Chili cook-offs are great for fundraisers and community get togethers.
A chili cook-off is often used as a gauge for cooks to show off their cooking skills. Often at times, a chili cook-off is used during fundraising events for local charities or athletic programs. Hosting a chili cook-off takes a fair amount of planning, coordinating and extending invitations to the public. You can scale your chili cook-off by limiting the number of entrants or having a full-blown event with unlimited entries.
Instructions
1. Choose a location large enough to hold the event. Check for availability for open dates, time and location requirements for holding such an event. Ask what insurance policy is needed to host the event. Create a newspaper advertisement and invitations announcing the event. Send the invitations to any chili teams you may be aware of. You should send the invites out at least six weeks in advance so that the teams coming have time to prepare.
2. Establish the rules of the event. You may opt to have two categories: 1) On-site cooked and prepared chili, 2) or pre-cooked and finished dish. The most logical is to have them all cook on-site to keep the event interesting. Having live cooking during the event is guaranteed to have the public's interest in watching how the entire process is played out. Decide how many cooks can be in a booth, the time limit for the event, entry fee, how many categories there will be and the amount of prize money up for grabs.
3. Set up the cooking stations where all of the teams will set up camp. Assign each team a booth number and give them a list of the rules. Assign each booth a cook-off volunteer to monitor that no illegal activity takes place. Have the volunteers keep watch on the amount of time the teams have remaining to turn in their dishes and direct them to the judges tables.
4. Create an area so that samples of the chili can be tasted. You may want to offer other items such as beverages, chips, candy and other chili products for sale. You should have a station for the traditional extras most people love to put on chili, items such as cheese, onions, sour cream, peppers, hot sauce, crackers and cornbread. You may want to have some cold desserts to cool down the spicy flavors. You could also sell merchandise for the event such as hats, t-shirts, key chains to help raise money for the event or charity.
5. Choose the people who will judge the contest. Instruct each judge on what to look for in each category established for the event. Determine the top prize positions in each category.
6. Announce the winners of the prizes for each category you have created. You should award a trophy and a check to the top 5 positions, then name an award for the best Overall Dish in categories such as Best Spicy Chili, Best Vegan Chili, Best Beanless and perhaps Best Presentation.
Tags: chili cook-off, each category, Assign each, Chili Best, items such
