Our Award Winning Smoked Brisket Chili

In December of 2012 I was extremely fortunate to take part in a  BBQ class from the legendary pit-master Harry Soo.  

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Shortly after that  I had the idea to start incorporating smoked meat into a chili that I had already been tinkering around with for some time.  The results were amazing and I entered it into a couple of different workplace chili contests.  I seemed to do well each year and someone gave me the bright idea to enter my recipe into the Orange County Fair. 

 

In 2013, I entered my chili into the fair and it took 2nd place.  From there I was hooked.  I came back the next year and entered a red chili with smoked tri-tip and a green chili with smoked pork shoulder; I won 1st place for both and a division title for my red.  After that summer, the Orange County Fair eliminated chili as a contest and I was forced to start looking for bigger competitions. 

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The big growth came in 2016 when a close family member talked me into competing in the Tustin Street Fair and Chili Cook Off.  The biggest one day chili contest on the West Coast, the event required a minimum of 20 gallons of people's choice!  The only way to accomplish this was with a team, and BellaQue: BBQ and Chili Co. was born.

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As of right now the team only compete in chili contests, but moving forward we'd like to eventually compete in BBQ comps as well.  Good standing members in the ICS (International Chili Society), we compete in roughly 5 to 8 competitions a year and love helping out the various charities that the events raise money for! Thanks for taking the time to visit our page and see you on the chili trail!