> Fifteen cooks. Fifteen chili recipes: Some old, some new, some
> tried-and-true, and others invented just that morning.
>
> So it was for contestant John Bates, who entered his vegetarian chili
> Saturday in the Citizens Against the Pellissippi Parkway Extension's
> fundraiser, ChiliFest 2003.
>
> ``What I tell people is, this is an old family recipe that I made up
this
> afternoon,'' he said.
>
> A happy tinkerer in the kitchen and the person who does ``80 percent
of
the
> cooking'' at his house, Bates created the recipe.
>
> ``Chili is a comfort food,'' he said.
>
> Some recipes were borrowed.
>
> Wilda Cornett's ``Not So Famous Chili'' recipe came compliments of
her
son,
> who now lives in Atlanta.
>
> His recipe was born out of desperation: a single man, he learned to
cook
> from television shows. It was that or starve.
>
> Cornett's chili had chorizo, a sausage often used in kitchens in
Mexico
and
> the southwestern United States.
>
> ``The chorizo gives it texture,'' she said.
>
> Chili brings out the bold, creative cook, too.
>
> Julie Niles' chili had chunks of ovenroasted chicken, navy beans,
lima
> beans, jalapenos and lime juice.
>
> At the other end of her table, Marian Fitzgerald's chili held a rare
> ingredient, Wyoming blacktail deer, compliments of a friend who
hunted in
> that region.
>
> Like Bates, she likes to experiment in the kitchen. Chili is also in
demand
> at her house. Her husband, Tom Fitzgerald, loves it.
>
> ``So I make it often,'' she said.
>
> There were new cooks.
>
> Amy Hayes entered her first pot of homecooked chili. So did
11-year-old
> Megan Forsythe. Both made vegetarian chilis.
>
> One contestant wanted to enter but didn't want to cook.
>
> ``My mom made it,'' said contestant Carrie Hoffman, who tasked her
boyfriend
> to dole out the servings of her entry. ``I don't really know how to
cook.''
>
> CAPPE set four categories: Spicy, Vegetarian, Most Unusual and
People's
> Choice, the overall winner's category.
>
> Spicy proved overwhelmingly popular, encompassing two-thirds of the
entries.
>
> This is good news if you walked through the door and plunked down
your
money
> for a hot bowl of the stuff.
>
> For contest judges Sen. Bill Clabough, Mike Owens of The Soup
Kitchen, and
> Emily Hyden, Blount County Agricultural Extension Office, this meant
> sampling it all.
>
> Fifteen samples and 90 minutes later the judges chose Bates (Spicy),
Niles
> (Most Unusual) and Forsythe (Vegetarian) this year's winners.
Forsythe was
> also chosen for the People's Choice Award.
>
> It was the first year of the chili cook-off and likely not the last
for
> CAPPE, which opposes a four-lane extension from Alcoa (Highway 129)
to
East
> Lamar Alexander Parkway (Highway 321).
>
> Funds raised from the cook-off, silent auction and bake sale Saturday
cover
> legal expenses for CAPPE's suit against state and federal highway
> departments. The case is pending.
>
> All materials Copyright © 2003 Horvitz Newspapers.
>