NEW YORK CITY — The competition was hot this week, but St. John the Baptist Parish firefighter Jeremy Chauvin kept his cool.

He wasn’t bothered by the hot TV lights or the cameras of the Firehouse Kitchen TV show in New York City, where the final of the America’s Best Firehouse Chili Contest was held Wednesday.

He wasn’t intimidated by host Ray Cooney, the retired New York firefighter who interviewed Chauvin on camera about his family recipe, Louisiana crawfish and his inspiration — his brother, St. John District Fire Chief Spencer Chauvin, who was killed last year in the line of duty.

He wasn’t worried one bit about the fellow competitor who served his chili entry in fancy sourdough bread bowls with a dollop of sour cream squeezed from a pastry bag and sliced jalapenos on top.

Chauvin just cooked his mom’s family chili recipe and served it his way — the “Spencer Way” — and that’s how he walked away with the title and a check for a cool $10,000 for the St. John the Baptist Parish department.

Hormel, which sponsored the contest, also will donate $20,000 to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

“It went a lot better than I expected,” Chauvin told L’OBSERVATEUR Thursday from New York City, where he planned to spend the day seeing the sights before flying home.

“I was real nervous, not knowing what was going to happen, but everybody was so nice and helpful.”

It wasn’t about the chili, however. It was about memorializing his brother, Spencer Chauvin, who will be honored at the Fallen Firefighters Memorial in October.

“It was 100 percent about him,” Chauvin said. “It was a way for us to tell people about him, his story and get him the recognition he deserves.”

Chauvin entered the contest in July at the urging of his mom, Donna Chauvin, who thought it would be a nice way to remember her fallen son.

She dug up an old family chili recipe, doctored it up and wrote it down.

The recipe made the first round of cuts and was among 10 placed on the contest website.

Thanks to much campaigning by family and friends on social media, Chauvin received enough votes to make the final three and was flown to New York City for the final.

Chauvin, who brought dad Ivy Chauvin Jr. and brother-in-law Mike Borne for support, competed against firefighters from Hershey, Penn., and Naples, Fla. All contestants had to cook their entries on site at the New York City Fire Museum in Manhattan, for judges Cooney; Chief Ron Siarnicki, executive director of the NFFF and a big wig from Hormel.

Chauvin said that was the hard part.

“It was in an event room at the museum,” he said. “They brought in these little burners and you had to cook on those.”

His rivals were serious. Both had handheld cooking torches, one to smoke the chicken and corn for his recipe and the other to heat the bread bowls.

“Those guys were all set up,” Chauvin said. “Mine was just a normal chili. We just put a lot of stuff in it.”

After tasting all three entries, the judges met behind closed doors to select the winner.

Chauvin wasn’t even fazed when Cooney mispronounced his name.

St. John Chief of Operations Cain Dufrene said the whole department is thrilled — even though they were doing a drill Wednesday and couldn’t watch the competition.

“We’re definitely very proud and can’t wait to get him back to see how he wants to use his winnings,” Dufrene said. “It’s going to go where he wants. He should have input on how it’s used.”

Chauvin said he would like to see the money split among all the fire stations.

“Maybe get barbecue pits or something for each station,” he said. “I’d like to spread it out to all the guys.”