Peanut butter and jelly. Ham and cheese. Bacon and everything.
They're all two great tastes that taste great together. And here are two more: hops and heat. Or rather, beer and chili.
To close out its open-air season, Charleston's East End Bazaar at the corner of Ruffner and Washington Street East (1428 Washington St. E. to be exact) is hosting a "Hops & Heat" Appalachian Craft Beer and Chili Cook-Off Saturday Oct. 24 from 2 to 6 p.m.
The event, part of Charleston's FestivALL Fall festivities taking place across the city, will feature more than 30 craft beers from at least 10 Appalachian breweries.
And the day will culminate with celebrity judges and the public teaming up to crown the Bazaar's best chili in a competition among 14 cooks, with the winner walking away with a stained glass award creating by Bazaar artist Hubert Bain.
Celebrity judges, eh? Their words, not mine, but I'm excited that they've asked me to be one of them. Hope you'll come see me there.
In addition to beer and chili, "Hops & Heat" will feature the East End Bazaar's normal array of locally-sourced artists and artisans offering crafts, food, music and more. The BrotherSisters and Corey Hager will perform from 2-4 pm and 4-6 pm, respectively, to keep the crowd entertained as they sip, savor and shop. Additional food will be offered for sale from Mary Lou's BBQ Kitchen and Poggio's Wood-Fired Pizza.
Tickets cost $25 and include unlimited 4-ounce samples of beer, unlimited chili samples, three 12-ounce beer tickets and one branded tasting cup. Only 450 tickets will be sold, so snag yours now at http://bit.ly/1hibtr8.
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Speaking of delicious food events, tickets are now on sale for J. Q. Dickinson Salt-Works' last farm-to-table dinner of the season, an Oct. 13 feast prepared by Bridge Road Bistro chef John Wright and Buzz Foods chef Paul Smith to celebrate autumn's harvest. Proceeds from the event will benefit The Appalachian Food Summit, a community of chefs, writers and scholars collaborating to elevate Appalachian food.
The event begins at 6 p.m. and is BYOB, although glasses and ice will be provided. Tickets are $75 per person and may be purchased at http://bit.ly/1M8mbck.
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Oops.
After sharing all the savory details (including a few recipes) from the West Virginia Biscuit Bake-Off last Wednesday, several of you must've immediately put the newspaper down and made a beeline for the kitchen to try them out.
I know this because I got several head-scratching calls about the winning "Angel Biscuit" recipe which, we later discovered, contained an error. Some of you suspected it called for too much flour compared to the liquid ingredients mentioned - and you were right.
Although we printed the recipe just as it was submitted, we tracked down the winner who apologized that she had made a mistake when scribbling it down for us. Her winning recipe only calls for 3 cups of flour, not 5.
The addition of yeast wasn't specifically explained, so she also wanted everyone to know that she sifts the flour and scoops it into a mound, then forms a hole in the middle where she adds the yeast and buttermilk before blending it all together to form the dough.
Hope that helps answer all questions. We, and she, apologize for the mistake.
I'll make it up to you with this tasty tease. Remember when I asked South Charleston resident Homer Cobb to give me a call to share his winning recipe for the cheesy garlic drop biscuits that left us judges speechless?
Well, he did! I'll share all the delicious details right here next week!
Steven Keith can be reached at 304-380-6096 or at dailymailfoodguy@aol.com. You can follow him on Facebook and Pinterest as "DailyMail FoodGuy" and on Twitter @DMFoodGuy.