Cashing In On Cooking Contests
by: rockett
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Do you have a mouth-watering dish that everyone loves? Do friends call
and beg you to bring your culinary masterpiece to their next dinner
party? Are you starting to suspect that the only reason that you\'re on
so many party lists is because of that dish? Well, my friend, it sounds
to me like you just might be cooking contest material!
Winning a cooking contest can mean a lot more that hearing some hearty
burps after a panel of judges devourer your great-grandmother\'s
rhubarb pie recipe. If you\'re lucky enough to win the Pillsbury
Bakeoff, for example, then you\'ll be taking home a very tasty one
million dollars and a complete state of the art kitchen. Many cooking
contests are sponsored by food companies who are looking for new and
unique ways to sell their products. They generate a lot of publicity
for their company and sales of their food items go up correspondingly.
Some contests are sponsored by cookbook publishers and food or home and
garden magazines. People love to get new recipes and they\'ll snap up a
magazine that\'s full of the best of the best from the latest contest.
While not every contest gives away 1 million dollars, there are lots of
$5,000, $10,000 and bigger prizes out there as well as contests that
award new appliances, home kitchen makeovers, and lots of other things
that you\'ve probably always wanted but couldn\'t justify dishing out
the dough to buy. There\'s a huge number of smaller contests where you
can win prizes including recipe books, aprons and more while you learn
how to develop recipes the judges love.
Entering a cooking contest is easier than you think; and if you follow
some simple rules, you could be stirring up a pot of money with Uncle
Al\'s Meat Chili Pie, or Grandma\'s heritage cake. Here are a few tips
to get you started:
Rule #1 is: Follow the rules
Don\'t assume that some requirement in the rules isn\'t important. Many
people get disqualified from entering contests because they ignored one
of the small or even one of the big rules. For example, if the rules
say to print your name in block letters on a 3x5 unlined file card,
then don\'t type your name on the back of a napkin. Keep a copy of the
rules in front of you when filling out and responding to the contest
application and check each item off as you complete it. You\'ll be
crying like an onion peeler if you lose the one million dollars because
you didn\'t pay attention.
Rule #2: Make your dish sound delish!
Did you ever notice that finer restaurants serve \'fresh brook trout
lightly sauted in a demi glaze sauce with toasted almonds, fresh
truffles and baby asparagus,\' while the corner hash slinger serves
\'Broiled Fish and Vegetables?\' Making it sound delicious the first
step down the path towards winning that prize.
Rule #3: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
And your panel of beholders, the judges, aren\'t going to spend too
much time over a dish that looks like it was served in the mess hall of
the 4077th MASH unit. Arrange your dish professionally. Presentation is
the next step down that path.
Rule #4: Taste.
Your goal is to elicit a silent but honest \'Oh my, this is the best
chili I have ever tasted in my life\' comment from every judge that
slurps from their spoon. After all, if they can get better chili out of
a can then you\'re not blue ribbon material in spite of how good your
dish sounds or looks.
Rule #5: NEVER GIVE UP
No one can win every contest. If the cook-off bug bites you then keep
on cooking until you take home the big one. Remember, there\'s only one
grand prize, but somebody\'s got to win it. Learn a bit more every time
that you lose and, one day, you could be spending one million dollars!
About the Author
Melanie Rockett is THE Contest Guru. Her website and blog serve up a list of dozens of contests for cooks and recipe writers. Check out the dozens of cooking contests that you can enter today
Website:
http://contestguru.com
Blog: http://contestguru.com/contestnews
(c) Melanie Rockett 2007
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