Cook Off!!!

Today, a few of us took part in a cook off at the Fruehlings Messe (Spring trade show). In front of the Newspaper crew and a crowd of a few dozen we were challenged in a cook off against the three-time European Champion on the Grill. Matt Walters (Michigan State), Sikoti Uipi (San Diego State), Alex Haritonenko (Germany), and I went head to head with him and a suprise bag of ingredients.

I have to say, we really suprised ourselves. We put together a nice steak, pepper, & onion shishkabob deally. The steak was marinated in a glaze we put together real quick (lots of garlic and orange), and a second glaze was put on to keep the meat moist while the judges waited. That was really good, but the kicker was our beilage (side dish) a tomato, cut open (nice design from Hari), stuffed with an onion, garlic, kreuterbutter (I'm not sure how to translate that, butter with spices?), and some more tomato, topped with a slice of mozzarella & finished off with a mint sprig & some balsamic vinegar. That was amazing, I don't know how we came up with it, Matt initiated the idea, I found the garlic, and cooked the stuffing before we grilled it all on foil.

When push came to shove, however, the judges were torn a bit. That's the best we could hope for, the grill master popped out an amazing dish with thinly sliced and perfectly grilled steak with an orange marinade. Of the three judges, one was all for the professional, one was blown away by the tomato & the strong flavoring of the shishkabob, the third was torn, said our flavoring was a bit more enticing, while the pro was too conservative (I agree), but the presentation of the pro's meal was much more enticing than ours and gave a slight edge to the pro.

I'd have to agree, but we put on a very good showing for American Football and the grill. Awesome day so far.

After the competition, Matt and Hari signed up to compete in the beer holding contest. The winner of the whole Messe wins a free grill (which would be very handy at the house). Alex went first and easily took the lead with a strong showing of 2:39. Matt wowed the crowd by holding up the beer (straight armed) for over 4 minutes. We think that mark will last until Monday, but who knows. The previous record was 2:06.

Well, I've got to get ready for practice. Bis bald! (Photos of the cook off & beer hold to come!)