Oh. My. Damn!
THAT’S SOME GOOD CHILI…MAN
Anyone can throw onions, garlic, spices and red beans into a pot and hope for the best. Some actually do. That’s not us. Our 2-time award-winning chili recipe is fork’n tasty.
THAT’S SOME GOOD CHILI…MAN
Anyone can throw onions, garlic, spices and red beans into a pot and hope for the best. Some actually do. That’s not us. Our 2-time award-winning chili recipe is fork’n tasty.
Joseph (Joe) DeFrates, Illinois’ only world champion of chili, is the creator of canned Chilli Man Chili.
After serving with the Army in the Battle of the Bulge, Mr. DeFrates married his wife, Rose, in 1944. He began working for Ray’s Chilli as a sales manager.
Mr. DeFrates got his start in chili after learning alongside his father, Walter “Port” DeFrates, a restaurateur, and uncle Ray DeFrates, who started canning Ray’s Chilli. Wanting to get into the business himself, he took two years to develop his own recipe and business before putting Chilli Man Chili on the market in 1953.
Mr. DeFrates won the International Chili Championship in 1973. He claimed the World’s Championship Chili Cookoff in 1975 and promptly retired from competition. In 1975, Mr. DeFrates started the Illinois State Championship Chilli Cookoff in Springfield, running the competition until 1987.
Joe was a lifetime member of the International Chili Society, where he served on the judges panel.
Joseph (Joe) DeFrates, Illinois’ only world champion of chili, is the creator of canned Chilli Man Chili.
After serving with the Army in the Battle of the Bulge, Mr. DeFrates married his wife, Rose, in 1944. He began working for Ray’s Chilli as a sales manager.
Mr. DeFrates got his start in chili after learning alongside his father, Walter “Port” DeFrates, a restaurateur, and uncle Ray DeFrates, who started canning Ray’s Chilli. Wanting to get into the business himself, he took two years to develop his own recipe and business before putting Chilli Man Chili on the market in 1953.
Mr. DeFrates won the International Chili Championship in 1973. He claimed the World’s Championship Chili Cookoff in 1975 and promptly retired from competition. In 1975, Mr. DeFrates started the Illinois State Championship Chilli Cookoff in Springfield, running the competition until 1987.
Joe was a lifetime member of the International Chili Society, where he served on the judges panel.