Okay, once again I am on weird wild and exotic paths in my life.
I will keep it short and to the point.
I am a skilled cook.
I am off in a week for a 6-7 month job with hardly any time off in the Aleutians. One 2 week vacation.
I have almost no expenses.
When I come back I will have to much money for my standards. I will need to burn some or whatever.
I was thinking of investing it in the worlds largest Frito Pie. I have reason for that item but it does not matter.
Just because and extra book fodder. (Bi-Polar Cook)
Questions:
I can not seem to find the current record holder.
Should I make up some event or charitable cause? Fundraiser for the Lizard Party?
Should I attempt to contact Frito Lay and see if they will donate the chips for advertizing.
I will put up to 10k of my own money. Is that enough?
If I build it will they come?
Think I am gonna make a % of the pie vegetarian. Could that disqualify me.
Shoot!
Interesting. I swore that as a kid my mom made “frito pie” more like a pie/casserole, but everyone from Texas or the South swears that REAL frito pie has be to be out of the chip bag.
Nope. I am from Texas and mom made it like a casserole. Layer of fritos, layer of Wolf Brand chili, layer of onions, layer of finely shredded cheddar cheese, repeat until dish is full. Bake until cheese is bubbly and chili is hot. Eat, save leftovers, reheat.
Will you be working as a cook in the Aleutians? If so, make the world’s largest Frito Pie for your crew. That way the company will pay for all the ingredients and you can spend your money on something else… like a bigger boat.
I grew up in Texas. We were served Frito Pie occasionally for school lunch. It was just chips in the plate and chili and cheese on it. There are many variations even in the south. It is still acceptable without the bag, I think.
If the bag is so important I will find a way to make or commission one.
After I get ample feedback I will write a letter to Frito Lay. Or have someone do it for me
I’ve been to a few World’s Largest Food events. It makes a good community activity, and the supplies were always donated in exchange for publicity for the suppliers. You could contact the the Frito-Lay company and they might tell you what the record is, maybe help you out in your endeavor if you link it to some worthwhile cause. Using a metal boat for your casserole dish sounds like a good idea.
I am also from Texas, and we always had Frito Chili Pie as a casserole dish. I never heard of it served in the bag until my family moved to Missouri, and some of the mall food shops served it as an “exotic” treat. In Texas, I’d never had it at the State Fair, just at friends’ houses, or at a Camp Fire Girl cookout. It’s an ideal kid’s cookout meal, especially for the last meal of the weekend, because most of the ingredients don’t require any refrigeration, and cheese is fairly tolerant of lax refrigeration, and because the prep consists of assemble, heat, and eat. As long as it gets hot, it’s ready to eat.
And yeah, you really need Fritos to do this right, the original sized ones are best.
I have several organizers on board helping with research and planing the event.
I have never been to a largest food competition. Should I attach to an awareness campaign of some sort? Try to plan it in conjunction with another event? Or just go for it in the purest sense of fun and food? Organize a large chili cook off and then incorporate the chili in to the Frito Pie? Just looking for some addition insight from the masses.
If there is no current record how large should I make it to be impressive?
You could look up previous attempts at other food stuffs.
Get a local charity involved, you’ll be able to get a lot of volunteers and probably raise a nice bit of money for something worthwhile. This also would lend a lot of credence to any inquiries you’d make to Frito-Lay, Hormel and possibly Kraft for Chip, Chili and Cheese donations. You might even find yourself pitting them against each other to get more assistance should it become especially appealing from a marketing perspective. Last but not least, reach out to TLC, Food Network and the local affiliates to see if anyone would like to cover this attempt. You could find yourself featured on a episode of Unwrapped. Frito-Pie has exactly the type of nostalgia factor that they’d snap up.
You might also want to consider enlisting some help from a local culinary school or college. They might be able to provide some of the massive cooking utensils that could be required for this task and some of the food safety knowledge/expertise to cook for such a huge number of people.
