Utah State Fair’s Bisquick Contest

Last Friday I helped judge the Utah State Fair’s Bisquick Family Favorites Recipe Contest.

Every year, the State Fair gives away a couple thousand dollars in cooking contests. It’s fun to see what Utah’s home cooks will create with various sponsor products such as Bisquick and King Arthur Flour.

The contest’s emcee was Troy Thompson, formerly of ABC-4’s “Good Things Utah” and now host of  a CW-30 show on plastic surgery called “Younger You.”

He’s a great emcee; he kept the chatter going

during the judging period. He interviewed the judges while we were sampling and judging the recipes, and I got a little sidetracked while chatting and answering all his questions. I had to hurry to get everything tasted and properly evaluated.

Troy, who admits he doesn’t know much about cooking, asked why I was sipping water and eating a grape in between judging each entry.  I explained that I was “cleansing my palate,” so that the flavors of the last dish didn’t muddle up the flavors of the next dish as I tasted them. He joked that I was being “pretentious,” but I think it’s important to take the judging job seriously.  When a $200 cash prize is at stake, and each contestant has gone to the effort and expense of making a dish and

bringing it to the Fair, you want to conduct the judging in a professional manner.

 

We also had to explain the product to Troy, as he had never heard of Bisquick before. I’m sure they have a similar version of Bisquick in Australia, where Troy is from.

I saw some familiar faces, because I’ve been judging State Fair contests for over 20 years, and some people who have been entering them for

nearly that long. I don’t really pay attention to who’s made which dish, so that I don’t get biased by personalities.

It was interesting to see how creative people could get with Bisquick.  One entry used it to make a pesto-flavored dough that encased corn-on-the cob. That was something I’ve never seen before. Often, if you want to use a flavored butter on the corn, the most of the butter slides right off the corn. This way, the flavor stays put. My fellow judges, however, weren’t as intrigued by the corn as I was.

Other contestants used the Bisquick to make

ravioli, gnocchi, and cornbread, as well as a lot of sweet baked goods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first-place winner was Naomi Kress, who made Breathtaking Bisquick Bars. They used apricot jam and almonds, with a topping of salted caramel and whipped cream. Salted caramel is “in” right now, although I think its popularity is starting to wane.  Naomi and her family have won countless State Fair contests over the years.  She told me she followed a food styling u-Tube video to figure out how to display the dessert to its best advantage.

 

 

 

 

Second place went to Seema Murthy of Provo, for an dessert called Gulab Jamun, which “is as common in India as apple pie,” she told me. “Of course, traditionally they don’t use Bisquick or dry milk powder as this recipes does.

Simple Toffee Date Cake won third place for Amy Stockhausen of Salt Lake City.

 

 

The  new contestant award went to Nancy Judd of Alpine. Although it’s the first time Nancy has entered the Bisquick contest, she’s a veteran cooking contestant. Last year she won the World

Dessert Championship in Las Vegas, besting some professional chefs in the process.

Nancy made Sweet Tater Muffin Tops with Cinnamon Streusel.

I will be running the winning recipe in next week’s Standard-Examiner column.