CHILI : SESPE CREEK COOK-OFF : Hot Stuff : It’s a test of the taste buds as cooks from seven nations vie for the contest crown and a $500 prize.

To some, chili is a bowl of beans and spices. To others it’s a way of life. While the heat-and-eat, canned-chili crowd scans supermarket shelves in search of something to pour over hot dogs, committed chili cooks from seven nations hover over the latest in an endless series of practice batches. They taste, compare and confer. “Too much coriander,” one murmurs.

A perfect pot of chili is something to be savored. It is also something that can win a chef the title of World Champion and a tasty prize of $25,000. Small wonder that those bitten by the chili cook-off bug plan their schedules around the numerous competitions that have sprung up around the country since the first international cook-off was held in Texas in 1967.

Fillmore’s “Sespe Creek” Cook-off on July 4 is a step along the way to the top. Sanctioned by the International Chili Society, the event annually attracts at least 30 chefs and chili connoisseurs from across the county. The $500 prize is modest, but the winner also qualifies for a regional cook-off. Regional winners are eligible for October’s World Championship in Rosamond, Calif.

World champions don’t fade away; they start their own cook-offs. Fillmore residents Jim Beaty and Kenton Stafford were champions in ’86 and ’88 respectively. They founded the Sespe Creek cook-off four years ago to add flavor to the town’s Independence Day celebrations. Both look forward to having friends from the cook-off circuit come to the town where they grew up. “It’s like a family,” Beaty said of the chili-chef network.

Beaty and Stafford serve as co-chairmen of the event and will head a judging team of five to 15 experts, in accordance with International Chili Society rules. They usually round out the team with a few volunteers from the crowd.

What makes a good pot of chili? “No beans,” said Beaty. “Just beef.” Beer may make it bitter, and according to Beaty, the wrong onions will have the same effect. Meat must be neither tough or mushy.

“When I’m judging, I look for something that gets my attention,” Beaty said. “A little bite at the front of your mouth. The spices should open up as you start to chew. It should have a good back heat as it goes down your throat. Then, it kind of explodes in your mouth.” In other words, fireworks for the taste buds.

Most of the cooks who visit Fillmore are already experts, but a few novices are expected to battle it out with veterans of the seasoning wars.

“I went to my first cook-off on a dare,” said the 46-year-old Beaty, who has been cooking chili since 1982. “I didn’t know anything--I came in something like 35th out of 25.”

Stafford, 41, started in 1986 as Beaty’s assistant and had to be talked into entering a competition on his own. Evidently, his first experience was not too painful. “I took third,” he said, smiling.

Both Fillmore cooks practice cooking up to four times a week and travel to cook-offs at least twice a month. Neighbors for 14 years, their friendly rivalry doesn’t stop them from occasionally critiquing each other’s chili.

Entrants to Fillmore’s cook-off must provide two gallons of “People’s Choice” chili, which the public tastes while competition pots simmer on propane stoves beneath colorful canopies that are provided by the cooks. Contestants start arriving at 6:30 a.m. By 11 a.m., booths are open, and live music adds a festive note.

What explains the cooks’ dedication, and the public’s fascination for chili cook-offs? “It’s a happening,” Jim West, executive director of the International Chili Society, said from his Newport Beach office. “There’s a mystique to it--like wine tasting. Chili is a creative food. People wouldn’t turn out like this to cook meat loaf or tuna casserole.”

Originally developed on cattle drives in the old West as a way of rendering tough meat edible, chili is truly an American food. Nonetheless, in addition to events across the United States, the society sanctions cook-offs in France, England, New Zealand and Australia, as well as Canada and Mexico.

All cook-offs approved by the society must donate proceeds to charity. “Since the ICS moved to California from Texas in 1975, it has raised $25 million for charity,” West said.

While observers need only an appetite for food and fun, there are a few basics that an aspiring chili chef needs to take to the cook-off: a propane stove and a sun shade, a stainless-steel pot and a spice bag containing carefully selected individual herbs and spices.

The Sespe Creek Cook-Off might be a good place to start.

Stafford’s first foray into formal competition was in his hometown in 1987. One year later, he won the world championship.

* WHERE AND WHEN: Sespe Creek Fourth Annual Chili Cook-Off--Fillmore. Wednesday, July 4.

Booths open at 11 a.m. Fillmore Central Park. No charge. Fee: 2 gallons “People’s Choice Chili, or $25. Bring ingredients for two quarts of competition chili and a stove. Cooks may bring an assistant.

Schedule: 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. check-in and set up; 10:30 a.m. cooks meeting; 11 a.m. booths open to sell People’s Choice Chili; live music until 5 p.m.; Noon to 3 p.m. contestants cook; 3 p.m. judging begins; 5 p.m. awards announced.

Prizes: first place--$500; second place--$200; third place--$100. People’s Choice Winner--$100. Trophies for Best Booth, Showmanship, Miss Chili Pepper, Mr. Hot Stuff and Beer Belly.