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Staff Photo Illustration/Michael FisherOn Nov. 1, HP Hood will give ordinary Joes their shot at foodie fame – and a cool $10,000 – with its first-ever New England Dairy Cook-Off.
And it's chosen Portland as the battleground.
The event will be broadcast from the Ocean Gateway facility on Portland's waterfront by New England Cable News and hosted by Billy Costa of the NECN show "TV Diner."
Chef Steve Corry, owner of Five Fifty-Five on Congress Street, will be one of the judges at the finals.
For those who haven't stepped foot in a cooking school, this competition is the culinary equivalent of standing in front of the mirror and singing into a hairbrush.
Only instead of a hairbrush, you're holding a wooden spoon. And instead of belting out "I Will Always Love You" in your best Whitney Houston warble, you're whipping up your Great-Aunt Sally's famous brownies and dreaming of starring in your own cooking show.
The New England-wide competition will be accepting entries until Oct. 2 in five categories: breakfast/brunch; soups/chowders; apps/side dishes; lunch/dinner; and dessert.
You've probably already guessed that your recipes have to include at least one Hood dairy product.
Contestants will have just 40 minutes to prepare, cook and plate their dishes, although some pre-contest prep work such as cutting and marinating will be allowed.
"We're not necessarily looking for complicated recipes," said Sarah Barow, a spokeswoman for HP Hood. "We're just looking for some simple recipes that feature Hood products that people cook for their families or for events. They may not think it's gourmet, but that's not necessarily what we're looking for."
Hood has sponsored four years' worth of holiday cooking contests, but this is its first full-fledged, head-to-head, live cooking challenge.
Barow said the company decided to launch the dairy cook-off in Portland in part because a large number of consumers who have entered its past contests live here. Future cook-offs will likely rotate among the six New England states, she said.
All entries received by midnight Oct. 2 will be passed along to a panel of judges from the culinary arts program at Southern New Hampshire University, who will whittle them down to 30 semi-finalists, or five from each New England state.
The semi-finalists will compete live at Ocean Gateway on the morning of Nov. 1. Judges for the semi-finals will consist of Billy Costa, a Hood representative, and a chef who has not yet been chosen.
Each semi-finalist will receive a $100 prize and an overnight stay in Portland. Five finalists will compete later that evening for the $10,000 grand prize. Runners-up will receive $500 each.
Corry will be one of five judges at the finals, and he's looking forward to it.
"It's kind of exciting and kind of a pat on the back, really, just to be considered for it," he said.
Corry understands what it's like to cook under intense pressure, but says he's never judged a cooking contest other than an informal barbecue sauce competition he holds at his restaurant's staff party every year.
"The winner gets the proceeds from the foul-mouth swear cup in the kitchen," he said. "It's quite a financial payday for whoever wins that, but that's the extent of my judging experience."
Entries will be judged according to taste, originality and presentation/appearance. Corry said he'll base his judging on what he expects of his own kitchen staff "in terms of a complete dish, obviously taste being the most important element."
In addition to taste, he'll be looking for textural differences and a balance of seasonings and acid-to-fat ratios.
"I'm hoping that people are going to be able to take some of these products, which are going to be rich, and balance them to some degree with lemon juice or a pickled item or something along those lines," Corry said.
Ocean Gateway will be transformed into a...
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