Let them bake cornbread!!

Okay, so I decided to enter this cornbread recipe contest this week. I didn't find out about the contest until Friday evening and the deadline for submitting your (hopefully) winning recipe is Wednesday. So time was tight.

The rules are simple. Using Shirley J Corn Bread & Muffin Mix, they want you to come up with one "spectacularly original and delicious recipe." they suggest channeling "your inner cornbread connoisseur" and thinking outside the box or "muffin tin," so to speak. I was sure I could do that!!

So I spent all night Friday (I swear I had visions of hush puppies dancing in my head!) and most of the day Saturday brainstorming and jotting ideas down. (We attended and all-day music event so that was about all I could do then.) I thought I had come up with some interesting concepts, too.

Let the record show, I had no Shirley J brand mixes on hand at that time. In fact, my pantry held 2 boxes of Jiffy brand corn bread mix and 8 (yes, EIGHT) boxes of Baker's Corner brand. (What can I say? It was a really good sale!)

To be honest, I'd never even heard of Shirley J mixes but I figured just how different could these mixes be? Cornbread mix is just that - cornbread mix. They all seem about the same and carry the same directions for making that mix into corn bread, corn muffins and hush puppies.

My plan was to create, experiment and refine my recipes using these imposters in my cabinet. Once perfect, I would buy some Shirley J, whip it up to be sure it worked with their product and submit my entry. Fantastic plan.

Early Sunday morning, I got up and began mixing and prepping. I played with my batter and got what appeared to be a reasonable waffle batter. For interest, I crumbled some crispy bacon into the batter. Let's just call the "Cornbread Waffle" "FAIL NO. 1" (twice). (The family ate toasted English muffins with jam and melon for breakfast.)

We had afternoon plans so my next cornbread effort came Sunday evening when I made nibbles for The Big Guy's weekly card game. I was thinking little pizzas with cornbread crusts and "different" toppings. I just had to adapt the batter to a dough consistency.

I divided the batter into thirds so I could experiment with different additives and amounts to reach the consistency I needed. When I succeeded, I figured I could simply adjust amounts for a full batter amount. Doing these small pizzas would also give me a chance to come up with the ideal topping combination to enhance the cornbread flavor. "Ideal" as not an adjective any of the guys uses to describe these snacks. Okay, so we had "SEMI FAIL NO. 2."

Monday, I continued with the divide and conquer method of preparation. I was working on a theory of making a larger, fluffier hush puppy - one large enough to make a sandwich with - sort of a cornbread croissant concept. Perhaps a crab or shrimp salad would be an appropriate filling. Where I had to thicken and dry the batter for the pizza crust, I needed to fluff it up for the "roll." Easier said than done, folks. "FAIL No. 3!"

I was getting frustrated and scratched idea NO. 4 altogether and NO. 5 just didn't go well at all. With only one box of mix left to work with, I decided to work with the "real" thing - some Shirley J Mix, for my final effort.

Hmmm, it seems, Shirley J Corn Bread & Muffin Mix is NOT readily available in my area. After checking several large markets, I reluctantly gave up. After all, $50 and a 4-lb package of cornbread mix just isn't worth these headaches!

My chef's hat is off to all who have persevered and entered their great creations in this contest. May the best cornbread connoisseur win. Good luck to all !!

Keep your eyes on this space. I hope to bring you a recipe for a perfected Cajun jam pizza with cornbread crust in the near future. I'm sure it just needs a little more tweaking!

Do you like a challenge?

So, I've got my dessert ready for tomorrow's get-together and, though the hosts only ask us to each bring something for the dessert table, no side or salad is ever turned away (or, left over, for that matter!)

Let's be honest, if it's edible, bring it. Someone will eat it. If it needs to be grilled or fried, there's plenty of manpower to do that cooking and some mighty big grills and fryers going all day. They just ask that whatever you bring is meant to be shared with the crowd.

Last year, someone actually brought a 10 lb. bag of tater tots. They were fried up in minutes and gobbled up just as fast. No one ever claimed we were gourmets!

While mulling over what else I might make to take along, I decided to play a bit on the computer and what should I come across but a RECIPE CONTEST called "What Should I Bring?" (Maybe it's an omen.)

