Spicy showdown at Suncoast Builders Association Chili Cook-off

About 60 people got together in the parking lot of the Suncoast Builder’s Association in Lakewood Ranch for conversation, a few cocktails and to sample more than a dozen versions of homemade chili.

It was the third annual Chili Cook-Off.

They came to “make some chili, and have a little fun competition,” said Jessica Seper, the deputy executive officer of the association.

“People would ask, 'When is our next chili cook-off?' We’ve grown from having three or four different kinds of chilis, too. Now we have 13 or 14 different participants. 

Two pop-up tents sheltered tables where the night’s chefs were cranking up crock pots to get their concoctions ready, with the aroma of spices competing for attention.

If there had been an award for the most ingredients in a pot, it likely would have gone to Carl Chitjain. So many, in fact, in his Kitchen Sink Chili, he had a hard time remembering everything he used. 

“It's got vegetables in it," he said. "It's got peppers, it's got … I've got to remember now ... onions, garlic and the vegetables I did on my grill to get that smoke going. And I used a smoked paprika.”

He didn’t skimp on the meat, either.

“I've got chuck steak in there, cut to three-eighth-inch pieces. I've got sausage. What was that country player? His sausage … Jimmy Dean, that's it. I got a tube of that in there.”

And his signature ingredient was lean bison.

“Bison," he said, "because there's no fat in that at all.”

Once the meat is cooking, “then you put your onion, your garlic, your peppers, and then I just just go basic after that. The Rotel diced tomatoes with the chilies, tomato puree, tomato sauce. I use whole tomatoes, and I crush them by hand. They're in there, too,” he said.

It was a long day for the former chef and barbecue truck owner

“I started 2 a.m.,” he said, noting that he was prepping the meat and veggies, leaving it to simmer for the rest of the day. “You've just got to put a little bit of your heart in it, you know?”

Next to Chitjain’s crock pot at the judging table was another entry, Posh Peacock Chili, where Elizabeth Booth was trying to psych Chitjain out.

“I was the 2021 champion,” she warned him. 

Her chili was named after her business, Posh Peacock Consultants, and not for any exotic ingredients in her chili. “People are asking ... I didn’t even think about that,” she said with a laugh. 

“I start by roasting my veggies. So I got my peppers, my onions, my garlic, all roasted on open fire,” which she puts in a blender with whipping cream, beef broth and olive oil. 

Her chili, like a few others that night, included beans, an ingredient that often causes great debates among chili aficionados.

“I put in a mixture of kidney beans, pinto beans and black beans and diced tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, and a little bit of homemade pasta sauce,” she said, and then added that she added a “huge concoction” of spices. 

But it was the topper that made her recipe unique.

“My little signature is my cilantro lime sour cream," she said. "It goes on top, cools it down and makes it creamy.”

Two entries included venison, as it turns out, from the same deer.

Jon Mast, the association’s chief executive officer, used a deer he had shot during a recent hunting trip. 

His approach was uncomplicated.

“It's got venison, it's got tomatoes and onion and garlic and cocoa powder, chili powder, onion powder," Mast said. "Then beef broth, chicken broth, black pepper, salt. Nothing extraordinary. Ground it this morning and assembled it this morning. Has been in the crock pot all day.”

“No beans,” he added.

The rest of that deer’s contribution to the event was simmering in a pot at the end of the table, containing Amber Elsenheimer’s Venison 5-Alarm Chili with Cowboy Candy and Chaula Cream. 

“(Jon) was nice enough to bring me some of the meat,” Elsenheimer said.

By all accounts, her chili was the spiciest entry of the evening, based around brown venison and venison sausage.

“And then it has a new secret ingredient this year, which is cream cheese," Elsenheimer said. "It’s the key.”

It’s all topped off by the Cholula sour cream and the “Cowboy Candy,” which is candied jalapeños.

People were asked to vote for their top three choices. At the end of the night, Mast’s venison chili took third place.

Elizabeth Booth’s Posh Peacock Chili took second place. And first place went to a very surprised Juliana Courie and her Jet Fuel Chili.

“I just made it up,” she said.

Saying she’s the cook in her family, Courie plays things by ear.

“Usually when I cook, I don't really have a recipe I follow," she said. "I just go with the flow and I taste it each time to make sure it tastes good, at least. 

“And if it smells good, then that's my green light. That's going to be good.”

She said there was only one special ingredient.

“I just put love into it. I guess that's the only thing that made it special. I do hope everybody likes it,” she said before the winners were announced.