Saturday, November 8, 2008

Last Chance Cook-Off 2008

WOW! What a great day!

Me and my boys got to the Sportsman's Warehouse in Midvale right around 9:00am this morning. There were three teams in the process of setting up with the other two teams showing up shortly after. All five teams were set up and ready to go by 9:30. It was obvious that all of these cooks have competed before and were ready for a friendly battle. And what a battle it was.

We all had a quick Cooks Meeting at 9:45. Having five teams that have cooked many times before makes hosting a cook-off so much easier. Basically, I told them where to get water, where the dishes needed to go for judging, and the location of the restrooms. 15 seconds later, we were done. Cooking started at 9:50.



The first couple of hours were a little chilly. Setting up on the west side of the building provided everyone with cold shade. A couple of people walked the 20 feet in front of the cooking area to stand in the parking lot and warm sun. Bakin Bill was nice enough to serve everyone some of his bean and ham soup and I heated up my Jambalaya to warm everyone up. Around noon, the sun peaked around the corner of the building and soon we were all bathed in glorious sunshine. It was great to have the sun warming my bones. The coats and sweaters started coming off as the teams worked in their last hour. I think it was great weather for a cook-off this time of year.



Through out the day, there were many customers that couldn't help but notice us cooking outside and stopped by to see what we were doing. As always, Jack Wallace did an amazing job of communicating his love of Dutch Oven cooking and offered details on IDOS and the chapters in this area. Jack has his book of pictures that really does a great job of detailing the process of preparing some wonderful dishes. I think Jack was able to sign a few people up today. I do hope that our little cook-off helped influence some sales for Sportsman's Warehouse today as well.

Just before 2:00, everyone pitched in and helped everyone take their dishes to the receiving area in the back of the store for judging. DeeAnn Johnson had already set up all the tables and had plates and utensils waiting for the food and the judges. DeeAnn is one amazing lady! I don't remember exactly who judged each category. Eight of the food judges were chapter members that have either been to World's or have qualified for the 2009 WCCO. The ninth judge was one of the department managers from Sportsman's Warehouse. I was going to be the ninth judge, but I really wanted a representative of Sportsman's Warehouse to get a chance to judge these amazing dishes. He was thrown in at the last minute and did an awesome job!

It took the judges about thirty minutes to go through the five dishes per category. There were some amazing dishes on those tables. After judging their category, the judges sort of mingled around stealing little bits from the other categories. Most just couldn't wait until the DOG event at three. The food was so tempting and the entire store had the great aroma of Dutch Oven cooking. I bet everyone in the store could smell that great food. I wonder if the sales associates had a hard time helping customers due to their mouths watering?



At three o'clock, everyone grabbed a seat in order to hear the list of winners. Jon Larson and Sportsman's Warehouse were very generous with the prizes for all five teams. Debbie and Michael Hair took first place. They had the highest scoring dessert and tied for highest scoring bread. Jason Jensen and Phil Newman came in a close second and had the highest scoring main dish. Their main dish had a higher score than all the other dishes. Carol Hokanson came in third and tied for the highest scoring bread. Erik Hanson and John Buxton came in fourth. Ted and Connie Cromer came in fifth. Every team walked away with a gift card from Sportsman's Warehouse. The fourth and fifth place teams received a hand made rolling pin from the Legendary Terry Lewis. The good folks at Sportsman's Warehouse got to taste the dishes and awarded Carol Hokanson's dessert as their People's Choice award.

James Knowles and his family spent most of the day with us. James is new to Dutch Oven cooking and was fascinated with the talent and presented dishes from the teams today. He prepared a corn bread and a curry dish for the DOG event. His curry dish was a great addition to the dishes presented by the teams.

I really like a cook-off like today. With some cook-offs, it seems most teams are really tired from cooking all day and are ready to go home after such a long day. Today, there were a few people that had to leave early because of obligations, but it seemed some of them wanted to stay and enjoy the friendly atmosphere. Many people sat around talking long after they were done eating. Most teams left their dishes out for everyone to enjoy for a while. I think I finally started cleaning a little after four. Even then, I kept running into others from the event either in the store shopping or outside chatting with others. It's really great to have such a social gathering surrounding a cook-off. We have a great chapter full of great people!



Thanks to all the teams for giving it your best today. Thanks to all the judges for being willing to help your fellow chapter members. Thanks to Terry for the rolling pins. And many thanks to Jon Larson and all the great people at Sportsman's Warehouse for making us feel right at home.

Here are a few links for your viewing pleasure.

Cook-Off on the chapter site

Pictures from the cook-off

For all those chapter members that couldn't make it today... you sure missed out on a great event!

Until next time....

Ranes
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