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EveryMasala

Next: 7 to 8 Nov 2026

Terlingua chili cookoff

The first Saturday of November, when cooks in a Texas ghost town compete with chilli seasoned with cumin, ancho and cayenne.

Bowl of Chili con Carne, made of ground pork, cubed beef, beans, tomatoes and hot peppers. Decorated with two Tortilla chips.
Photo: Carstor, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Spices for Terlingua chili cookoff

The Terlingua International Chili Championship has been held in the Chihuahuan desert since 1967, and rules are fierce: no beans, no pasta. The chilli is built on dried chilli pods, ground cumin, oregano, garlic and cayenne, added in several stages, and cooks guard their spice mix. The "chili powder" in American shops has a similar history, developed in Texas in the late 19th century from ground chillies, cumin, oregano and garlic.

The spices

CuminThe savoury core.

Also part of it, and being written: Chili powder (The American blend.), Cayenne pepper (For heat.).

About this page

Written by the EveryMasala desk with AI assistance. Background: "Chili con carne" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven spices you may not know, what is cooking this week, and one blend explained step by step.