Subj : Re: Road Tripping
To : Ruth Haffly
From : Dave Drum
Date : Sat Sep 28 2024 05:17:00
-=> Ruth Haffly wrote to Dave Drum <=-
RH> Sad that he had to give up the cooking but good to know his recipe is
RH> still going strong in the community. Does the town have a "home of
RH> Les's (last name) famous chili" sign at the town limits along each
RH> highway entrance? If not, why not?
DD> Not really. We had three chilli canners here at one time. Two of the
DD> labels are still in business. Chilli Man, started by Joe DeFrates who
DD> used to be part of our Thursday lunch bunch. And Ray's Chilli
DD> established by Ray DeFrates (Joe's brother). The Defrates brothers
DD> have passed but their labels live on. Chilli Man is owned by Faribault
DD> Foods in (of all places) Faribault, Minne-snow-ta. And Ray's is owned
DD> by the former sales manager for the label, Jay Nicole, and located
DD> next-town-over (Decatur, IL). Scully's Chilli is now being made in
DD> Carlinville, IL and is only distributed in central Illinois.
Another note on Joe DeFrates - he is/was the only two-time winner of
the International Chili Society's World Championship. I'll post what he
claimed was his recipe for that winning chilli below.
RH> WOW! I didn't realise the state was so into chili. We left Pigeon Forge
RH> a day early (weather coming in and Steve has a can't miss dr. appt.
RH> Monday), took a country road up to I-40. On the way we passed the
RH> Bush's Beans factory & visitor's center. We didn't stop this time but
RH> maybe some other time when we're in the area we'll consider it. A can
RH> of beans was in our rally goody bag.
Bush makes a very good product. I use their pinto beans sometimes in my
home chilli. If cooking for a chilli supper or siilar event I'm more
likely to go with Brook's Chili Hot Beans in the #10 can. But Bush's
chilli beans are good, if a bit of a different flavour profile. I've
not found them in a #10 can, though. Just the usual 15 oz grocery store
items.
DD> At the end of the month the local college is putting on a "Chilli
DD> Event" using Les' recipe. He was a volunteer instructor there for
DD> several years The event will be held in the "Culinary Arts Center"
DD> where they train profeeionals in the culinary field.
RH> Trained anybody famous so far?
DD> Only locally well-known. And successful. He was also one of the
DD> driving forces, along with his brother, Don, in the resolution passed
DD> by the state legislature and signed by (then) Governor Jim Edgar.
DD> The whole thing was sponsored by former Springfield Mayor and then
DD> State Senator Karen Hasara. You can read the story here:
DD>
https://tinyurl.com/CHILLINAME
RH> OK, might give it a look/see when we get back home and resettled.
Don Eastep is the guy whose "15 Minutes of Fame" consisted of a bogus
win the the Chili Appreciation Society's "Behind The Store" cook-off.
He was elegible (along with both of his brothers) but had not planned
on cooking. So he got a sample of each cook's chilli and mixed them
together, turn in the result ... and won. When the story came out the
"win" was rescinded, the trophy and prize $$$ awarded to the guy who
finished second. And a (joke) warrant issued for Don.
A few years later he was invited back, the Governor of Texas granted
a pardon on the charges and he cooked against the Dentist who rightly
won their previous encounter. At the end of the day there were only 2
points separating them.
RH> RV/radio net rally in Pigeon Forge, TN. Got to make sure we have enough
RH> room to bring back some new cast iron pieces. (G)
DD> Are you visiting a foundry in Pigeon Forge? Or stopping at the Lodge
DD> factory outlet store in South Pittsburgh?. After Dollywood, of course.
RH> There's an outlet store in Pigeon Forge, stopped there today and got an
RH> 8 compartment scone pan, a 6 cup muffin pan and several small
RH> accessories--with a military discount spent less than $90.
Scones is something I've never made or knowingly eaten. That is I may
have had a scone at some time without knowing it was called a scone. Bv)=
RH> Stopping at a Lodge outlet store, not planning on going to Dollywood.
RH> Had thought about the Biltmore on our way out but base level entry fee
RH> was $90. per person, a bit too rich for us.
DD> Did you know that Lodge is producig a line of Dolly Parton cast iron
DD> cookware? I've bought one of the 12" skillets for gifting this holiday
DD> season.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/dolly-parton
RH> Saw that but went with the original stuff.
DD> I note that I gat a "bargain". I bought the 12" skillet from Amazon
RH> at DD> the 10" skillet price (U$29.95)
RH> Good deal!
I thought so.
DD> I'm not big on theme parks, fairs and similar expositions. Part of
DD> that is the amount of walking involved. And another (big) part is the
DD> "Been there. Done that" syndrome of many older folks. Bv)=
RH> And a lot it (rides, honky tonk shows, etc) is stuff we have absolutly
RH> no interest in. The main street/road/whatever you call it in this area
RH> (Pigeon Forge runs into Sevierville) is full of "Adventure Land parks",
RH> dinner and show theaters, souvenier shops of all sorts....I.O.W.,
RH> anything to separate the tourist from their $$$.
DD> When I was a kid I haunted the midway and its rides and games of
DD> "skill". As well as climbing all over the farm machinery displayed. I
DD> pretend drove a wide range of tractors, etc. before I was old enough
DD> to drive them in the real world and learned it's a chore, not
DD> necessarily a fun thing.
RH> I never got into them, partly because my folks never took us to
RH> anything other than the local fireman's carnival--except for one time
RH> we spent a couple of hours at an amuesment park in St. Catherine's,
RH> Ontario. After getting married, we went to Busch Gardens once with
RH> Steve's folks and several Dippemesses in Frankfurt, W. Germany. Latter
RH> is a big carnival set up and also local potters (& other crafts folks)
RH> have seasonal sales.
The last county fair I went to was my local deal in New Berlin. Their was
a chilli cook-off in which I placed second and won the salsa (pico de gallo,
really) competition. The hung around to see the free grandstand show that
evening. Three Dog Night was playing - with all but one of its orifinal
musicians ... and the one not there was pushing up daisies instead of
touring - mostly because he got his lunch in a traffic mishap.
Here's that chilli recipe and I'm going away.
MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06
Title: 1975 ICS World Championship Winning Chilli
Categories: Five, Beef, Vegetables, Chilies, Stews
Yield: 3 Servings
1 lb Ground beef
1 oz Pkg Chilli Man Chilli Mix *
8 oz Can Hunts tomato sauce
ds Tabasco sauce
Brown ground beef in heavy skillet. Stir in contents of
chilli mix and add tomato sauce. Simmer for 1 hour and add
Tabasco.
* Joe DeFrates originally developed the Chilli Man Mix
(the Illinois spelling of Chilli) and sold it, packaged,
under that name from the 1950s until he sold the recipe to
the Milnot Co. of Litchfield, IL, in the 1970s. It is
available today in most midwestern states under the
original name. The actual ingredients of the chilli mix are
not available.
A FURTHER NOTE: You can believe that this is the actual
recipe if you like. But, no chilli cook *ever* gives out
the exact recipe that he used. And the original chilli
spice mix that Joe probably did use is no longer
available - so, use Gebhardt or Mexene or whatever your
favourite is. - UDD
From:
http://www.chilicookoff.com
Uncle Dirty Dave's Archives
MMMMM
... "Chilli dawgs always bark at night." -- Lewis Grizzard
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