I'm a contestant in a cooking contest!!!

[Mandate My Ass]

Grill Superheroes
By APRIL LISANTE


IT'S SPRING, and barbecue grills around the region are shedding their plastic covers and firing up for the long, hot summer.

Is this unveiling the highlight of your year?

You know who you are. You spend summer weekends smoking ribs. You name your grill. You argue with neighbors about rubs vs. sauces.

Well, grill addicts, we have a contest for you. The Daily News is kicking off the Best Barbecue Cook in Philly challenge, the first in what we hope will become an annual tradition where amateur grill masters showcase their talents.

Contestants have until May 6 to enter by writing in 100 words or less why they deserve a shot at the gold. We'll select 10 finalists who will participate in a May 13 grill-off outside the Daily News building at Broad and Callowhill streets.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/11498885.htm

I'm not sure what to make. :shrug:

[Warpy]

1. I did a mixed veggie grill a few years ago

that people are still talking about. I've forgotten just what I put into the oil for the veggies, although I remember olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, garlic, and cinnamon as the ingredients, just threw things in until it smelled really interesting.

The veggies were Vidalia onions, peppers, mushrooms, asparagus, green beans, and broccoli. Grilling caremelized them into sweetness, which played beautifully against the seasoned oil.

Good luck!

[eleny]

2. Congratulations!!!

This is so exciting! I bet you have tons of fun. I always try to catch the bbq contest programs on Food-TV. People really put their heart and soul into these contests and learn a lot as they go. The only bad thing they can't hand us tv viewers a plate! Yum!

I hope you keep us up on the what's happening with you if you can!

[Mandate My Ass]

3. Thanks, guys, for the good vibes and suggestions

I'm soooo excited. I got the word this morning. I would have found out on Friday but I took the day off and only gave my work number so I lost a whole weekend of experimentation. :spank:

I think I'm going to do my spareribs. Two of the four judges have rib restaurants so I've got to tweak my recipe so it's not the same old same old.

My thoughts (so far) are to make my usual sauce but add chipotles to spice it up, then maybe some grilled polenta with black bean salad and grilled corn on the cob with cilantro lime butter. Every 5-10 minutes my menu changes. Eeeek. Nerves.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Wow! A star is born! Congrats!!!!!

That musta been a hella 100 word essay!

Cook what you know and even more important ... cook what you love! The love will show through, for sure. It always does.

[Mandate My Ass]

5. Thanks Husb2Sparkly

You are so right. After the adrenaline rush wore off I decided this would be the absolute worst time to go reinventing the wheel. I made a test batch of my bbq sauce with chipotles and some citrus last night and I really, really like it that way.

I can't believe they picked me. I not only dashed off that essay at supersonic speed but I actually used the word "tantalizing."

Yes, I know.:blush:

[wryter2000]

6. Go for it!

And keep us up to date!

[Mandate My Ass]

7. test run 1: successes and failures

OK, I did my first test run last night. My variations
were that I toasted my rub before putting it on the
meat and I didn't steam my ribs in the oven before
putting them on the grill.

Contest rules: all food must be brought in raw and
cooked on the premises. I thought they were a bit
tough that way.:-( Not tough like you couldn't chew
it but I'm used to them being so tender they almost
fall off the bone.

The chipotle sauce went well with the side dishes.

I need to work on organization today!!! It's one of
the criteria they will be looking at.

[Mandate My Ass]

8. And the winner is....

Not me.

The contest is over and all I can say is I have
a newfound respect for people who do this for a
living. As Bushit says over and over again, "It's
hard work."

Being the worry wart that I am when it comes to food,
I actually made a second entree in addition to my ribs,
just in case they came out lousy under the contest con-
ditions, I wouldn't have to serve them at all. While I
wasn't unhappy with the way they came out, they did fall
shorter in the tenderness department than what I usually
accomplish at home, unfortunately.

My second entree was jerk pork and it was the best jerk
pork I've made so far.

My full menu was: Jerk pork, plantain and yam salad with
sauce chien (fancy term for caribbean vinaigrette),
grilled polenta diamonds with black bean and avocado
salad, and grilled corn on the cob.

The judges were so cool with the exception of Jack McDavid
who is quite an a**hole, to put it nicely.

He came the earliest and strutted around in his signature
overalls, acting like he was some demigod who came to visit
us mere mortals. When he came to my grill he said in what
I can only describe as a mocking tone of voice, "So you're
the only woman in the contest, how does that make you feel?"

I was really stunned. There was a newspaper employee walking
around who was really friendly and he overheard Jack say that
to me so he started joking around and said, "She doesn't look
worried" or somehting like that and I said not only did it not
bother me, but I hadn't noticed and now that it had been brought
to my attention, I didn't see what difference it made. People
love to cook, no matter whta their gender and that's the
important thing.

There were a lot of Eagles tailgaters participating. Those
guys take grilling seriously and some of the equipment they
had was tremendously expensive and more complicated looking
than anything I'd ever seen before.

