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Saturday, December 01, 2007

We Exist To Serve.....


Now why is that man posting a picture of a little zip-lock container with left-over chili in it? Simple! That was all that was left of the 6-1/2 gallon batch I brought to a customer for lunch Friday! This was the biggest batch of my competition-style chili I've ever made. A few facts to know and yell:
1. Shopping and unloading all ingredients- 1-1/2 hrs.
2. Chopping & dicing veggies and meat, browning meat, opening cans, etc.- 2-1/2 hrs.
3. Cooking chili (seasoning, simmering, stirring) in two separate pots- 3hrs.
4. Moving chili to 18 quart roaster& big crock pot, storing& cooling overnight-1hr.
5. Batch size- 6-1/2 gallons (or 26 quarts/52 pints/52 lbs./832 oz./24.6 litres).
6. Delivering, feeding,& clean-up- 3-1/2hrs.
7. Cost of batch ingredients- $96.00 (paid by my company as customer entertainment).
8. People fed- about 40 (shop folks work hard and can really eat!)
My wife and I did all the shopping and cooking, I did the lugging, set up, reheat and entertainment. When I got back home, she helped again on the cleanup of the cooking utensils & kitchen. Alone, I would have been up all night! The people really appreciated it, and it was fun to cook chili with no competition around! It's also fun to have people come up and say (with look on face like they just found the Messiah) "That's the best chili I've ever had!" I tell them to go to the chili cook-offs I'm in, and sign up to be a judge-PLEASE!
Chili Wisdom To Take With You Today:
"Chili should be like a big rollercoaster- it should scare you a little, but not kill you... And- "Chili is like sex- When it's good, it's incredible! And when it's bad, well, it's not THAT bad.....

28 comments:

Christo Gonzales said...

Wow thats ...let me see eleven and a half hours of chili..thats a little over an hour and forty five minutes per gallon...and at $14.76 per gallon ...sounds profitable depending on number of servings per gallon...but this is only cost of goods..

Great Job...and pleasing the clients begets more clients...

snowelf said...

Yum!

I had "chili" today too, but it was NOTHING compared to yours.

We are never outgrowing Ninjas and Pirates! Never I say!

--snow

MommaMonkey said...

Wow. I'm impressed by every bit of it. Now I want some.

buffalodick said...

DogB- Once, somebody asked what I would charge to BBQ a beef brisket. Let's see... 12 hrs on smoker/grill, plus food and equipment... $500 bucks!But you get to keep the grill....
Snowniece- Remember what they said about how chili is like sex! Pirates are like chili- They're great! Ninjas are like chili farts- silent, but deadly....
Chels- No drinking OR eating my chili until the baby is born- my stuff has induced labor before...

Paul Champagne said...

Could you ship me the left-overs?

Lori Stewart Weidert said...

Yum! Freezing rain here today called for 2 big vats of homemade chicken stock followed by one big pot white chicken chili.

Nice thing...so cold that I cooled the stock and the chicken outside,in between steps.

Have to try YOUR recipe next...

Mona said...

I wonder how the so called chili tastes like!

We call jalapenos chillies, over here.

I had no idea that there was a dish by that name which takes almost as much time as out 'khichda'[ meat and a twenty kinds of cereal cocktail, where you need to cook various things separately because some cook faster than other & then you mix them in the end with more spices and green chopped spices and julienned ginger etc.We even use husk removed whole wheat in that dish. It was supposed to be made by Noah on his ark on the last day of their sailing, before they sighted land! :)

Now, how I would love to taste your chili!

buffalodick said...

Paul- My youngest son snarfed that last little bit!
gnitegirl- My white chili recipe is on my blog somewhere, and my red chili- well you kinda have to be there.....
Mona- In USA we call the peppers "chiles". The dish "chili" or chilli(in Illinois!)varies greatly in recipe by regions. Chili, by definition is beef chopped, water, and chile peppers, simmered until meat is tender. Some common added ingredients would be chopped onion, chopped bell peppers, garlic, tomatoes, cumin, and various beans. Meats may be beef, pork, chicken, turkey, lamb, venison (deer), buffalo, and more! Chili powder would include ingredients like ground chile peppers, oregano(Mexican), cumin, onion, and garlic powder.
Discussing who has the best chili recipe is the best way I know how to get an argument going! I wish you could sample a bowl of it someday, while I would love to try your khichda!

Odat said...

I just can't imagine cooking that much chili...wow...you're good!
I like mine hot! ;-)
Peace

Mel said...

We also had Chili today, IT was a friendly chili cook off with friends, I'll post about it later.

Anonymous said...

wow! seems like a hell-of-a-lot of work! Hope it was fun! ;-)

I enjoy leftovers...

Funny quote LOL

Jen said...

If it's like sex, I probably like it!

Casdok said...

Yes wow!

Angel said...

slap a stamp on that baby and mail it to me!!! I luvs me some chili!!!

Akelamalu said...

Crikey you put some work in honey!

I love your saying about Chilli and sex LOL :)

tavolini said...

oooh...perfect time of year for chili. Sounds great--I'm impressed that 40 people could down almost 52 liters of chili!

tavolini said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
buffalodick said...

odat- Me too, but when you feed a crowd (or judges!) you have to GO A little towards the middle of the road...
mel- Hope you're all still friends after the judging!
nance- It was alot of work, but the lugging is what bugs me!
jen- Wow! Chili for everybody!
casdok- I'm a bad combination of big mouth and actually doing what I say I'll do...
beth- If I can find a bio-hazard container, I'll ship!
Ake- Chili cook-offs are a hotbed of joke telling!
tavolini- 52 pints, not liters! I could probably make that much, but NO!!!!! Never!

RW said...

Hey that sounds good I sure could eat a big bowl on a cold day like today! Thanks for visiting Idaho Daily Photo!

Sornie said...

Now that's quantity that not even my mother-in-law cooks at. I am a fan of things in bulk and food is definitely one of those things.

Mona said...

Gosh Buf! I had no idea that you and two others have already your parts of the story up at the experiment!

I had no information from mike about this & I always would go away from the blog seeing the name of Mebsmommy still up there!!

Great Work Buf! I am sorry I am so late in telling you this, but I had no idea or information really!...

buffalodick said...

roger- Welcome to the blog! By my logo, I think you understand why I liked the buffalo photo so much!
sornie- Quanity cooking, while maintaining quality of results is why I respect people who cook for a living...
Mona- It's okay, dear! I conceived and wrote wrote my entry in about 2 hrs. I'm kind of surprised how long some postings took! I'm still trying to sort out the last writers' direction- I'll re-read it sometime today. Take care.

pinknest said...

oh this looks spectacular. but 2.5 hours of chopping and dicing! oh i don't know if i'd last!

Mike Minzes said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike Minzes said...

You didn't miss the announcement. it's here:

http://mminzes.blogspot.com/2007/12/
change-has-arrived.html

Queenie said...

Mmmm! did that reheating you displayed melt!!!!!!

Real Live Lesbian said...

Lucky folks you work with!

I need two recipes...one for Leighann (she tastes so good you'll want the recipe) and one for your chili! I'm betting your not one to share....

Anndi said...

I think you just may be my hero...

Oh, and I LOVE those quotes!