July 2005 “Cooking Tips” Winner —
Reta Coffman

With grilling season upon us, here are some grilling tips:
1. Before heating grill, wipe grates with peanut oil (high burn point) to prevent sticking.
2. When making kabobs, don’t thread the food right against each other on the skewers. Leave about ¼” space between food pieces so heat can circulate better. Also, make sure the pieces are uniform in size.
3. Only turn meat once when grilling and use tongs rather than a fork.
4. Have a spray bottle ready for flare-ups.
5. Always place cooked food on a clean platter not one that had held raw food.
6. ENJOY SUMMER!

Reta Coffman

Prize:

• Cooking tips:
  Bachelor’s Brew Marinade – Spicy Flavor
  The Gourmet’s Secret

July 2005 “Cooking Disasters” Winner —
Lisbeth L. McCarty

I was on a diet when I prepared a chocolate cake for Thanksgiving so I never tasted anything as I went along - stirring in the oil, adding eggs, blending, etc. The cake was beautiful and I used paper lace doilies to put powdered sugar sprinkles on top. My then brother-in-law, Mark, said the cake looked so great and he raced through the turkey meal to get to dessert. He took a huge bite, began to cough, & then bubbles started flying out of his mouth. I had accidentally grabbed the dishwashing liquid in place of the oil. Needless to say, I had no choice but to laugh along with everyone else because they were all laughing at me anyway.

Lisbeth L. McCarty

Prize:

• Cooking Disasters:
  Bachelor’s Brew Marinade – Lightning Hot
  The Gourmet’s Secret

August 2005 “Cooking Tips” Winner —
J.J. Davis

The greatest time and effort saving tip that I could give is to use a trash bowl. A trash bowl is a large mixing bowl set on your counter when you are cooking. Whenever you have something to throw away, just toss it into the mixing bowl. This saves you from having to walk to and open the trashcan for every piece of trash that you want to throw away. Simply wipe the counter into the bowl, toss the entire contents of the bowl away when you are done cooking and “voila!”, you just made cleanup a breeze.

J.J. Davis

Prize:

• Cooking tips:
  Delicate Angel Hair Organic Pasta
  Al Dente

August 2005 “Cooking Disasters” Winner —
sheri williams

I am entering this terrible story for the Disaster portion of the contest. I hope 'someone' enjoys it. LOL.

When I was in my teens, I had to learn to cook as my mom was NOT a cook. I prided myself on taking on unusual courses and foreign dishes. I also tended to go overboard on creating these dishes, as to either making them better, or bigger, or fresher or doing the spices and the ingredients myself. I still do this. Almost everything we eat is literally from scratch.

I had developed an inordinate fondness for hanging duck in Chinatown. I also saw, that the price and availability of Peking Duck served was dear. So, I decided to do research and get to cooking my own Peking Ducks. Fortunately, we lived on Long Island, NY at that time, which is a wonderland of duck farms and fresh fat ducks. I was able to go to a local butcher and order ducks with the heads on and no nicks in the skins. Not at all a tall order. And, the butchers were used to me and my unusual requests. Also, at this time, I was going through my trial by fire learning experiences, and deboning a chicken without cutting the skin. I had gone through hundreds of chickens. I did discover that deboning a duck was nearly impossible, but I didn't give up. One of the preparation steps in doing the Peking Duck, was to carefully sew up all openings in the skin, and orifices. Then, you will insert a small straw through a purse string suture in the duck skin, and gently blow and this will ease the skin away from the meat , and enable the cooking process to really crisp up the skin, which is the best part of the Peking Duck dish. I should have been a surgeon.

I had friends and family over on cooking day, and went about preparing the duck. I had the brilliant idea to use a bicycle pump to air up the skin. (remember, my lot in life was bigger, better...) I went into the garage and got a bicycle pump, and inserted the end of the tube into a slit in the duck, and tightened the waxed strings around the pump orifice. I pumped once or twice, and the duck dutifully became slowly more rounded, with the air seeping around the joints and forming nice rounded spots. I was delighted it was working. So, I continued with the pumping. Twice, Thrice, 4 pumps. That duck was great!!!! It was round!! The legs were sticking out at unnatural angles. The neck skin was puffing out looking like a white football. My onlookers were impressed with my cooking skills and finesse. The duck was huge! I remember thinking that perhaps this was the best way to inflate the duck, to achieve that super crispy moist and drippy and flavorful skin. I gave that pump a long strong hard push- pump when it happened. The duck exploded!

As simple as that statement comes out, you have no idea of the incredible noise of an exploding duck. It was a cross between snapping tablecloths in the 21 club as they are being set, and wet mud sticking to your shoe as you suck it out of the mud and invariably lose your shoe. Think of water going down the drain, which is filled with lots of vegetable debris and stuff, and the noise it makes as the final water goes down. Really loud and slurpy. Have you ever sucked Jello through a straw? Please do, and you will get a small idea of the sound of an exploding duck. Then, couple that with screams of terror from me and my friends, dogs barking and pans falling. The bicycle pump falling, and chairs falling over added to the general cacaphony. There was duck and fat and meat and shreds of raw duck everywhere. On the walls, on our faces, in my eyeglasses, on our lips and hair. This was during the time of big hair too. So you can imagine raw duck in our hair. I started to laugh, and roar, and was joined in by my friends. This was the best Peking Duck I had ever made, for the fondness of remembrance and my special techniques.

sheri williams

Prize:

• Cooking Disasters:
  Rotini Twists Organic Pasta
  Al Dente

Previous Winners

Click here to see our previous "Cooking Tips" and "Cooking Disasters" contest winners!