OWASSO WINNER – Owasso chili cook Mike Mayenschein, right, gets his prize with cookoff organizer and chief judge ChiliJohn Fenrich from Owasso and International Chili Society President Carol Hancock.
Huge Cash Prize Lures Cooks to Texas Cookoff
DALLAS, TX — Chiliheads of all shapes, sizes and affiliations flocked to the beautiful tree shaded campus of Southern Methodist University in downtown Dallas, TX on a cloudy Sunday in mid-April to compete for top honors in two major league chili cookoffs. Owasso’s John “ChiliJohn” Fenrich and his wife, Kay, served as chief judge and chief scorekeeper for the International Chili Society (ICS) competition.
Veteran ICS chili cook and reigning Oklahoma champion Mike Mayenschein from Owasso brought honor to his city and state by placing second in the salsa competition and third in the chili verde (green chili) contest. He will represent the state of Texas at the 2015 ICS World Chili Championship Cookoff if the Texas first place cook is not able to compete.
The 2nd Annual Pendery’s Charity Chili Challenge cookoff featured 39 cooks competing in three categories in the International Chili Society Texas State Championship cookoff. The winners in red chili, green chili and salsa will be representing Texas at the 2015 ICS World Chili Championship Cookoff in the Fall.
Plus 57 chili teams vied for points to qualify for the Chili Appreciation Society International/ Tolbert championship cookoff to be held at historic Terlingua, TX.
The cookoff was Texas big enough to attract participation by the leaders of the two international chili associations. ICS president Carol Hancock was on hand to help ICS chief judge ChiliJohn Fenrich and his chief scorekeeper wife, Kay, with the judging. Past CASI president Jim Ezell was at the cookoff site early to help with registration of the CASI cooks.
After a fun-filled day of cooking and camaraderie, the ICS winners were Jerry Hunt, Shreveport, LA, for red chili; Tom Hoover, Columbus, OH, for green chili and Jason Clark, Arlington, TX, for salsa. Dave Schulman from Connecticut was given a special award for the cook traveling the farthest. Hunt walked away with red chili bragging rights and $2,000.
The Texas cookoff attracted ICS cooks from seven states.
“It was evident that we had world-class quality cooks at the Texas championship. At the cooks’ meeting I asked for those who had cooked at World to raise their hands and about a dozen paws were raised,” said Fenrich. “Then when I asked who wanted to go to this year’s WCCC, everyone shot their hand in the air.”
With 37 teams competing, it was required to have two preliminary tables for judging red chili. The red finals table had judges evaluating 11 chilies to find the champion. ICS green judges sampled 14 bowls and ICS salsa judges also ruled after tasting 14 salsas.
The Pendery’s spice company’s cookoff is one element of an ongoing fundraising program by the historic Texas business to benefit the Housing Crisis Center’s Survivors of Domestic Violence, American Cancer Society, Assist the Officer Foundation and SMU Catholic Ministries. Pendery’s general manager Clint Haggerty told the cooks that the goal of raising $100,000 had been exceeded.
Pendery’s is the oldest family owned and operated business in the state of Texas.
ICS WINNERS
Red Chili – 1st – Jerry Hunt; 2nd – John Sullivan, 3rd – Robert Graves
Green Chili: 1st Tom Hoover; 2nd – Dave Schulman; 3rd – Mike Mayenschein
Salsa: 1st – Jason Clark; 2nd – Mike Mayenschein; 3rd – David Lazarus
ALL DRESSED UP – ICS chili cook Donnie Goings chats with Owasso’s Kay Fenrich at the Texas State Championship Chili Cookoff at the SMU campus Sunday, April 12th. Fenrich served as the ICS chief scorekeeper.
