Chef James Heywood
Culinary Institute of America

Chef Heywood: Hi everybody, let's talk about spicy food and chili tonight.

Chef Heywood: Chili competitions are my hobby.

Chef Heywood: I do that on the weekends and they're a lot of fun.

Chef Heywood: They're sponsored by the International Chili Society.

Chef Heywood: They're usually fund raisers for different organizations.

Chef Heywood: Some people think it's just an excuse to start drinking beer before noontime.

Chef Heywood: My wife thinks that, anyway!

Chef Heywood: I get asked what my secret ingredient is to my chili and the answer is that it's still a secret.

Chef Heywood: A few things about chili surprise a lot of people.

Chef Heywood: One is that it's truly an American dish, a trail-drive dish.

Chef Heywood: And real chili has no beans in it.

Chef Heywood: That's a rule of the International Chili Society.

Chef Heywood: Beans came into chili during the Depression and in prisons.

Chef Heywood: I've managed to stay out of jail by the skin of my teeth.

Chef Heywood: The world championship in the Las Vegas every October pays the winner $25,000.

Chef Heywood: But I haven't won that yet.

Chef Heywood: If you win a state championship, you qualify to cook in the world championship.

Chef Heywood: I've done that 5 or 6 times.

Chef Heywood: We keep trying.

Chef Heywood: Folks come from all walks of life.

Chef Heywood: We don't care as long as they can cook a good bowl of chili.

Brad: Could you describe a big cook off? What's it like ?

Chef Heywood: About 120-130 cooks are out there, all cooking chili.

Chef Heywood: There are definite rules to a championship cook off.

Chef Heywood: There's always a most highly decorated booth award.

Chef Heywood: We set up at about 9am.

Chef Heywood: There are different sponsors and TABASCO is always a sponsor of the world championship.

Chef Heywood: Official rules are that you can cook your chili for 3 hours only.

Chef Heywood: Then you have to turn it in to the judges.

Chef Heywood: Other things go on - bands are playing, salsa bands etc.

Chef Heywood: Games like a tortilla toss for the kids.

Chef Heywood: And a shoot-n-holler for the adults.

Chef Heywood: You get a microphone in one hand.

Chef Heywood: And a shot of tequila in the other.

Chef Heywood: You do the shot and screech as loud as you can into the microphone.

Chef Heywood: Some people wind up blitzed if it's a 3 or 4 way tie.

Chef Heywood: Sometimes there's a Miss Chili Pepper contest and a Mr. Hot Sauce contest.

Chef Heywood: At the end of the day, they pick the winners.

Chef Heywood: Everybody tastes - there's a judges award and a people's choice award.

Chef Heywood: I usually make about 2-3 gallons.

Chef Heywood: Each person tastes about 1 tablespoon of each cook's chili.

Chef Heywood: That adds up.

Chef Heywood: If you eat too much, you end up on the couch.

Chef Heywood: Everybody has a name for their chili or their chili team.

Chef Heywood: A friend of mine makes 'Mad Mike's Killer chili'.

Chef Heywood: Another is 'Road Kill Chili'.

Chef Heywood: We all have our pet names for our chili printed on t-shirts.

Chef Heywood: Mine is called 'Big Jim's Hogbreath Chili'.

Brad: When was your first Chili cook off?

Chef Heywood: My first chili cook-off was in 1986.

Chef Heywood: In 1988, I won my first state championship.

Guest214: What is the most important thing for a competitor to be wary of in the competition?

Chef Heywood: Most importantly, not make the chili overly hot and to use a well-rounded blend of chili powders.

Guest211: Do you use beef in your chili and if so is it shredded or ground?

Chef Heywood: A good bowl uses meat that's been diced not ground.

Guest214: Where do you get your peppers from? Ever grown our own?

Chef Heywood: They grow ok up here in NY, but I'm pretty busy.

Chef Heywood: So I buy them from a supply house in Texas.

Chef Heywood: And I use anywhere from 9 -10 ground chilies to make my seasoning blend.

Courtb: I have noticed that in different parts of the country, there are vast differences in chili recipes Is there a region whose chili you generally prefer and why?

Chef Heywood: The Northeastern Chile is what I prefer.

Chef Heywood: The West Coast does it a little saltier than we like it in the North East.

Chef Heywood: Skyline chili from Cincinnati is a little sweeter with cinnamon, we think.

Chef Heywood: Some people put strange things in chili - they overdo it and they don't win the competition.

Chef Heywood: I've never cooked chili in the south but when you get to the world championship, we have a definition of chili - it's a blend of meat, vegetables and spices.

