Redwood Creek knows how to run a contest. It’s part of the reason I’ve been a serial Campfire Cookoff hopeful for the past two years. Ever since Rooster competed in this one (his first and only cook-off) back in 2005 with a filet mignon recipe, I’ve been pining to try my hand. He didn’t win back then (turns out back-packers don’t travel with filet mignon. Who knew?), but we had a blast in New York. And while traveling is all well and good, part of the reason the contest this weekend was so great was because I could drive there straight from work in under an hour. Heaven bless regional cook-offs.This was also the first contest where I got to actually meet another CCCer who I recognized from the forum. A nice coincidence actually, because I learned about the CCC forum at Rooster’s competition back in 2005. Two other competitors told me about it, and they were quite friendly with each other in a way that turned my shy. At the time, I’d been using CCC for the “other” contest listings almost exclusively and hadn’t realized that the Forum on the left hand nav was a community posting board. My contesting hobby revolved around writing contests, and the occasional TV cook-off if it required an essay for entry. But Rooster’s Redwood Creek ladies (one of whom took home the big prize) had been traveling and scoring wins for straight-up recipe development. I know it sounds cheesy, but it was inspirational.
Anyway, Redwood Creek. My pants have been a little tight lately so when I arrived at the Mariott courtyard, I hit the Loehmann’s discount outlet in the mall across the street. Got a tunic that I’ve been living in the past two days. Who knew stripes could be so flattering to pudge? After shopping, I just made it to orientation where I met the other cookers. Bev from a small town in Missouri was making bison kabobs with grilled cabbage slaw (brilliant), Chris from Milwaukee seemed sweetly nervous and was competing with walleye baked in tinfoil, and Amy from Ohio (she said she lived in a town with population 0) developed a pork loin with a lovely little mango cucumber salsa. She and her husband brought their own cherry wood (for the fire) on the plane. Just in case.
Rooster walked into the hotel completely sweaty 5 minutes before our dinner reservation. He’d taken the Metra train up from the city (we only have one car and I command it), and the station was about 3 miles from the hotel. He walked for an hour in steamy muggy Chicago heat and just made it to dinner. The ethnic theme of the restaurant was “whatever” and dinner was extravagant with crab cake appetizers, baked goat cheese, lamb egg rolls and sausage pizza. I sat next to last year’s Midwest winner and we had a nice cozy talk about religion and mega churches as the waiters filled and refilled our glasses with Redwood Creek wine.
The next morning we were shuttled to the Botanic gardens to start prepping for the competition. The whole scene took place during a Wine Festival. Redwood Creek set up a woodsy looking lodge with a make-your-own-s’more set-up out front. Each of us had a fire pit at our cooking station, and a prep table stocked with our own bottle of Redwood Creek wine. The other women had most of their ingredients at their stations, but all I had was a yam. I was promised the other goods would arrive in an hour, so I just sort of bummed around watching the other ladies prep. The meats were also arriving late, which sucked for Bev and Amy, both of whom had some hefty marinating time in their recipes.
Bless Redwood Creek, because when my ingredients arrived, they had managed to find me fresh morels for the pasta (the recipe calls for fresh or dry). I felt guilty about the score, because they couldn’t find bison for Bev and she had to use flank steak. That says something about Chicago that you can find morels but not Bison. We’re a frou-frou town, I guess. Her flank steak was delicious though, really tender and with a very distinctive citrusy marinade.
They staggered our presentation times, and I rush-rush-rushed at the end because the coals weren’t hot enough to bring my sauce back to a boil. A boy-scout fire master and resident fire marshal brought over a load of new coals when they saw my dilemma and things shaped right up after that. Judging was based on camping appropriateness, wine pairing, flavor and originality.
Chris of the Walleye won, and she was so shocked she just stood stock still and blinked a little. I love it when first time contesters win, I know she’s totally going to become a contesting convert. In debt to Rooster’s 2005 CCC ladies, I started talking up the CCC forum. Spread the love, right? I scored Runner-Up, which I didn’t even know was an option going in to the contest. The cash will help me pay off some of the debt on the new computer I had to buy last month, so I am grateful. Overall, a really well run contest chock full of good people and of course, divine wine.
