Hi Dave,

 RH> I've never entered serious competitions, and like the DIY flavoring.
 RH> Most often I'll use an assortment (rarely exactly the same assortment)
 RH> of fresh peppers, powdered peppers and other spicing. Makes life
 RH> interesting. (G)

 DD> As I said the repeatability is 'portant. And I sample as I go - so
 DD> if I need to tweak things, BINGO. A little trick I learned is to
 DD> add a small amount of cinnamon. Not a lot or you'll get accused of
 DD> being from  Cincy. But, often a pinch or two (never more than 1/8
 DD> teaspoon in 5# meat) will help the flavours wake-up and blend.

 RH> We've done that, or sometimes a bit of dark (at least 70%) chocolate.

 DD> I use Hershey's cocoa powder - not the drink mix. And I'm careful to
 DD> keep The chcoclate flavour as an undertone. I mis-measured as a
 DD> cook-off once and the judges sheets gigged me pretty hard for it.

We'll take an Aldi Mosher Roth bar and melt it in.


 DD> This is on the agenda for tomorrow night.

 DD>       Title: Uncle Dirty Dave's Red Pork Chilli
 DD>  Categories: Pork, Chilies, Stews
 DD>       Yield: 5 Servings

 DD> I'm making that again tonight using some pork steak that was on sale @
 DD> U$1.49 per pound.

 RH> Looks good. Steve had to cook for the VFW last night. Since he had his
 RH> first cataract surgery on Monday and we're still getting resettled from
 RH> the trip, we let "Uncle Sam" do the cooking. We got chicken pot pies,
 RH> Caesar salads, fruit trays and a big cookie tray. He came home with
 RH> just a bit of pot pie (we'd bought 3) that will be tonight's supper, 2
 RH> (of 6) bags of salad, one (of 2) fruit trays and about 18 (of 84)
 RH> cookies. Overall, guess-timated quite well, and the left overs will be
 RH> incorporated into our meals.

 DD> I'm not eligible for either VFW or American Legion as my tour in Uncle
 DD> Sugar's Yacht Club was during a period of no wars - although Castro
 DD> was getting ready to do his thing just south of Florida. My brother
 DD> Phil, on the other paw is Past Commander of American Legion Post 32.
 DD> Which, by
 DD> the by, has a most excellent restaurant. They are well-known in the
 DD> area for their Thursday night fried chicken. I like their Tuesday 20%
 DD> discount on your food check for veterans. I *AM* eligible for that if
 DD> not for
 DD> membership.   Bv)=

Steve is eligible for both, having served in Occupied Berlin and South
Korea. Our post building doesn't have a restaurant (or bar) but does
have a decent commercial kitchen. For VFW and American Legion, the guys
take turns cooking, don't know what the Marine Corps League does. Our
Auxiliary president usually cooks for our meeting; she's a widow and
kids are out of the house but she still likes to cook in quantity so
we're well fed. (G)

 DD> Here's one of my chilli recipes that uses both cocoa and cinnamon.
 DD> You've probably aleady seen it - but it does make a nice pot of
 red.

 DD>       Title: Uncle Dirty Dave Drum's Prize Winning Chilli
 DD>  Categories: Beef, Chilies, Stews, Mine
 DD>       Yield: 6 Servings

Seen it quite often, may have it saved on a floppy from when we had the
C-64. (G)

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Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


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