With 18 chili contestants and 160 chili judges, this was a smoking hot event. We obviously take chili (and fun) very seriously at Westheights!
Each of our judges was given paper for note-taking (there were too many chilis to keep track of unless you have a super brain!) and beans for voting. Yes, this was a very scientific and methodical method. And everybody, young and old, seemed to have fun tasting, discussing, comparing and voting.
Thanks to our competitors for their amazing chilis. The chilis were delicious and surprisingly diverse in flavour profiles, aroma, colour, consistency, and aftertaste. There was even a “Forget the beef…it’s all beans” chili which consisted solely of jelly beans! Very clever entry, we must admit, and it was very popular (gee, kids, which entry did YOU vote for?). Our chefs are getting pretty clever with their add-ons which included add-your-own-heat hot sauces, grate-your-own cheese, sour cream, and other scrumptious additions. And we can’t forget the camel and water buffalo entry!
Our fantastic cooks were:
Benjamin Banman
Randy Buhrow
Lisa Coates-Cameron
Brian Cotie
Jay Cressman
Gillian Fenske
Heather Gallian
Shelly Green
Jennifer King
Kiana Lee
Tim Lee
Lorri McDermott-Holmes & Danya Tennent
Josh Mutter
Alicia Sauve
Joel Vanwyck
Jennifer Wolfe
Paul Wolfe
Young Adults
After everyone had a chance to sample and vote, we weighed the bean votes. In a case where the weight of the beans was close, we counted the beans. Third place went to Tim Lee’s camel & water buffalo chili; congratulations for finally making it to the podium, Tim! Second place went to Jennifer Wolfe’s thick and hearty chili, proving that a traditional chili will always be popular.
And the winner was Lisa Coates-Cameron, returning chili champ of 2017, with her very unique entry – cheese, white beans and pulled chicken. Next week we will post her winning recipe along with photos of her coronation, which will take place this Sunday, Jan 20th during the morning service. Congratulations, Lisa! We know you worked very hard on this recipe.
Thanks for Jen and Chris King for organizing this very fun event! There was a ton of effort happening in the background, and we really appreciate your hard work. And thanks also to Kiana for creating and running the Crack the Case event. There was always a long line-up of people waiting to Crack the Case so it was obviously very popular. Twelve teams attempted to crack the case within 8 minutes; 8 teams were successful while 4 ended up on the Wall of Shame but no team took longer than 8.5 minutes so it was close!
