Thursday, June 21, 2012

Lake House Chef’s Challenge

Perfect Pairing:  A willing host or hostess
It all started in the Winter of 2010.  Mark, my cousin’s husband, came up with the idea to have a cooking competition at the lake since a lot of people in our family like to cook.  That little seed of an idea blossomed into a major event. 

The basic premise is to have three competitors, three courses, three required ingredients, and each competitor has to come up with their own “secret” ingredient that must be used in all three of their courses.   
The competitors are chosen in advance and the main ingredients are unveiled.  This is serious business!  The first annual Lake House Chef’s Challenge was Labor Day Weekend 2010.  The competitors included myself, my brother, Jon, and my cousin, Julie.  The required ingredients were avocados for the first course, chicken for the second course, and strawberries for the final course.  We each had to choose one ingredient that we would use in all three courses.  I chose sour cream, Julie chose coconut, and Jon chose bacon.  No one was surprised that Jon chose bacon.  We were all a little nervous about how he would incorporate that into his dessert course.

Everyone in attendance was a judge and they were encouraged to come up with a culinary-appropriate judge name.  For instance….







The competitors were Ms. Cinco Senses, Julie Child and Sali Vate.  One of the best names of the night, which is not seen here, was Sal Monella.  So clever!
Over the next few weeks I will post about the "thrilling" competition.  Recipes will be provided when possible, some of those original creations can never be repeated.  Of course, the winner will be revealed in the final post! 

The first annual challenge was such a success that there was a challenge in 2011 and there will be a 2012 challenge in July.  All of these events will be fully documented.  We have had so much fun with this every year.  Trash talking starts around Christmas.   

The Perfect Pairing for this challenge is, without a doubt, a willing host or hostess.  Three people cooking three courses in one kitchen can be pretty crazy.  We had SO much fun but man it was a mess.

Stay tuned!!

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