Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 5, 2012

GOOD FOOD & DRINK

9

 Mountain Views News Saturday, May 5, 2012 

SIERRA MADRE CHILI 
COOK-OFF

No Beans about the Annual Sierra Madre Kiwanis 
Chili Cook-Off is just around the corner. I am an old 
hand at these events, you see I put on the very popular 
Pasadena Chili Cook-Off for some 12 years. At one 
point we attracted some 30 cooks and 1200 attendees. 
I invite all of you to this event, I judged last year and I 
was absolutely impressed with the quality of entrants. 
My idea of a true chili is one that has no beans, but I 
have a feeling that there will be all sorts of entrants that 
I will state “This is Chili?”…I did a little research on 
how this Chili Craze got started, 

and these are the two that make the most sense. See everyone Saturday Night at the Sierra 
Madre Room 611 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. Sierra Madre.

There is little doubt that cattle drivers and trail hands did more to popularize the dish 
throughout the Southwest than anybody else, and there is a tale that we heard one frosty 
night in a Texican bar in Marfa, Texas, about a range cook who made chili along all the great 
cattle trails of Texas. He collected wild oregano, chile peppers, wild garlic, and onions and 
mixed it all with the fresh-killed beef or buffalo - or jackrabbit, armadillo, rattlesnake, or 
whatever he had at hand - and the cowhands ate it like ambrosia. And to make sure he had 
an ample supply of native spices wherever he went, he planted gardens along the paths of 
the cattle drives - mostly in patches of mesquite - to protect them from the hooves of the 
marauding cattle. The next time the drive went by there, he found his garden and harvested 
the crop, hanging the peppers and onions 
and oregano to dry on the side of the chuck 
wagon. The cook blazed a trail across Texas 
with tiny, spicy gardens. 

The other story I like as well, is that a small Rio Grande Jail in Texas was home to the original 
chili, the story goes that the inmates gathered scraps of meat, any kind of spices or anything 
that was left over and made a think soup, as they added vegetables the “soup” got thicker and 
thicker. The inmates added gruel, bread and water to thicken it up. By the 1850’s each Texas 
Jail was rated by the chili that was served!!

Join me this Saturday May 12th. And decide for yourself, is this the stuff that legends are 
made from? For more info call (626) 355-8333

Join me every Sunday at 8 PM on KABC Talk Radio for Food Talk. Dining with Dills. Email 
me at thechefknows@yahoo.com


Baked Maryland 
Lump Crab Cakes

Ingredients

 1/4 cup bread crumbs

 1 teaspoon baking powder

 1 teaspoon dried parsley

 1 teaspoon mustard powder

 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

 2 teaspoons seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay™

 1 tablespoon mayonnaise

 2 tablespoons butter, melted

 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

 3/4 cup cholesterol-free egg product

 1 pound lump crab meat

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet. 

2. Combine bread crumbs, baking powder, parsley, mustard powder, pepper, and 
seafood seasoning; set aside. Stir together mayonnaise, butter, Worcestershire, and egg 
product until smooth. Fold in crab meat, then fold in bread crumb mixture until well 
blended. 

3. Shape mixture into 12 crab cakes, about 3/4 inch thick, and place onto prepared baking 
sheet. 

4. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, then turn the crab cakes over, and bake an additional 
10 to 15 minutes, until nicely browned. 

TABLE FOR TWO by Peter Dills

thechefknows@yahoo.com

Do not forget your mother or grandmother on 
Mother’s DayMake your reservation now for the Four Seasons Tea Room75 N. Baldwin Ave., Sierra Madre, CA 91024 
RSVP (626) 355-0045
OpenTues - Sat11am - 4pmSundays 
open forgroups 
of 20 
or morePrivate SpaceAvailable 
for Bridal & 
Baby Showers, 
Birthdaysand 
Special 
Occasions
Space 
LimitedSpace Limited