Chef Heywood: Major flavor players - cumin, garlic, mexican oregano, blended chili powders.

Chef Heywood: Controversial whether to use tomato product in there.

Chef Heywood: Most big competitors won't have big chunks of tomato in there.

Guest211: What kind of strange things do some people put in their chili?

Chef Heywood: Sometimes people put weird things like bitter chocolate or lime juice or vinegar.

Chef Heywood: Maybe ketchup, sometimes with exotic meats like emu, buffalo, or venison.

Guest211: Do you ever make chili with meats other than beef?

Chef Heywood: I've seen people put cured sausages like kielbasa or chorizo.

Chef Heywood: For competition chili, you don't do that.

Chef Heywood: The rookies do it.

Guest214: Have you ever written a cookbook?

Chef Heywood: Through the school I've helped write a few cookbooks, but I could never sit still long enough to write one myself.

Courtb: What are some of the side dishes that you like to serve with chili?

Chef Heywood: I'm kind of a purist, but I'll serve it in a fried tortilla bowl.

Chef Heywood: Sides like sour cream, sliced scallions, tomatoes.

Chef Heywood: We might have corn on the cob, a big salad and of course, the inevitable, a big cooler full of beer!

Chef Heywood: Then we wind up with some kind of barbecue coming out of my smokehouse.

Brad: What do you smoke?

Chef Heywood: I smoke turkeys, pork shoulders and sometimes a corned beef brisket glazed with apricot horseradish and garlic.

Guest211: What does a Garde Manger do exactly?

Chef Heywood: Basically it's a department in a large hotel or kitchen that has to do with all foods served cold.

Chef Heywood: Things like hors d'oeuvres, canapes, pates, terrines, ice-carving.

Chef Heywood: These are all things that I teach at school.

Chef Heywood: I recently started teaching a class called charcuterie - how to make smoked hams, corned beef, salami.

Chef Heywood: Fresh and cured smoked sausages.

Chef Heywood: Like kielbasa, andouille, chorizo, etc.

Guest212: Has a vegetarian chili ever won the big cook off?

Chef Heywood: One time I was a judge at a chili cook off, and since vegetarian chili doesn't fit the 'definition' of chili, I disqualified it.

Chef Heywood: It was a recipe of my friend's, so I caught a lot of crap for that.

Chef Heywood: But actually, I make a vegetarian chili myself and it can be very good.

Alecv: Where are you from originally, Chef Heywood?

Chef Heywood: I'm from Boston.

Guest214: Should you use certain types of peppers in chili?

Chef Heywood: Someone is trying to get my secret!

Chef Heywood: I'm not telling my secret!

Chef Heywood: Folks have been trying to get my secret for ten years, but I'm not gonna do it.

Jean: what beer goes best with chili?

Chef Heywood: My homemade pilsner of course.

Guest214: Is Mexican oregano the same thing as cilantro?

Chef Heywood: No it's closer to wild marjoram.

Brad: Have you ever been to Terlingua?

Chef Heywood: No, there are 2 chili societies the other one goes there - Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI for short).

Brad: Is there a rivalry?

Chef Heywood: For some people there's a rivalry between the two, but not for me.

Chef Heywood: Some people say CASI was first on the scene, but it's not important to me - I'm just interested in cooking chili.

Guest211: What are some of your other spicy specialties?

Chef Heywood: Sometimes a New Mexican style Green chili stew with big pieces of pork and potatoes.

Chef Heywood: Andouille, chorizo, I like to make salsas spicy but serve them ice cold.

Chef Heywood: I like egg dishes with hot sauce on them.

Chef Heywood: And I like cajun things like a chicken and andouille sausage jambalaya.

Chef Heywood: I also make asian-influenced stir-fries that are spicy.

Chef Heywood: I don't like jalapeno ice creams and the beer with the green chili peppers in it.

Jean: Where is the Fiery Foods Show.

Chef Heywood: Albuquerque, in a few weeks, I'm going to the Fiery Foods Show. I'm a chef demonstrator every year. I have a booth and tout the Culinary Institute of America. To find out more info on the Fiery Foods Show, try chili pepper magazine.

Brad: Also try www.fiery-foods.com.

Brad: Any closing comments - Chef?

Chef Heywood: It's been fun talking with you.

Chef Heywood: I had a good time but I'm glad no one came out and asked my point-blank for my chili recipe.

Brad: Thank you Chef for participating tonight.

Brad: And thanks for everyone for asking questions and participating.