Tips for Recipe Contests – Week 3

27 January
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This is our third week of sharing tips for recipe contests with excerpts from the book Discover Contest Cooking by Jean Sanderson.

Remember this publication is over 35 years-old.  A fact that will become apparent when you read the awesome Bruce Jenner reference below!

Check out our previous two posts:

https://cookingcontestcentral.com/tips-for-recipe-contests-week-1/

https://cookingcontestcentral.com/tips-for-recipe-contests-week-2/

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What Winners Are Made Of

Contest cooking is similar, in a way, to the Olympic sport of decathlon.  An athlete, such as America’s Bruce Jenner, does not win the decathlon due to one single quality.  Speed, endurance, accuracy, or strength alone is not enough.  It’s a combination of all these things in an athlete that enables him to win the decathlon.

Though the qualities are different in cooking competition, the logic is the same.  It is not taste or appearance alone that makes a recipe a winner, yet it is these and other qualities together in one recipe that will make your entry stand out from the crowd.

The entrant must keep all these aspects in mind from the time he or she decides to enter a cooking contest.  The entrant must always be aware of one thing in particular:  Good taste alone does not make a winner.

So what are the most important points upon which a recipe will be judged?  That’s easy – the same ones you look for in a recipe that you are cooking for your family.

First, you must consider the recipe’s appearance.  After all, when something doesn’t look good, even you will be hesitant to taste it.  A winning recipe must be picture perfect.

Color and texture are the two most important aspects of a dish’s appearance.  Color can be considered when choosing your ingredients.  Make sure colors are pleasant and as compatible with each other as possible.

If it lacks color or brightness, a dish can often be improved with a topping or sauce.  If the contest rules allow garnish, garnish it with appropriate ingredients.  That doesn’t mean hide it under big clumps of their or that.   Merely dress it up a little.

Texture can be guaranteed, again through piper selection of ingredients, and also by using the correct cooking techniques.  Both color and texture are best judged by your family’s reaction to the finished dish.  If they “ooh” and “aah” about it, then you have no problem.  If they back off from it before even tasting it, ask what it is that doesn’t appeal to them and make changes accordingly.

When considering a recipe’s appearance, also consider the mental images the written recipe will conjure up in the judges’ minds.  Preliminary judging will take place before anything is cooked so it’s imperative to consider what the written recipe looks like.

Every time I hear of a recipe contest I ask myself, “How can I put together a recipe that will create a total picture?”  After all, aren’t those the recipes you choose when reading a cookbook?

Another important standard your recipe must meet is ease of preparation.  The average American, especially when cooking for a family, does not have the time, money or know-how to be a gourmet cook, and a winning recipe is usually one that appeals to that type of person.

Ease of preparation includes the availability of the recipe ingredients, the cost of those ingredients and the time it takes to prepare them.

Be sure that any fruits and vegetables included in the recipe are readily available in most parts of the country.  The same goes for seafood.  And can those things be obtained for a reasonable price rather than an outrageous “specialty food” price?

The time it takes to cook a recipe will, of course, depend on the complexity of the dish.  Cooking procedures should be simple enough that most people feel they can follow them.

Again, only you can be the judge here.   How much time is too much time for you to spend cooking a meal?

A contest’s rules may well stress time as a factor.  Some are judged more heavily than others on ease of preparation.  In any case, you should read the rules carefully before entering to make sure you know what factors, including ease of preparation, will be weighed by the judges.

Of course, taste is the most obvious of all qualities of a winning recipe.  Though it is a subjective judgement, taste has the advantage of being easily classified by anyone.   If something is overly seasoned, bland, too strong, not strong enough, you will know at once.  Here again, remember the average American is not a gourmet, nor does he have gourmet taste.

Getting the taste exactly where you want it can only be done through experimentation.  This is one reason to work on various creative recipes all year long.

Remember too that taste is perhaps the trickiest of all senses.  If something is too sweet, don’t just guess you put too much sugar and enter the recipe with a little less.  First cook it with less sugar to be sure that was the problem.

Hint:  Whether it is specified or not, use the sponor’s brand name products is important.  Use them as frequently as possible.  Unless necessary, do not use brand names of any products other than those of the contest’s sponsor.

As you can see, a winning recipe is one that has something special, your own personal touch, as well as the other necessary elements described above.  Remember, though a decathlon competitor may be able to run faster than the rest of the field, he must be competitive in the high jump, javelin and other aspects to win the contest.

None of this is all that difficult to achieve really.  But, in order to win, you must have the know-how to put it all on paper.

If you aren’t already a member of Cooking Contest Central, what are you waiting for?  Subscribe today!

https://cookingcontestcentral.com/become-a-member/

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