Cook-off
- Not to be confused with Cooking off.
A cook-off is a cooking competition where the contestants each prepare dishes for judging either by a select group of judges or by the general public. Cook-offs are very popular among competitors (such as restaurants) with very similar dishes and serves as a way to decide which recipe is the best for that particular dish.[citation needed]
Chili cook-off
A chili cook-off is a social event, similar to a barbecue, in which competitors prepare their own particular recipe for chili con carne and submit it for taste testing. A cook-off may be an informal gathering with the simple goal of sharing recipes and enjoying food, or it may be a large-scale event with an official panel of judges and substantial prizes for winners.
The Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI) sanctions over 550 cook-offs annually that raise over $1,000,000 for charity. Corporate CASI, which has the function of sanctioning all of these cook-offs, doing the necessary work to tabulate cookoff results, and putting on the annual Terlingua International Chili Championship, has an annual income of approximately $250,000. Out of this annual income around $60,000 goes to charity. The CASI is a 501(c)(3) corporation.
The International Chili Society (ICS) organizes chili cook-offs as fundraisers. Its annual cook-offs are on a grand scale, with regional qualifying events that attract tens of thousands of participants and a "World Championship" cook-off held in October. The ICS has raised millions of dollars for charity[1] while still awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars to winners.
As early as 1970, many communities have hosted non-ICS cook-offs, leading to a competing "World Championship" cook-off in Terlingua, Texas.
The UK Chilli Cook-off Association organises chilli cook-offs as throughout the UK as fundraisers, culminating in the UK grand final at the Upton Cheyney Chili Festival near Bath, UK - Winners qualify for the World Food Championships Chili Cookoff
Notable cook-offs include:
- the Tustin Chili Cook Off (in Tustin, CA)- the biggest 1-Day chili cook off in the world
- the Chilympiad in San Marcos, Texas (for men only)
- the Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned cook off in Luckenbach, Texas
- the Chili Appreciation Society International Chili Championship in Terlingua, Texas
- the Frank X. Tolbert/Wick Fowler World Chili Championships in Terlingua, Texas
- the Lone Star Chili Cook-off in New York City
- the Reunion Church Braggin' Rights Chili Cook-Off in Plainfield, Indiana
- the Red Gold Tomatoes Chili Cook-Off Crush Hunger Saturday in Elwood, Indiana
See also
- The Great British Bake Off, a BBC TV cooking competition
- Ribfest - An annual rib cook-off across the United States and Canada.
References
External links
- Chili Appreciation Society International, a national/international cook-off organizer and promoter of chili for charity
- Piedmont Pepper Pod, the North Carolina subgroup of CASI
- International Chili Society, a major cook-off organizer
- Munich, Germany's long running chili cook-off
- Lone Star Chili Cook-off Texas style Chili Cook-off in New York City
- American Seafood Cook-off
- NOLA.com
- The Food Experiments, a NYC-based cookoff series
- Mackinac Island Chili Cook-off, held each February on this remote Island in the Upper Midwest
- The UK Chilli Cook-off Association
