Can I Win a Food Contest at the State Fair?

Entering a food competition at the state fair has never been high on my “bucket list” – until this year. Because I’m not a cook, know little about winning recipes, and seldom want to show my food projects to a judge, I’ve been content to observe winning entries and read about the winners. However, this year I was inspired to enter and compete.

Ribbons are ready for the winners.

For this year, I decided to enter the cooking competitions at the N.C. State Fair coordinated by the N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Specifically, I was attracted to the contest sponsored by the N.C. Peanut Growers Association that was held on Thursday, October 12. Each entry was to be “a delicious breakfast recipe that is filled with peanut flavor and will be sure to get your morning started with a smile.” I could place in a contest that featured peanuts, right?

Cooking contests are held annually at the N.C. State Fair.

The first critical step is to submit a recipe by the deadline, which was ten days before the date of the contest and meant that I had to brainstorm about possibilities even a month in advance. After evaluating several options, I picked a favorite, which I called “Peanut Buttery Breakfast Pizza,” that I hoped would be a winner.

My entry starts to take shape.

The recipe starts with a package of soft tortillas about five inches in diameter. After spreading a tablespoon of peanut butter on each tortilla, banana slices are added to half of the tortillas (the remainder are saved to use as “tops”). A little honey is drizzled and finely chopped peanuts are sprinkled over the tortillas with bananas. Next, the tortillas without banana slices are placed over the other tortillas. Finally, the doubled tortillas are sliced into quarters.

Doesn't my entry look like a winner?

On the day of the contest, entries are turned in mid-afternoon, and judging takes place an hour later. Judging is based on flavor and taste (50%), creativity (25%), and ease of preparation (25%). I felt good about the flavor/taste category (what is better than peanut butter and banana flavors?) and the ease of preparation (the entry only took me about 10 minutes to prepare). Each recipe needed to contain at least one-half cup of peanuts or peanut butter, and entries needed to serve six to eight judges. The winning recipes were awarded cash prizes: $200 for first place; $150, second; $100, third; and $50, honorable mention.

I proudly turn in my entry with high hopes.

I was amazed at the creativity of the winners. First place was spicy peanut butter and banana breakfast braid. Second place was peanut butter French toast with nutty pig candy. Third place was peanut butter and jelly pop tarts. One recipe, peanut butter and banana waffles, received honorable mention. Although all are creative, the level of preparation doesn’t seem that easy. At least I was on the right track by combining peanut butter and bananas. If I compete again, I need to give more consideration to creativity, which seems more influential than only 25%.

Lisa Prince, host of the TV program NC Flavor, announces the winners.

Although I left empty handed without receiving a prize, at least I got to see what the contest is like and didn’t have to buy an admission ticket to the fair. A major benefit of entering the contest is free admission to the fair – plus the experience gained to compete next year.

Meanwhile, the carnival-like food attracts the attention of the fairgoers more than a cooking contest.

Peach Dessert Competition: Taking Home First Place but No Leftovers

The first-place winner:
Peach Glazed Cheesecake with Blueberries

Nothing brings out a crowd better than a dessert competition where everyone can sample the entries. So it was when the Sandhills Farmers Green Market set aside a Saturday as Peach Day and announced a competition for the best peach dessert.

I knew that I wanted to attend. On a hot August day nothing can beat tasting all the peach desserts prepared for a contest. However, I wanted to be more than a bystander -- I decided to prepare an entry.  Because peach is my favorite fruit and the contest was in the heart of N.C. peach-growing territory, I quickly signed up to enter.

Setting the cheesecake on
the table for judging

The contest rules specified that each dessert had to be made with N.C. peaches, and each entry required two cups of peaches. After checking the rules, I immediately thought of an old family peach pie (listed at the end of the recent post on N.C. Food blog of N.C. Folklife Institute). Although this recipe is a family favorite, I began having doubts that it would compete well for creativity or appearance. It tastes great but looks like any other peach pie brought to potlucks or reunions in the summer. After lots of thought, I settled on a cheesecake recipe that I modified by adding a layer of sliced peaches on top in a peach glaze – as well as substituting peach moonshine for some flavoring.

Fresh blueberries from
C.V. Pilson Farm can accentuate any dessert.

For the cheesecake, I wanted to use more than only peaches from the farmers market and stopped by the week before the contest was held. Of course, I bought peaches – they had just been picked by Better Be Ellerbe Peaches (Ellerbe, NC). In addition, I bought farm eggs from Riley’s Ranch (Carthage, NC) and blueberries from C.V. Pilson Farm (Cameron, NC). The judges (who included the mayor, the chef of a restaurant known for using local products, the chef of the farm to table program, a TV producer, and the news anchor of a local radio talk show) would select the winners on flavor, appearance, quality, and creativity, and these local ingredients should help to create a successful entry.

Riley's Ranch has the best farm eggs.

The recipe is a four-step process, so it’s not a simple preparation. Even the glaze took extra effort. My chief critic during preparation was my wife, who is tougher than the judges on the Food Channel. Even though I was confident the recipe would be successful, she encouraged me to make the glaze more than once – I did ... four times ... just to make sure that nothing would go wrong on the final effort.

On the morning of the competition, I brought a nice looking cheesecake. The peach glaze itself required the minimum two cups of peaches. In addition, two more cups of sliced peaches decorated the cake’s top around blueberries in the center: very peachy indeed.

Nancy Fiorillo, mayor of Pinehurst,
awards first-place prize of $75.00

At the appointed time, I gathered near the judges area and waited for the results to be announced. I was hoping to place at least third in the contest. When Melanie Riley of Riley’s Ranch announced the third and second place winners (a peaches and cream pie and peach crepes respectively), I was disappointed that my entry had not been selected. When “peach glazed cheesecake” was announced as the first-place winner, I was really surprised and delighted.

