Posts Tagged ‘Fire and Ice Chili Cook Off’

Is this the Southern Comfort Secret ingredient?

Blue Ridge Fire & Ice – Chili Cook Off is February 16

Southern Comfort Cabin Rentals will be at it again this year! This time the “Chicks”…  Heather Stam and former Cooking Chick Kathryn Harris will be preparing  a Top Secret chili. This recipe is so Top Secret that we will feature it in the SoCo Cabins March newsletter! This annual event is sure to be a hit so show up early and taste your way down Main street. Fire and Ice Chili Cook Off will feature Interactive Professional Ice carvers as well as demonstrations. Chili Cook off, Live music, Ice skating rink set up in the City of Blue Ridge Park. Lots of fun for the whole family!

Blue Ridge Fire and Ice event information – 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Live Music from 1 to 4pm. All located in the Downtown Shopping district. Entry fee is $35, tasting tickets $5. Activities for Kids too!

Make it a weekend and book a Luxury or Cozy cabin rental near Blue Ridge or tucked away in the forest near a mountain stream. Visit the SCCR website to learn more and check availablity.

The Blue Ridge Fire and Ice Chili Cook Off is sponsored by the Blue Ridge Business Association

It was a beautiful 59 degrees on Saturday over presidents day weekend for the annual Fire and Ice Chili Cook-off. This annual event took place in historic Downtown Blue Ridge right across the tracks from Southern Comfort Cabin Rentals and Blue Ridge Adventure Center and behind the main street businesses. Hungry chili-eaters of all ages lined up in anticipation, waiting for the 12 o’clock hour to hit and the chili sampling to begin.

It was a jubilees event, with classic “golden oldies” playing over the sound system and happy event-goers dancing unabashedly in the streets, often times with pets and children.  Vendors from around Blue Ridge flocked to the Chili Cook-off to show off their wares, and more importantly, give away their one-of-a kind chili samples.

Some recognizable names included Harvest on Main, who prepared a savory concoction of different cuts of meat in what they called a “classic style chili”, or one without any beans. Christy Lee’s Courtyard Grill, and Mercier Orchards came prepared with strong showings, with both chili’s containing unique spices and ingredients that had people asking for more. Southern Comfort Cabin Rentals made a huge impression on the crowd, showcasing their people-friendly approach with their own sound system and what was perhaps the most original chili blend of the day, which included several secret ingredients that provided chili lovers with “sweet heat”. People swarmed for the innovative chili batch, using sample cups and utensils faster than SoCo could keep up with them.

And the winners, you ask? Christy Lee’s won People’s Choice, Trout Unlimited won best organization, and Mercier Orchard the coveted judges award for best tasting chili.

In the end the event was a huge success, bringing great attention to Blue Ridge with a crowd three times the size of last year’s event, 1/3 of which was local and the rest reportedly from Atlanta and Florida. The night was capped off with the soulful sounds of Francene Reed, veteran of the Blue Ridge Blues & BBQ Event and master of Blues music.

Plan on attending next year and make it a weekend… Southern Comfort Cabin Rentals will provide the setting, you make the memories!

There’s whiskey in them there hills! “That’s some good chili! Whats your recipe? Well… I’d be lying if I told you there wasn’t whiskey in it!” And its true, the boys for Southern Comfort Cabin Rentals cooked a killer batch of chili for this years Fire and Ice Chili Cook Off in Downtown Blue Ridge.

The story starts on a family vacation to Blue Ridge, when the newest addition to the SoCo family  cooked up an unusually excellent pot of chili, dubbed “sweet-heat”. You could also call it a family tradition from now on. The recipe had been in development for several years and was under constant refinement. The latest ingredient a.k.a “whiskey” was not added to the recipe until another visit to Blue Ridge. Our chef Matt Maddox planned a bachelor party for one of his long time friends and it happen to be on the same weekend as the first Blue Ridge Fire and Ice Cook Off. Jokingly, this is when our plan started to brew out of a simple suggestion. “You should enter your chili next year!” the seed was planted.

Team SoCo Started cooking after work late on Friday night prior to the event. Due to Chili shortages the prior year the Blue Ridge Business Association modified the amount of chili to 10 gallons. The rules stated that teams must cook 5 gallons prior to the cook off and the cook another 5 gallons at the event. A small amount of the five gallons cooked at the event would be used for the Judges and the rest could be given as samples for the people choice award. Our communications intern from Reinhardt College was at the event to cover the festivities first hand. Here is what he wrote about the 2012 Fire and Ice Chili Cook Off.