Cookoff next Friday

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Cookoff next Friday on May 13, 2011 at 11:15 PM

Hey everyone! Silas here - and I have another Dutch Oven Cookoff at work coming up on May 20th. I'm pretty excited about it, but I am hoping to get some ideas on what to cook to have a chance to win.

Right now, I'm thinking about this: http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/~papadutch/dutch-oven-recipe-bbqbrisket.htm
and this: http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/~papadutch/dutch-oven-recipe-verasbeans.htm

...for the Main Course.

And here's what I'm considering for dessert: http://www.justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com/?p=2726

Of course, the third recipe will have to be changed to fit a 12 inch dutch oven, but it looks good.

A little more background - we are having two categories, Main Dish and Dessert, and all judging will be People's Choice - that is, if the people like your food, they vote for it. Each person sampling will have two tickets, one for main course, and one for dessert.

Anyway - thoughts? Good recipes? Anything guaranteed to win?

There are two rules of Dutch Oven Cooking:
1) If you cook too much food, share.
2) Cook too much food.

Reply #1 on May 19, 2011 at 3:01 PM

My thought right now is that you had better have an awning of some sort.

I like your ideas. Brisket, beans, AND dessert? That should garner quite a few votes!

Reply #2 on May 19, 2011 at 8:18 PM

So...update!

Tomorrow is going to be not only rainy, but possibly THUNDERSTORMY. But even with the rain, if you think about the "business reason" for such an event is to get the employees (ALL employees, not just chefs) to go out and mingle, hang out together, and that won't happen in the rain.

So it's been postponed until Thursday, May 26th. I'm so stoked!

I'm hoping that a Sous Chef will come help me out...I won't announce until he does.

So for the moment, I'm re-thinking my recipes, my strategy, and trying to work out exactly what we're going to do. Other than kick some major rear-end...

😃

-darren

There are two rules of Dutch Oven Cooking:
1) If you cook too much food, share.
2) Cook too much food.

Reply #3 on May 19, 2011 at 9:19 PM

So iffen' you haven't guessed, I'm the Sous Chef.

I used to work at the same company as Darren, so it's going to be a mix of "Hi! Welcome back!" and "What are you doing here, traitor?" However, they're not going to complain about eating my food. :lol:

So the two of us, together, should probably do very VERY well.

This is, of course, pending approval of my family. I haven't talked with them about it yet and it's my oldest son's Birthday that day. He'll be in school while I'm playing Sous Chef, but still...I don't want to interrupt his day at all.

Reply #4 on May 19, 2011 at 9:31 PM

Family first, as always.

There are two rules of Dutch Oven Cooking:
1) If you cook too much food, share.
2) Cook too much food.

Reply #5 on May 20, 2011 at 2:54 PM

OK...so the official word did come down, it is on for Thursday! When we talked about this as a committee (I'm one of the guys helping to plan it...), we said that this was going to be our ONE postponement. So next Thursday, rain or shine, (or the aftermath of the Rapture?) we are moving forward!

The menu has been in flux - some SERIOUS flux over the past 24 hours. I still don't know what we should make, but I do know that it is going to be AWESOME.

Good times, good times!

There are two rules of Dutch Oven Cooking:
1) If you cook too much food, share.
2) Cook too much food.

Reply #6 on May 24, 2011 at 8:45 PM

Here's the menu we just finalized:

1) Dutch Oven Brisket
2) Vera's Baked Beans
3) General Tso's Chicken
4) Caramel-Peach Cobbler
5) Upside-Down Strawberry Shortcake

Where "finalized" is defined as "what we think right now, but may still change by Thursday." :lol:

Reply #7 on May 24, 2011 at 8:48 PM

It is going to be an ambitious menu for two people...but I'm excited for it. Cook on, bro!

There are two rules of Dutch Oven Cooking:
1) If you cook too much food, share.
2) Cook too much food.

Reply #8 on May 27, 2011 at 12:32 AM

DeShawn - COULD that have gone any better?

Thanks, bro, you rock.

There are two rules of Dutch Oven Cooking:
1) If you cook too much food, share.
2) Cook too much food.

Reply #9 on May 28, 2011 at 9:53 PM

You guys did great.

Reply #10 on May 30, 2011 at 3:09 AM

The two things I made (General Tso's Chicken and Upside-Down Strawberry Shortcake) were SO good that I made them for my family today. I had time to take pictures (with some help from my son) and have posted the recipes.

My family thinks that the shortcake is the best dessert I have made in my ovens--which is REALLY saying something!

Thanks for a wonderful day of cooking, eating, and generally having a great time.

Reply #11 on June 3, 2011 at 5:40 PM

eggman - thank you! It was a blast. I wish that I could have made it over to your table. I did hear some incredible things about your cobblers, especially the one that came off the coals later on in the afternoon...

Bro - the pics are AWESOME. Haven't had that much fun cooking in a long time. Here's to doing it again sometime!

-Darren

There are two rules of Dutch Oven Cooking:
1) If you cook too much food, share.
2) Cook too much food.

Reply #12 on June 7, 2011 at 5:51 PM

Nice...I have a good arm-peel going on from the sunburn that I got at the cookoff.

Totally worth it.

-Darren

There are two rules of Dutch Oven Cooking:
1) If you cook too much food, share.
2) Cook too much food.

Reply #13 on June 7, 2011 at 6:48 PM

My forehead peel is all done. 😎

Yes, also totally worth it.

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