During my phase of the judging I really think I won over the
two Keiths: Keith Gertler and Keith Zachary, two of the three
rib restaurant owners. Keith Zachary is from Jamaica and he
loved my jerk. Several of the judges commented very
favorably on my rib rub and asked for the ingredients:

2 tbsp sweet paprika
2 tbsp ancho chile powder
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp grated black pepper
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp achiote
1 tsp instant coffee powder
1 packet Goya Sazon

all the above was toasted in a dry frying pan.

While all the questioning was going on, Jack didn't say a
word and when the judges had tasted everything and were
ready to move on, several of them complimented me, all
of them thanked me, but Jack never said a word and took
his plate and threw it in the trash and silently moved
on to the next table. Keith Zachary made up for that
because I think he pumped my hand for about 30 seconds
or more saying how my jerk reminded him of home.

When the judges moved on to the next table, much of the crowd
who had been walking around with them stayed at my table. A
few people asked me if I cater (no) and then asked me if I
would consider it (hell yeah).

The winner was a guy from North Carolina who made one thing
only: ribs. I didn't get to taste them unfortunately, because
several people wanted recipes etc. and I didn't get to leave
my table until most of the people had started packing up to
leave.

Keith Gertler gave me a tip which is something I had considered
but decided not to do. He said that in the future if I don't
get to steam my ribs ahead of time and want to duplicate the
results without losing the smoky taste that the grill imparts,
is to wrap them in Saran wrap and foil during the last hour
and remove just to add the sauce at the end.

It was a lot of fun. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to cook
for the pros. Several people said they thought I should have
won. Of course they were eating my food at the time, LOL. If
I get a chance to make some money out of this, it would actually
be better for me than winning the prize. Later I found out I had
gotten a score of 327 out of a possible 400 points and I had the
highest scores for originality.

Thanks for all your well wishes. I wish you all could have been
there. :grouphug:

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Yanno, I'm reading your story and I get this picture of

one totally amateur woman battling the big, professional or semi-professional bruisers with trailerable $20,000 mobile kitchens-on-wheels. And you with your Weber, a shiny new pair of grocery store tongs, and a sack of Kingsford.

Not only do I think ya done good .... I think ya done **real** good. And you made the most irmportant person happy. You!

Way ta go! :hug:

I sure wish DU had a 'high five' smiley, cuz that woulda been appropriate here.

[Mandate My Ass]

13. You've seen these things then,

A mobile kitchen is exactly what those things looked like.
I could have made Thanksgiving dinner for ten easily on one
of those monstrosities. Holy moly.

Yes, I am happy. I was happy on Friday, even moreso on
Saturday and by today I'm just grinnin' ear to ear. :7

Right back atcha, man. :hug:

[eleny]

10. Your jerk reminded him of home! WOW!!!

That is a winning moment if ever there was. When cooking reminds someone of home, you know you've got something there. Congratulations on your perfectly wonderful score. Plus, you irritated that dope with your flavorful fare. Dontcha love it!

[Mandate My Ass]

14. I know!

That made me so proud when he said that. It was even
better than if he'd said it was technically perfect.

I'm walking on air.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

11. I missed your thread earlier when you posted

you were going to be in the contest so I didn't have a chance to say good luck & have fun & how impressed & happy for you I was that you were chosen. So, consider it said a day late & a dollar short.

As for not winning, well yes you did! It sounds as if you had fun & learned something (the saran trick) & made a great impression on 2 of the judges-the only 2 that counted, the other one sounds like jerk extraordinare like some on TV I could mention-& won for originality. I would call that a huge win. Plus, those other contestants sound like they're damn near pros. As an aside, that pro business kind of bothers me. How could I learn anything if they're using equipment I don't have, never heard of, can't afford to buy, etc? Sort of like some cookbooks where the chefs have all this unbelievable equipment & never give directions for alternatives us mere mortals can use.

Great job & congrats!

best

[Mandate My Ass]

15. Thanks, wakeme.

One guy was a professional caterer! It was definitely
not as amateur as they made it sound in the article.

Thanks for the kudos. I really feel good about the whole
thing and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Oh, I almost forgot the other smartass remark Jack made.
I introduced him to my son (bless his heart he gave up his
only day off in 8 days to help his momma) and Jack shook
his hand and asked him if he eats a lot of my cooking. My
son said yes and Jack said "so do you enjoy it?" and my son
said "I sure do" and Jack looked him up and down (my kid is
6'5" and extremely lanky)and said "phhhht, yeah I can tell."

How do you spell asshole? I spell it J-A-C-K M-c-D-A-V-I-D!

[housewolf]

12. Congratulations!

It sounds as though you had fun and made some good contacts, not to mention got some wonderful and welcome kudos on your food. It sounds like it was a LOT of work but a rewarding effort, even if you didn't come away with the prize.

Kudos to you for your creativity, your ideas, your follow-through and your good results.

Congratulations on your success!

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[Mandate My Ass]

16. It was a great experience

Thanks so much for your compliments.

Like I said, I wish you all could have been there. It
would be the only way it could have been better. :pals: