The graduate school team had a fantastic time at the 2015
SGA Chili Cook-off with two very well-received recipes.

One of the recipes, by
first year graduate students Ryan Daly and Ara Alexandrian, gathered a lot of
attention due to its not-so-secret ingredient of crushed hot Cheetos.

The
Cheetos gave it a fiery hot look and taste that was enjoyed by the more daring
attendees of the cook-off.

The other recipe was a more traditional chili that was made
with a lot of heart and labor. It included homemade chili powder crushed from
three different types of chilies and was cooked with the beef chuck bones in
overnight to give it more depth of flavor.

All of the spices were ground from
the seeds and added slowly until they gave the chili just the right balance of
kick and savoriness.

Although neither chili won an award from the judges, they
seemed very well-received by the crowd, who often came back for seconds or to
bring some to their friends.

Third year graduate student and chili cook-off team member
Cole Boggs said of the event “I loved seeing people’s reactions when they tasted
the chili. I think you can tell a lot about a person based on whether they went
for the hot-Cheetos recipe or the more traditional version.”

The team is already
looking forward to next year’s cook-off.

They plan to go bigger and fancier on
presentation and they have a few other secret tricks up their sleeves that they
think will “wow” the judges.

The “Beyond The Bench” series features articles written by students and postdoctoral fellows at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio.