What an exciting weekend… I competed in a live cooking competition! My recipe submission of Grilled Ribeye with Dried Cherry and Fresh Sage Relish landed me a spot in the semi-finals of the Beringer Vineyard’s Great Steak Challenge.
The competition took place at The Bite of Seattle food festival which happens to be local for me, so I had the benefit of a very supportive cheering squad of friends – even sporting Team Carol T-shirts!
We had 30 minutes to complete our recipe and present it to the judges, two of whom were none other than the Deen brothers. Only one person in our group had ever done a cooking challenge before, so I felt a little better knowing that most of us were novices at this.
Beringer had the event perfectly organized and went out of their way to make sure we had everything we needed. Most importantly they wanted us to have a great time. Rather than having all ten of us go at it simultaneously, we were broken into two heats of five. Happily, I was in the first wave. They had us grilling to classic rock hits, an MC giving minute-by-minute updates while roaming around chatting with us when we weren’t looking frazzled or needing to be intensly focused. There was even a camera and video crew capturing all the excitement. Because it was so much fun I was able to stay fairly relaxed with the exception of having my plating come down to the wire with the time limit.
Every competitor was supplied with all the tools and ingredients necessary for our recipes, but we were permitted to bring any favorite tools, and of course I had my SpiceCare containers at hand to make seasoning a snap. We each had a personal work station and dedicated grill, and shared ingredients were placed on a community table for all to use. As I was measuring my wine I thought about taking a big swig from the bottle, but given that it was on the community table and someone else was going to be using it I exercised good manners and didn’t. Once my entry was finished I was able to relax and enjoy watching the second group cook.
Seattle was the third of ten regional competitions. One lucky winner from each region gets to compete in the finals, which will be held in Napa, CA in early October. What will they be battling it out for? Fame and fortune. The final grilling showdown will be filmed and aired on The Cooking Channel and the grand prize is a big fat check for $15,000!
I was very happy with my finished dish. I didn’t forget to add any ingredients and completed it with a generous 30 seconds to spare! Whew. The fact that I did my best and had a great time took the sting off not winning. Oh, how I would have loved to have landed a spot in the finals, but I was out grilled by some stiff, but very friendly, competition. Dustin Harrison was the star of the day and will be proudly representing the Northwest region in Napa. I hope he walks away with the big win.
This is the first Great Steak Challenge, and hopefully it will become an annual event. If so, I encourage you to enter next year becuase it was such a blast! Seven more live semi-final events will be happening over the next few months in various cities. Check out the list of locations, if one is in your town you should go cheer for the competitors. You can also taste some wine and meet the Deen brothers.
If you are feeling hestitant about your steak grilling skills, take advantage of a free 14 day membership to Rouxbe Online Cooking School to perfect your technique. They have a fantastic module on cooking meat. Click on the link below to visit Rouxbe and here to read why TableFare has this offer for you.
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Carol You ROCK!!! Thank you.
Carol was by far the classiest contestant w/ the most elegant recipe (from what I could ascertain as a viewer). And I tried a mouthful of the cherry compote/topping, superb! Too bad it didn’t win, since would be a NW show-stopper w/ all of our cherries in the region. But she’s a winner in every other capacity…
Great post Carol and thanks for the great competition! Congratulations to Dustin! I hope you win big in Napa. It would make my loss feel so much better. 😉 Hope to see you next year.
Kelly – Completely biased friends are so good for the ego!
Troy – I agree that if Dustin wins in Napa it somehow makes losing to him better.
Dustin – right back at ya.
Hi
What a great time! Had a blast with everyone…
Thanks for posting a recap! Been looking for stuff about the event but your’s is the only info I’ve found.
All the best…
Shan (#7)
We made the recipe for a family gathering at the old family mountain cabin. Because the kitchen is so small we prepared the cherry relish the day before at home. We added a rub of chipotle chilli powder, cumin, salt, and pepper and a coat of olive oil. We trimmed the tri tip which we substituted for rib eye and sealed it all in a ziplock bag with a little olive oil. We served it with oven roasted baby red potatoes, carrots, and pearl onions, and a salad We served 8 adults and 3 children. Everyone raved about the relish and loved how it matched with a pinot noirwe served. it is important to check the internal temperature of tri tip as this cut has a tendency to dry out quickly. We served extra sauce for those who wanted it and had some left overs for lunch the next day. The most exciting thing is to suprise people with new tastes!! Thanks!
Mary Ellen – I’m so glad everyone loved it! The chipotle rub sounds really good.