winning chili-cook off

Winning Chili -Cook off

In 1992, I won
the US Embassy’s chili cook-off
In Seoul Korea.

As I taught my wife
how to cook American
Texas-style chili
For the first time.

We cooked in a large pot
Nine different beans
Black, Chickpeas, garbanzo, kidney,
Lentils, navy, red and pinto beans
Pre-soaked since the night before.

Browning beef with chili powder, garlic, onion
And cooking up some spam and some hot dogs
Then threw it into the simmering pot

Adding other spices, including

Basil, bay leaf, ginger, kimchi,
Leaks, oregano, black pepper,
red pepper, sea salt, sage, turmeric.

Cooking it for hours
Adding in grits, flour,
cooked rice and molasses
To thicken it as it cooked.

Then topping it with red wine,
Mount Guy rum and Jack Daniels
just before finishing it.

Topping it with grated
American cheese
and guacamole

NEW PROMPT: Tomorrow, February 4, is National Homemade Soup Day! Write a story or poem about someone making a soup from scratch for the first time.