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blog Glen’s Chili: His Ongoing Legacy and Feeding His Friends

Glen’s Chili: His Ongoing Legacy and Feeding His Friends

Jessica Danger

over 2 years ago

Anyone that is familiar with military life knows the pain of deployments. It is safe to assume that the actual leaving for deployment is hardest, and it is difficult of course. But what is oftentimes overlooked as difficult is the return home from deployment. Glen “BUB” Doherty first found his love of cooking in high school. Working in a French restaurant in Lexington , MA, he developed an affinity for finer foods. 

“He loved the creation, the process, all of it,” Sean Lake, BUBS co-founder and Doherty’s best friend, remembers.

For Doherty, food and wine was an experience. At home, after his restaurant shifts, he tinkered with his own recipes, finding new ways to make things. Once he and Lake dropped out of school to work as ski bums in Utah, Doherty learned to be extra frugal, buying whatever was on sale and finding new and exciting ways to prepare meals. He collected recipes as he went, clips from magazines, handwritten family recipes, notes from friends. Glen sorted them by type: Soup/Salad/Side Dish, Fish, Meat, Poultry, Pasta/Thai/Mex, Breakfast/Dessert. This is a man who knew how to eat.

So it makes sense that Glen used cooking to help him stay grounded in between missions as a Navy SEAL. “When he was home, he cooked and he worked in the garden, the two things he did religiously. He’d spend hours and hours in the garden. It grounded him at home, eliminating some of the noise in his head,” said Lake.

Mike Ritland, fellow Navy SEAL and one of Glen’s close friends, remembers, “He was the first friend of mine that I’d met that was a damn good cook and made me want to be able to do it as well as he did. While I don’t think I’m there yet, or frankly ever will be, there’s still several recipes of his that I am proud to use to this day. Most notably, his ‘from scratch’ cheesecake that will kick anything from Cheesecake Factory right square in the junk.”

If you knew Doherty, and you invited him over, then you also knew he was going to be the one doing the cooking. One of his signature dishes was his homemade chili. He used to make it in big batches, then he’d separate it and hand deliver it to you. 

Six months after Glen died so heroically in Benghazi, a friend called Lake and invited him over. He had found a tub of Glen’s chili in his freezer. A few friends came over and together they laughed and joked as they shared their last meal with their friend.

Glen “BUBS” Chili

1 can each: kidney, light kidney, pinto, and black Onion Pepper - green/red/jalapeño Garlic Cumin 1 tsp Chili powder 3 tbsp 1 can corn 1 four oz. can green chili 1 cup salsa 2 cans diced tomatoes with juices 2 pounds ground turkey