In search of the perfect chili

Otho Betterment hosts 10th annual chili cook-off

OTHO -- Every chili lover has in their mind's eye, the perfect ideal chili.

Beans, no beans. Molten lava spicy to slightly milder than tomato paste. Hamburger, steak, venison or an abomination like tofu. Vegetables, no vegetables. Onions, and if so, what kind? Thick as setting concrete or thin as soup broth.

There is no such thing as one size fits all.

There is no 100 percent correct answer.

What there is instead, if you're competing in the Otho Betterment Committee's 10th Annual Chili Cook-Off, is the chili that appeals to the greatest number of contest judges and the people voting in the People's Choice.

Eric White, of Templeton, who owns Barrel Smoke BBQ, had prepared his brisket/hamburger chili.

"It's not spicy," White said. "There's a medium amount of beans. It's a very thick chili. The flavor is from traditional chili powder. There's also a couple of things nobody really uses."

What those were remains a mystery. Is it classified?

"A little bit," he said. "We go for the depth of flavor; you want to be able to taste it afterwards."

White was a little surprised, too. There was apparently an attempt at bribing one of the judges with a carbonated adult beverage.

"I would have used cash," he said.

Jim Rees, of Duncombe, had given White's chili a try.

"It's very delicious." Rees said. "I'm going to have to put brisket in my chili the next time I make it."

His perfect chili?

"Lots of spice," he said.

He does favor beans in his chili, but it's not a deal-breaker.

"I'm not going to go to war over it," he said.

Travis Roach and Eric Oberg worked together to prepare a chili. The friends, who also happen to be neighbors, live right across the road from the Otho park where the contest was held.

Roach's ideal chili?

"It has to have beans," he said. "Not too sweet, a nice savory flavor, not too spicy."

Oberg had one thing to add.

"It has to be made with love," he said.

They were not the ones rumored to have attempted the bribe.

"It has to be further down that way," Roach said while pointing at another group of entrants.

Tarran Sheker, of Fort Dodge, was introducing his daughter Wrenlee Sheker, 2, to a sample of the day's chilis.

His ideal?

"I like it a little spicy," Sheker said. "I like some smoky flavor; it's gotta have beans."

Leah Harris, 14, of Fort Dodge, was on her fourth sample and getting ready for her fifth.

Her ideal chili?

"I don't like it too sweet," Harris said. "Spicy, but not too spicy. I don't want to burn my tongue. I like beans, peppers and whole mushrooms."

She also likes the Midwestern favorite chili side -- cinnamon rolls.

Her dad, Dan Harris, was enjoying his sample.

"It's 10 out of 10," Dan Harris said. "It's amazing."

He makes chili at home. For Leah, her dad's is ultimately the perfect chili, with one essential secret ingredient.

"He puts so much love into it," she said.