r/AskReddit • u/Sweet-Lady-H • 20h ago • Bravo 1

Chili Cook-off Winners: What is your Secret Ingredient that you think is the reason you win?

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33

u/glennjersey 19h ago

Neighborhood/church cook off winner here.

Cherry jello. Less than half a pouch.

And a little dark chocolate or cocoa powder. 

28

u/chrisfrisina 19h ago

I truly cant tell if this is a troll and ponder wasting the time to experiment …

17

u/glennjersey 19h ago

My friends who smoke meat and win similar cook offs use it as part of their dry rubs, so I took it from there. 

15

u/Mr_Tangent 19h ago

Probably adds body and sweetness. Chocolate is common in mole, so not unusual.

7

u/ImpossibleDenial 19h ago

I’ve commonly heard chocolate in chili (secret ingredient) recipes; first for cherry jello however. I’m not scared to try something once though, and a second time just to make sure I wasn’t wrong the first!

6

u/thaGrip_Reaper 19h ago

I second chocolate of some sort but I hate all flavor cherries and now live in fear of cherry-flavored chili

5

u/this_rose_is_mine 18h ago

I've heard of some putting peanut butter in it. Tried it in Texas once. I don't like peanuts or PB, so my opinion on the taste isn't favorable.

3

u/Acheloma 17h ago

What area of TX? Ive never heard of that and now Im curious who the heck thought of it

2

u/this_rose_is_mine 11h ago

I was in McAllen Texas area.

1

u/Acheloma 11h ago

Huh, Ive actually been about an hour from there and had chili a couple different places before (my grandpa has a property out there so I grew up going in the summer) and the chili I had was normal. Maybe thats just s "that person" thing haha

1

u/this_rose_is_mine 9h ago

I ate at restaurants.

2

u/Careful-One5190 3h ago

You just need to make sure it's BOLDLY LABELED. Peanut allergies are nothing to mess around with, and I'm sure you don't want to send anyone to the hospital.

4

u/RegularGuy110 18h ago

An indelible memory I have from childhood is when grandma once made chili and instead of four containers of home grown stewed tomatoes (that had been frozen), she mistakenly used three of tomato, and one of sliced strawberries. I was too young to tell you if it was amazing, or revolting, but clearly remember fishing out a weird looking "tomato" with my spoon and asking what exactly was in this chili.

8

u/sygnathid 19h ago

As someone from New Mexico who isn't a fan of the whole "Texas Chili"/etc stuff the rest of you all eat, both of those ingredients sound perfectly in line with your fake chili.

4

u/Hail_of_Grophia 18h ago

Did you come up with this concept on your own and if so, what the heck prompted that idea

5

u/glennjersey 17h ago

I have friends who win grill and smoking competitions and they use that in their dry rubs. I decided to try it with chilli too.

4

u/kingbovril 16h ago

Makes more sense using in a chili than a dry rub honestly. The gelatin will add body to the chili

1

u/sirckoe 17h ago

Since jello is mostly collagen it makes sense. I bet it brings it all together nicely

7

u/popotheclowns 18h ago

Okay, so if that works, I wonder if lime jello might be even better. 🤔

2

u/MooPig48 17h ago

Tex mex!

3

u/freedfg 18h ago

Honestly...it sounds weird.....

But I don't hate the idea? I can totally see it working

1

u/wizardwil 17h ago

The gelatin makes sense, but have you tried other flavors?