Cooking contest brings out the best

By Jason Sethre
jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com

Fri, Nov 2nd, 2012
Posted in All Features

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In Fillmore County, potlucks break up the monotony of a daily lunch break. Whether it’s a slow-cooking crockpot masterpiece, or a casserole dish full of an odd combination of deliciousness, all of the best recipes come out of the woodworks during these moments in which we choose to feed a crowd.

And, the Fillmore County Journal, Harmony Foods, Preston Foods and Rushford Foods have sponsored a cooking contest for three consecutive years.

This latest competion was held at Harmony Foods on the eve of Tuesday, October 30th.

At this cooking contest, there were 60 recipes entered into nine categories. With a total of five judges taste-testing nine categories, this was an enormous task. We will definitely be looking for more judges for next year’s competition.

Upon the conclusion of taste-testing, the judges tallied their scores to determine the top three winners in each category.

The challenge for all of the judges was that all of the food was superb. The judges were Sheena Suckow, Gabby Gatzke, Kim Sapp, Mitchell Walbridge and myself.

As a matter of fact, the days after the competition, Journal staff cited specific recipes they have to try for the next potluck or Thanksgiving.

The top three finishers in each of the nine categories received a combined total of $765 in gift cards to use at Harmony Foods, Preston Foods and Rushford Foods -- all donated by the three very generous participating grocery stores. First place finishers received $50 gift cards, second place yielded $25 gift cards, and third place walked away with $10 gift cards.

Winners will be announced along with their award winning recipes in the “2012 Tasty Temptations” cookbook debuting on Monday, November 19, 2012.

We know that all of our cooks put a lot of work into the wonderful food they prepared, and our judges appreciated being a part of this event.

And, what makes this competition even more interesting is that all of the winning recipes are shared in an annual cookbook just in time for Thanksgiving.

On Monday, November 19, 2012, a cookbook appropriately titled “2012 Tasty Temptations,” will arrive in mailboxes within the Fillmore County Journal.

This cookbook will be full of over 90 recipes credited to the “Best Cooks of Bluff Country.”

In total, over 12,000 copies of “2012 Tasty Temptations” will be published and distributed to Journal readers.

Over the past three years, all three cookbooks have generated an accumulation of over 250 tried and tested recipes from local cooks in Fillmore County.

All of these recipes will be accessible at www.fillmorecountyjournal.com year-round.

In addition, the long-term plan is to take the compilation of the top three finishers’ recipes in each of the nine categories and publish a hard cover cookbook to be made available to the public in the years ahead. This would involve at least 10 or 15 years of cooking contests before enough recipes could constitute a hard cover cookbook.

The annual participation in the cooking contest by all of the cooks is greatly appreciated and shared with the public in the annual cookbook. We hope you’ll enjoy trying these recipes as much as our judges.

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