Dick's Chili World: SUNDAY - December 10, 2006

Christmas Greetings for JR Knudson

I WANT TO WISH ALL MY CHILI FRIENDS A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR AND THANK THEM FOR THE GOOD WISHES AND CARDS THEY HAVE SENT MY WAY. I'M VERY HAPPY AND PROUD TO BE THE I.C.S. 2006 WORLD CHILI CHAMPION - J.R.
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New email address for Charles Welsh

ckwelsh@comcast.net

Our Octogenarian and ICS WORLDS Champion

the latest issue of the AARP Bulletin

The Chili Champ

Meet 90-year-old J.R. Knudson, whose perfected family recipe recently won the International Chili Society's 40th Annual World's Championship Chili Cook-off.

By Stacy Hawkins Adams

December 2006

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J.R. Knudson and his wife, Margo, know a good idea when they taste one.

In 1954, their first bites of a taco led them to open Jimboy’s Tacos, a restaurant that blossomed into 45 locations in Northern California and Nevada.

Now, J.R.'s well-honed palate and persistence in perfecting a family recipe helped him beat 157 red chili cooks at the recent International Chili Society's 40th Annual World's Championship Chili Cook-off in Omaha, Neb.

The 90-year-old J.R. says he was thrilled by the world title and $30,000 in prize money when his Rough and Ready Chili won.

The Knudsons, of Granite Bay, Calif., have celebrated dozens of wins—as a husband-wife team and independently—since they began competing in chili cook-offs in 1981. They amicably chucked their cook-off partnership in 1984.

"J.R. likes to put everything in at once," says Margo, 85. "I like to put some in as I cook, at different intervals."

While she failed to make the championship round this year, her approach paid off in 1987, when she snagged the championship title.

J.R. attributes his success to cooking science. "If it's a dry day, you're going to lose a lot of moisture and the chili gets too salty by the time it gets on the table," he says. "You also have to adjust your ingredients to the altitude."

With two championship titles and 67 years of marriage between them, the Knudsons could just kick back and relax. Instead, they've already mapped out next year's cook-off schedule.