[jimt]

It was supposed to be "genuine" Texas chili.

Horsepuckey. There ain't no such thing. And you CAN win cookoffs using ground meat. I've won two using a combination of ground beef, turkey burger and pork sausage.

Of course, if it's a cookoff with rules thought up by an "eggspurt", or a consensus of officious clowns, there may be all kinds of idiotic requirements.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Horsepuckey. There ain't no such thing."

That's why I put "genuine" in quotes. I know the rules of the contest prohibited beans, but I'm not sure if ground meat was allowed. I think it was, but most recipes started with cubed beef.