Entering cooking contests is a lot like playing the lottery. But if you can increase your odds, it pays to play to win.
Every contest has its own rules, but certain approaches and attitudes can help you to gain a fair advantage in almost any cooking event.
Here are 10 essential considerations when entering food contests.
1. Follow contest directions explicitly.
Marlene Johnson, director of consumer communications for the Pillsbury Co., says the most obvious rules are often the ones people ignore. Yet if you earnestly expect to make the finals in an event such as the Pillsbury Bake-off, you can`t afford to overlook the basics.
”The first rule-and it`s one people don`t even consider-is to always read the entry blank,” Johnson says. ”There`s really detailed information on it that`s important-how we judge the entries, points about taste and appearance, general appeal and creativity.”
Hanna Foxe, editor for Blue Ribbon Cooks` Newsletter based in Alhambra, Calif., is amazed by the number of people who break the most basic
commandment.
”Follow the rules exactly. And underline, exactly. If it says `print` or `type,` do it. Even if it`s tough, like cramming everything on a 3-by-5 card, follow that rule. All your work may be disqualified if you don`t.”
2. Write recipes with absolute clarity.
Think like an absolute novice, Johnson says. Just because you understand or automatically perform a step such as greasing pans or how to test for doneness, most judges who weed through the first-round entries will eliminate any that are not clear and complete.
Write your entry as though it is to be carried out by someone who has never before cooked.
”Include everything we need to know to make that recipe,” Johnson says. ”That includes cooking times and temperature, the kinds of pan to use-is it 9-by-13, or two 9-inch pans? We need all ingredients that need to be included, and the order in which they`re used.
”We`re always surprised to read a recipe that sounds great, then find that the contestant really hasn`t told the reader how to cook it. And as much as something may be obvious, we can`t add it to an entry-that would mean giving that contestant an unfair advantage.”
3. Test (and retest) your recipe.
Josephine DeMarco, an 81-year-old Chicago homemaker who has won scores of contests, says knowing that a recipe works is essential.
”Take a recipe and go over and over and over it before you type it up and mail it in,” she says. ”Then I make it once or twice or three times; if it doesn`t work well, I`ll change something more. I test and test. And I have grandchildren who aren`t afraid to say when they don`t like something. So then I`ll change the ingredients, add something or take something out until it really tastes good.”
Mildred DuBovy, a Huntington Beach, Calif., registered nurse who has won 28 cooking contests, says she tests a lot. ”But I give it to my neighbors,” she says. ”I`d weigh a ton if I didn`t.”
4. Pay attention to food trends.
”Any very, very outstanding dish will usually win regardless of the trend,” Foxe says. ”But you have more of a chance of winning if you`re aware of the trends.”
Twenty years ago, zucchini was trendy. Today it`s old stuff. Words such as light, low-fat, meatless, fresh, seafood, quick and easy are important contemporary terms.
Pay attention to newspaper food sections, magazines, the kinds of cookbooks being published and even current headlines. All will provide clues and cues.
”A catchy title always helps,” Foxe says.
One of DeMarco`s strategies is to take an old favorite and try it with something new. In currently working with burgers for a contest, she experiments with various meats and poultry in place of beef.
”Sometimes they turn out pretty good,” she says, ”and, sometimes, yech!”
5. Don`t be obscure or too complicated.
How do you figure just what will appeal to the judges? Apart from turning out a darned good dish, one important way is to think like an average person. Just because you have nothing but time on your hands, make everything from scratch and prefer intensely seasoned dishes, doesn`t mean that the public-the mass audience that food companies hope to capture-will embrace your tastes or techniques.
”They (average people) have to be able to get the ingredients,” DuBovy says. ”Remember, across America people eat plain food. You have to be able to make the recipe if you live in the hills of Kentucky or the wilds of Wyoming.”
DuBovy says this is particularly true for major, mainstream contests such as the Pillsbury. ”If you`re going to enter an exotic contest, like for liqueurs, it may be different,” she says.
6. Simplify and provide alternatives.
The biggest mistake contestants make in creating recipes, says DuBovy, is, ”They try to make them too intricate. You mix up too much junk, and that`s what it ends up to be.”
If you cook at all, she says, you know that the best recipes include good, basic ingredients that blend well together.
Pillsbury`s Johnson says that a smart contestant may include an exotic ingredient, ”but they`ll also include an alternative that`s easier to find or costs less.”
7. Showcase the product.
Bottom line: Since sponsors are trying to push their product, if you want to win their contest, you`d better use the product to best advantage.
”You want to make sure that product plays a major role in your recipe,” says Foxe.
8. Keep health in mind. Today`s nutrition-consciousness means that many people (and contest-screeners) skip recipes top-heavy with fat, calories, cholesterol, sodium, etc.
”Don`t make it too rich,” DuBovy says. ”In this day and age, a half-pound of butter can kill a (possible) winner.”
”Simplicity is important, especially now with the health concerns,”
Foxe says. There can also be an overkill of flavors if you get too many in.” 9. Enter contests selectively.
Maybe it`s a sign of cockiness, admits DuBovy, but she carefully considers before entering cooking contests.
”Now I`ve become so particular, first I look at the prize,” DuBovy says, because you have to pay taxes on winnings.
She didn`t enter a cookie contest recipe recently because the prize was a cruise from New York to the Caribbean, ”and I don`t like cruises, and I`d have to pay tax on it to boot,” she says.
10. Persevere.
Luck, DeMarco says, ”is very important-especially now. Because there have always been so many contestants, but now there are two, three, maybe five times more. There`s a lot of money in winning contests. ”
”I never give up,” DeMarco says. ”Keep trying. That`s my best advice. Keep trying.”
