Couple travels to four states with their award-winning chili
MUSKOGEE, OKLA. – Richard Millsap has always loved to cook, especially chili. After some prodding by family and friends, he took his recipe and hit the road.
“Everybody liked my chili and kept saying, ‘Why don’t you enter contests?’ On Jan. 28, 2014, I entered my first contest and came in third place.”
Richard, who hails from Muskogee, Okla., was hooked. He joined Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI) and drove to Little Rock, Ark., to watch a competition.
“They talked me into being a judge, so I judged the chili, and I thought, ‘This is nothing like I cook,’” he recalled. “The next time I went to a competition was in Fort Smith, Ark.; I came in 13th out of 16.”
After his loss, Richard asked fellow competitors how he could improve. It turns out he was using too much tomato product. Richard changed his recipe and began winning. Today, his chili is known as Pop’s American-Made Chili. Richard is a U.S. Army veteran, and his chili and booth decorations are a way to salute his fellow veterans.
“I’m still tweaking it; everybody tweaks their chili,” Richard said. “It’s something everyone does all the time just to make their chili a little better, but sometimes it doesn’t work out, and you have to go back to your basics.”
After a few cookoffs, Richard’s wife Rhonda began competing. At her first competition, Rhonda beat Richard.
“I got second place,” Rhonda said.
Rhonda’s chili, Granny’s Chili, has placed at several events, and they said their chilies are like “night and day.”
Since Oct. 21, 2022, Rhonda and Richard have traveled to 19 events, with the furthest being a 5-hour drive to El Dorado, Ark. Richard has also qualified for world competitions but has opted to stay a little closer to home.
Is there a secret to good chili?
“If I knew, I would win every time,” he said with a laugh.
There might not be a secret to chili, but Richard said there’s one thing true chili doesn’t have.
“There are no beans in chili except home-style,” Richard said. “Beans got started in chili in the Depression as a way to make it go further. Fifty percent of the population likes beans in their chili, and 50 percent do not. You go to Texas, and they will run you out of the state if you put beans in it.”
There are many chili variations, and each recipe is different, sometimes very different, than the next.
“I’ve been beaten by a meatless chili,” Richard said. “It had cauliflower in it.”
The couple will share some advice with others and their ingredients, but not the ratios or the exact brands.
“This is years of experience,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot from people, and you learn a lot through the years.”
Richard and Rhonda are chili cook-off champions, but enjoy cooking and baking other dishes.
“I have my specialties, and she has hers,” Richard said. “If we were younger, we would probably open a restaurant because we like to cook.”
Rhonda is known for her homemade dressing and Richard’s specialty is pineapple upside-down cupcakes.
“I’ve got people who will fight over those,” he said with a laugh.
The couple combined their recipes into a cookbook and shared it with family members.
“Trouble is, they will call her and want to know how to do something,” Richard said with a laugh. “We tell them it’s all in the book.”
Competing in cook offs comes with more than bragging rights and prizes.
“It’s all the nice people we have met up and down the road,” Richard said. “We’ve cooked in four different states, and it’s a lot of fun.”
“You don’t get rich doing it, but you do get rich with friendships,” Rhonda added.
