Sunny skies won’t be the only thing heating up Fells Point this weekend.
Twenty-five competitive chili cooks from across the nation are bringing their best recipes to Charm City for the 31st annual Maryland Chili Championship on Saturday, July 18.
With the waterfront views of Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park as its backdrop, chefs will whip up gallons of the hearty dish in hopes of winning a $750 cash prize and a ticket to the International Chili Society’s World’s Championship Cookoff in October.
In previous years, the event was habitually held in Germantown, but when longtime organizer Jim Parker passed away last September, local chili competitor Matthew Levy took the reins, moving the cookoff to his home in Baltimore.
“[Parker] was a good friend and we wanted to continue to carry the torch,” Levy says. “I always wanted to do something on the waterfront, I think it adds a little bit of pizazz to the competition but it also adds another obstacle for the cooks because you [can’t control] the wind or humidity.”
Chefs can choose to submit recipes in any of the competition’s three categories, which include traditional red chili (red meat with red chili powder), chili Verde (pork or chicken with green chili), and salsa—a category that Levy describes as “anything goes.” A panel of 32 judges will rate each variation in a blind taste test format, and spectators will also be given the opportunity to vote for their favorites in the “Jim Parker Memorial People’s Choice” category.
In keeping with the International Chili Society’s tradition of teaming up with local charities, proceeds from this weekend’s event will benefit Living Classrooms Foundation, an organization that provides hands-on maritime education to local youth.
“If we want to affect the future, we have to have smart kids, and that’s exactly what Living Classrooms is doing,” Levy says.
Tickets for the cookoff, which will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., are $10 and can be purchased at the door.