The leaves are crunching, the air carries a telling chill, and high schools everywhere are celebrating homecoming. Yep. It's autumn. Saying goodbye to the hot, humid summer months is bittersweet, so how better to embrace it than with something spicy?
My neighborhood recently had a chili cook-off to celebrate the arrival of autumn. The offerings ranged from basically bean soup, to sizzling hot, what's-the-scoville-rating-on-this-vat of nuclear waste? chili. There was red chili and white chili, sriracha chili and garbage can chili. And all-in-all, it was a delicious diversion for me and my neighbors. So delicious, as a matter of fact, it was hard to pick a winner (not really; that's just what we all told each other, because we still have to be neighbors). This got me thinking...what if I were in a real chili cook-off (sorry, neighbors) one day? How could I tilt the odds of victory in my favor?
Well, this might be helpful: 10 Secret & Bizarre Chili Ingredients. While I don't regularly keep fish sauce in my cupboard, if it helps me win a "best chili" title, I just might start stocking it. My creation for the neighborhood cook-off is pictured (amateur, unskilled food photographer) below, sans secret ingredients (they wouldn't be secret if I told you, right?). So, dig out your cable knits and flannels and get cooking, and don't forget those secret & bizarre ingredients -they make all the difference.