After the contest I went to get the platter and the remaining cheesecake, but there was none to take home. It had all been eaten. I guess I have to make another one soon.

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Want the recipe? (Remember that it's not simple.)

Peach Glazed Cheesecake with Blueberries

Crust

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

6 tablespoons melted butter

2 tablespoons flour

¼ cup raw sliced almonds, chopped

Combine ingredients and press evenly onto bottom and sides of buttered 9x3-inch spring form. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Then continue with cheesecake portion.

Cheesecake

3 eight-ounce cream cheese

¾ cup sugar

3 eggs 

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons peach moonshine

2 tablespoons vanilla

2 teaspoons grated lemon rind

Beat cream cheese until soft. Add sugar, blending thoroughly. Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Mix in lemon juice, moonshine, vanilla, and rind. Blend well. Put in spring form. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes or until cake is firm. Then continue with sour cream layer.

Sour Cream Layer

2 cups sour cream

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

While cake is baking, blend sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. When cheesecake comes out of over, spread sour cream mix over cake and return to over for 12 more minutes. Cool cheesecake until it is room temperature before adding peach glaze.

Peach Glaze

2 cups peeled, sliced fresh peaches (approx. 4) 

½ cup water

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon peach moonshine

Place peaches and water in blender; cover and process until smooth. Pour pureed fruit into medium saucepan. Combine sugar and cornstarch, stirring well. Add sugar mixture to pureed peaches. Cook over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until mixture is thick and clear, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add butter and peach moonshine, stirring until smooth. Cool and set aside until room temperature.

Top Layer

2 cups peeled, sliced fresh peaches (approx. 4) 

1/2 cup blueberries 

Arrange peeled, sliced fresh peaches as needed in attractive pattern on top of the cheesecake. Pour peach glaze on top. Add blueberries around side or in center. Chill several hours or overnight.

Final Note: If not served immediately, sliced peaches may start to brown. Use Sure-Jell Ever-Fresh to stop browning. Dissolve 2 teaspoons Ever-Fresh in 2 tablespoons water; toss with peaches; refrigerate and serve within 8 hours.

Maxton: Where Collards Are a Tradition

In the fall many small towns and communities celebrate the harvest of the season and food that sustains them through the winter. The celebration of collards has become a tradition in the Town of Maxton, NC. With a crop as healthful as the collard plant, how should it be celebrated? Maxton, which claims to be “rich with greens,” organizes competitions of food, poetry, and costumes where collards are the central theme.

The Town

According to Dr. Gladys M. Dean, former mayor and founder of the festival, the event “honors the heritage and history of early settlers.” Scottish immigrants, who brought a tradition of eating collards with corn cakes, began settling the area in the 1700s and helped shaped Maxton, whose entire downtown area is on the National Register of Historical Places. Incorporated in 1874 with the name of Shoe Hill, the town changed its name several times before picking Maxton (the town of surnames beginning with Mac or Mc) in 1887. African Americans have also claimed Maxton as home for several generations, and it is where famous educator Charles N. Hunter, born into slavery around 1851, opened his first school in 1875 to improve the lives of African Americans.

The Annual Maxton Collard Festival, started in 2006 and held the second Saturday in November, continues to grow bigger, draw more participants, and attract more spectators from far away. The festival on South Austin Street now attracts over 4,000 people. In addition to being the collard center of the South in November, the town also claims the distinction of being “the collard sandwich capital” of the world. In fact, several festival food vendors make the sandwich – greens packed between two corn fritters with peppers and fatback – their primary item. All are tasty, but Shirley’s (a local caterer) makes the best ones.

The Competition

The best display of collards, however, is the food competition where local cooks proudly compete in categories that include main dishes, side dishes, salads and desserts. Nothing is more surprising to see than a cake with green icing labeled as “collard cake.” Soups, dressings, and salads line the table awaiting approval by the judges and tasting later by others. When my collard and black-eyed pea soup won a trophy, I knew that it must have hit the spot with the judges.

With a category known as “collard orations,” the festival recruits family stories, poems, and songs about collards. Several excellent stories – how collards survive frigid temperatures, how Scottish settlers transferred them to the Maxton area, how enslaved Africans brought a tradition of cooking the greens and drinking the juices known as pot likker – are in the festival souvenir book, sponsored by town businesses and festival supporters. However, the best “orations” read at the festival earn trophies as prestigious as the awards for the food. I’ve competed at two festivals, and each time have come home with a trophy.

The most unusual category is probably the collard costume competition when participants vie for trophies by wearing clothing decorated with collards. Winners have worn hats decorated as collard leaves topped with a red pepper as well as full-body suits imitating tall plants with mature leaves sprouting from toe to head. Even Dr. Dean as mayor walked the festival grounds in a collard suit. When I won first place, the prize was more valuable than any other.

The Competitive Spirit

The competitive spirit of the Maxton festival extends to other contests, such as for collard growing and collard eating. Arts and crafts dealers, food vendors, musicians and other entertainers round out the festival program that also includes a Veterans Day event.

The day ends with a “collard blasting ball” to celebrate how fall frosts improve the flavor and taste of collard leaves. The ball includes food (yes, more opportunities to eat collards) and dancing. Winners of dances such as the Chow Chow, the Fritter, the Fatback, and the Pot Likker receive a prize.

Maxton, a small town with a rich history, has added to its charm with a festival for everyone. Join the competitive spirit next year and enter one of the categories. You might come home with a trophy or prize.

Note: Click here to see recent photos of the Maxton Collard Festival.