bank.
Affiliate committee members involved in planning the event included Amanda Hernandez of Coastal Termite Control, Inc., Claus Bessa, Vierra, Syndrowski, Gina Grant of Golden Eagle Mortgage, Anite Pedrazzi-Minkel of MSC Advantage and Rob Sullivan of Property ID.