Seriously, Dinner Tool is sponsoring a contest to find great, easy to make and take dishes perfect for summer picnics and potlucks. We all have some family favorites and stand-bys for these occasions and they'd like us to share those ideas. It could pay off well, too. There will be 4 First Prizes of $100 each and one of those four will also win the Grand Prize - another $1,000!!!! That could make for one heck of a summer picnic!!

The deadline is nigh (June 23 - next Thursday!) BUT it is really easy to enter. All you need to do is upload the recipe to the website. Pictures are optional but won't count toward judging.

I'm already letting my mind run down my standards to see what my crowd enjoys that I could enter. I sent the family each an email asking what their favorites are. I figure if they like them, chances are good others might, too.

I dare you to enter. I'm up for the competition. What have we got to lose? (Just a few minutes of typing.)

For details, click here.

Oh yeah, we get to VOTE, too. Once the dinner tool folks select the top four recipes, they'll post them at www.DinnerTool.com and the public gets to vote from 6/28/11-7/12/11. (If you're lucky enough to be one of those four, you can feel free to lobby the public for their votes on Twitter, FB, blogs, etc.) The Grand Prize winner will be announced on 7/13/11.

Celebrating the 4th !!!!

Almost every community in America has some sort of 4th of July celebration. Most of us tend to be traditional and do the same thing, with the same folks, each year. I know our family does and when we miss (for whatever reason) even one of the three days of our annual celebrations, we definitely feel at a loss.
BUT . . .

Just in case you're looking for something a little different or unique to do this weekend, maybe one of these food-oriented events will catch your fancy.

Have you ever tried running a race with a greased watermelon in your arms ? Think you can? Well grab a partner and get on down to the Grand Bay Watermelon Festival in Grand Bay, Alabama on the 3rd.

Getting back to the race, it involves one person on the team running from the starting line to the turning point with the greased melon in their arms. At that point, they hand the melon over to their teammate who runs it back to the starting/finishing line. Team to do this first wins. Oh, and if either of you drop the melon, your team is disqualified.
Looking for something less strenuous? You can buy three seeds for a dollar and try to beat the Guinness record for watermelon seed spitting. That record currently stands at 68' 9 1/8" and was set in Luling, Texas. (Bet you've always wondered about that.) Of course, there's a watermelon eating contest involved, too. You can also decorate your clothes with watermelons or create a watermelon recipe for prize opportunities.

There's also shopping, music and lots of food available as well as other run-of-the-mill festival activities. Best of all, you can cool off with free watermelon slices all day!!

I've witnessed both blue crab and tortoise races here in Maryland, but clam races are a new concept for me! There are also clam shucking competitions, cooking contests - both amateur and professional restaurants, clam bag races (like potato sacks but the bags feature pictures of clams), a clam hunt and harvest for the kids, contest, "Guess the Clam Count"Chuck a Mullett competition on the beach and a Clam Lease (greased) Pole challenge at the Clamerica Celebration in Cedar Key, Florida on July 4th.

For the Cultured Clam Cooking Contest, open to everyone, contestants simply need to bring their finished dish and a copy of the recipe to the entry table at the given time. Prizes will go to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Honorable Mentions.


Do you think you make the absolute best cherry pie? Then make it up, be sure to provide a copy of the recipe or at least a list of the ingredients and bring it down to the Holiday Old Fashioned Picnic on the 6th, just one of the food events at the 84th National Cherry Festival in Traverse City, Michigan taking place from the 3rd through the 10th. One entry per person and there is a $5 entry fee involved.

In addition to an air show by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels on the 4th and concerts by a number of nationally known acts like Los Lonely Boys, Tommy Castro and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, there's the 5th Annual Cherries D'Vine event, a ticketed culinary showcase of regional fruits - cherries and grapes. There will be an array of salads, entrees and desserts like Chocolate Cherry Mudslide Cookies and Cherry Cobbler (made from Michigan cherries.)
The Cherry Connector - "Bringing Together Festival, Family and Fruit", will take place twice each day from the 5th through the 9th. You can use the Cherry Connector Shuttle or your own transportation to take a 3-hr tour of a 100 acre research farm associated with the Michigan State University. You'll visit a productive orchard, see exhibits and sample the newest cherry products and technology. there will be all sorts of "cherry fun" for the kids like a petting zoo, hands-on experiments and cherry coloring contests. There will be several; semi-finals of a Hot Dog Eating Contest featuring Johnsonville sausages and leading up to the finals on the 9th.

