Bringing The Heat In Spice

The 5th Annual Chili Cook Off was held at the Glasgow Elk's Lodge on Jan. 14, where 11 Valley County teams whipped up 12 different chilis for judges to determine the best, based solely on taste. All teams began cooking at 1 p.m., had three hours to perfect their recipe, before judging started at 4 p.m. As cooking got underway, aromas of onions, peppers, meat and spices filled both the inside and outside of the Elks.

The 11 teams who competed were Rocky Thompson, Team Porcupine Roadkill, Red Sillerud, Brandylee Loran, Mike Meredity, Travis Young, Kevin Taylor, Emily Young, North of Nowhere Farm, Erika Bengochea and JRs party Store, who made a red and a white chili.

As with any competition that is on a time frame, the cooks were certainly frazzled in making sure they kept with the time limit. According to Zak Peterson, who is one of the organizers, 20 minutes into cooking, a breaker tripped in one area of the room, affecting some of the teams. "Everyone came together, Emily Young had brought an extra generator, and we had extra cords. We were able to reset the breaker and everything went on in the afternoon," stated Peterson. Young, who was one of the teams competing, even offered help to fellow competitor and brother-in-law Travis Young, near the end of cook time because as E. Young put it "At 3:30 p.m., it looked like he wasn't close to being done!"

The judges were not allowed to walk the room where the teams were set up prior to judging, and when they showed up to the venue were secluded in Toodie's Cafe, where water and multiple plastic spoons were available. Mark Berger, owner of Toodie's and one of the judges, also offered saltine crackers to the judges to ensure clean palettes between tastes. "We are going to do this right!," laughed judge Jenn Jackson. All the judges had to rank each bowl of chili as they were delivered on a one to nine scale, with nine being the best, solely on taste. As the bowls were delivered, each judge marked the team number on the bowl and put them off to the side, so they could be tasted again if necessary.

After an hour of judging, the team who took home first place was JRs Party Store Arlie McMichael and Wayne McMichael, who submitted two bowls for tasting, a white and a red chili. The red chili is the bowl that brought them home the bragging rights. Second place went to Erika Bengochea and Denise Winchester while third place went to T. Young.

While the judges were tasting, the Elks was opened up to the public where they had the opportunity to taste each chili and chat with the teams. After tasting the chili, the public also had the opportunity to vote for People's Choice, which went to last year's first place winner Brandylee Loran with this year's teammate Candy Lagerquist.

"This year's event really blew up. It was good to see that," stated Peterson. There were a lot of returning teams from years' past as well as new teams such as T. Young and North of Nowhere Farms. "We wanted to get out of Opheim to do something and saw this opportunity so decided, 'why not'" said Darlis Nordhagen, co-founder and co-owner of North of Nowhere Farms. Nordhagen also had assistance in her chili making during the three hours preparation from family, including one of the youngest helpers, Audrey Elletson, who tried the competition's chili while awaiting the final results of judging.

The Elk's Chili Cook Off started in 2018, with organizers and siblings Lindsey and Zak Peterson wanting to bring the experience to Glasgow. "We competed in chili cook-offs when I was living in Dicksinson and always had a good time. There wasn't one around here at that time, so decided to have one here. Every year we try and host the event during the first week of NFL playoffs so we can watch the games," explained Z. Peterson.

This year's competition saw more teams than in 2021, as only six teams competed at that time. Z. Peterson said typically a full roster is 10 teams, but the rules are flexible, depending on if he overbooks the competition, like what happened this year. Though there were a lot of returning teams from previous years, there were new teams as well this year. Though the competition was fierce this year, most have already expressed wanting to come back next year.