Last night, the strangest thing happened: I won a chili cook-off.

It was part of a wedding-shower party for some friends. And there were 15-ish different chilis, in three categories: traditional, non-traditional & vegetarian. Good times.

Since I don't really have a specific recipe to share (I don't keep track of what I do - I just add things until it's right) - I will tell you what I think made my chili stand out: I don't use ground meat; I use steak. No, not ribeye or tenderloin, just chuck steak, scraps, trimmings, what the store sells as 'stew meat'. Sure, it takes a good three hours of simmering to get the meat tender enough, and the tomatoes and onions will have completely dissolved, but it's worth it. All the judges who talked to me afterwards mentioned the 'steak'.

Nobody mentioned my carefully cultured intricate and enticing blend of exotic flavors: cinnamon, chocolate, four kinds of fresh peppers, four kinds of dried and smoked chiles, balsamic vinegar. People just really dug the little chunks of stew beef. Good! I like 'em too.

So that's my chili contest advice: use chunks of beef, not ground beef.

My favorite of the night, and the winner of the non-traditional chili category, was the Nepalese Green Chicken Chili. It had a flavor somewhere between Indian and Chinese: complex, with a nice bit of ginger. Pretty spicy. Very unusual. Totally delicious.