Other events will include a Cherry Pit Spitting contest (daily), an Adult Cherry Pie Eating contest and a CHERRYOPOLY Tournament. An Ice Cream Social, beer tent and wine tastings each day will lead up to the Cherries Grand Buffet (another ticketed event) showcasing recipes prepared by the culinary and cooking professionals at the Grand Traverse Pie Company and featuring a stage and musical show. There will be all the standard festival events and entertainment available, also.

BBQ Pitmasters - 2nd Season

Just what we need, another cooking competition TV series!!

The powers that be at TLC have begun to tweak BBQ Pitmasters, their hit series from last season. They averaged almost a million viewers per episode of the short series and had double-digit increases in the difficult demographic of male viewers. So, what do you do with success? You make changes. A typical cookers row at a KCBS contest, just before turn-in.

Apparently we don’t have enough game-show style cooking competition series yet. They’re revamping this one into a competition much like the old Outdoor Living Network did. Enough of that format, already!!

For whatever reason, a change in hosts was apparently necessary. These things happen in the TV world. They’ve hired Kevin Roberts, “The Food Dude“. You may remember Kevin from his attempt to become the Next Food Network Star. You may even have seen him on The Today Show this morning. (He was the one squirting French’s mustard down his throat like Reddi Whip!) Kevin is good for a laugh. He’s fresh, enthusiastic and entertaining. I can’t fault them on this change.

They say they plan to put an emphasis on the “all-star judging” process this season. Perhaps they should have stuck to the reality/documentary style format and followed certified judges who regularly judge the events on the competitive BBQ cooking circuits, doing both KCBS (Kansas City Barbecue Society) and MIM (Memphis In May) competitions.

While “all star judges” may sound fancy, there is many a highly trained restaurant chef that knows absolutely nothing about barbecue. This was proven in last season’s accounts of Paul’s attempts at competitive cooking. Paul is a classically trained chef who runs his own very acclaimed restaurants but found he had no training applicable to the competitions, consistently coming in last until he studied at the hands of Johnny Trigg. Johnny Trigg has been an all-star cook in the competitive BBQ world and is extremely well respected in that arena. Amazingly, Paul was at least called after Johnny’s tutoring.

A gaggle of Certified Judges awaiting judging time.

“Certified” judges are trained as to what constitutes excellent smoked meats. Many judge on an almost weekly basis throughout the competition season and have trained their taste buds to identify what is award winning smoked meat. I am a Certified Judge for KCBS. I know these people well and many have been judging for years. It’s not just a hobby for them, it is their passion.

The other aspect the show’s producers feel can be shown in the new format is the preparation of a variety of foods, not just the standard competitive categories. Had they chosen their contests carefully, they could have shown the many ancillary (or “extra”) cooking categories included in many KCBS contests. We have judged many contests that feature seafood categories (both general and specific seafoods), steaks, poultry (goose, duck, turkey), side dishes, other meats (goat, lamb, other beef cuts), creative burgers, shish kabobs, and more.

They could have covered some of the back-yard competitions featured in many of the events where the average Joe or Deb can compete in a particular category using their own back yard style grill. Many also feature Kids Que competitions for kids under 12. I believe folks would watch something they felt they had an actual chance of participating in not just superstars in a specific field.
Memphis In May competitions include on-site judging which was lightly touched on this past season. At these events, competitors go all out decorating their sites. This was not shown but could make an interesting segment. Or they might touch on what it costs to actually compete, Not just costs associated with those driving the huge rigs but talk to the majority who are making do with less formal setups. We know cooks who compete with a few Webers and a folding table under an E-Z Up and we know another who designed and built their own spectacular rig from scratch at a cost of about $40,000.
They say some of last years cooks will be featured “in some form” in the new format. Myron and Lee Ann were specifically mentioned. If they aren’t cooking, I consider this an extreme waste of talent. I have judged many contests where Lee Ann and Tuffy have been cooking and a few Myron has participated in, too. (Yes, we judged at that miserable rainy and cold contest in Dover featured last season.) Although all judging at a KCBS event is blind judging, the odds are, I have tasted some things cooked by each of them along the way.

Please folks, just give us back the Pitmaster series we came to enjoy this past season. Follow a few different cooks. Cover other competitions. Feature other aspects of the contests.

Stop messing with success!!