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March 13, 2010

Ingredients change, but love of sharing continues

BY LISA MILLER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The life of a good recipe cannot be measured. Once shared, you never know how far it will go or how long it will last.

That’s one key ingredient in the success of The Daily Star Recipe Contest.

Every year for 50 years, people have looked forward to perusing the pages of the Cookbook, searching for familiar faces and good eats. For many cooks, the fun of sharing their favorite dishes has been a bigger incentive to enter the contest than the chance of winning a prize.

“I think lots of people really liked contributing recipes to the cookbook,” said Sandra Fentiman, who coordinated the cook-off as The Daily Star’s community editor from 1990 to 1995.

Fentiman, who lives in Utica and works as manager of marketing, public relations & government affairs at St. Elizabeth Medical Center, still makes the Shredded Sesame Chicken salad that won Janet Pucci of Delhi the grand prize in the 1991 recipe contest. And Anna Elwyn, who coordinated the recipe contest as The Star’s Family Page editor from the late ’60s through 1990, remembers trying the Spinach-Bacon Salad recipe that netted Mrs. Raymond Baker of Oneonta the grand prize back in 1962.

I have a unique perspective on the recipe contest. As a kid growing up in Oneonta in the ’70s and ’80s, I frequently sampled new recipes my mother culled from the annual Cookbook edition. And as The Daily Star’s community editor from 1996 to 2003, I coordinated seven cook-offs, getting a behind-the-scenes look at something I’d previously experienced only as a newspaper subscriber.

Some of the recipes my mom tried out were duds; others were so good that she clipped them out of the paper and glued them to index cards for future use. A few even became family favorites that have been passed down to the next generation.

I still frequently make Chicken a l’Orange, known in my family as “Lisa’s Favorite Chicken” because, apparently, it was one of the dinners I liked best when I was small. Just about every Valentine’s Day, I bake Chocolate Cherry Upside Down Cake in a heart-shaped pan, just like my mom used to, and every summer I bring Chocolate Zucchini Cake to at least one family picnic.

Though the essence of The Daily Star Recipe Contest remains the same, the event has evolved over the past 50 years to reflect cultural changes that have influenced what and how we eat.

Many of the contestants in the inaugural cook-off demonstrated traditional family cooking (Tuna Cashew Casserole, Manhattan Clam Chowder, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, Squash-Country Style), while a few prepared fancier dishes such as Chicken Liver Canape and Hungarian Cheesecake.

Categories in the 1961 event included: Vegetable, Dairy Dishes, Meat and Poultry, Seafood, Desserts, Pastries, Casseroles and a mysterious category titled For Men Only, which I can only presume was for recipes designed to be especially appealing to men. (The winning recipe, submitted by Mrs. Kenneth Stalter of Franklin, was titled Old Fashioned Man Size Ginger Cookies.)

Sweet-and-sour was the flavor of choice in the late ’60s and early ’70s, with three similar recipes taking home the grand prize within a four-year period: Sweet-Sour Spareribs by Mrs. Kent Hagedorn of North Kortright in 1968, Sweet and Sour Pork by Mrs. Charles R. Weber of Oneonta in 1970 and Sweet and Sour Chicken Dinner by Mrs. Alexander C. Smith Jr. of Oneonta in 1971.

Over the years, entrees and desserts have remained cook-off staples, and categories such as soups and appetizers have been popular in every decade. A variety of more-specific categories have come and gone over the years, including a category for microwave cooking and a hearthealthy category, with recipes analyzed by staff from the Healthy Heart Institute in Cooperstown.

In 1985, the 25th anniversary Cookbook included a New York state foods category featuring recipes that contained ingredients produced or grown in the Empire State, including maple syrup, zucchini, potatoes, squash, corn, tomatoes, apples, Swiss chard, broccoli, spinach, pears, strawberries and peppers.

Ethnic flavors have always been represented, but in the first 25 years of the event, many of the ethnic dishes featured at the cook-off were family recipes reflecting the heritage of the contestants _ including Berta Becker of Pindars Corners, who won in 1966 with her Sauerbraten with Gingersnap Gravy and Spaetzle, and Dianne Dirig of Oneonta, who took home the grand prize in 1984 with her Armenian Cheese Turnovers.

In the past two decades, recipes have grown more diverse, incorporating the Asian and Southwest- style salsas, sauces and spices reflected in Americans’ broadening cultural food preferences.

This year’s cook-off is no different, with a lineup featuring recipes with Cajun, Japanese, Middle Eastern and Mexican influences or ingredients.

Over the years, some contestants have given new meaning to the words “from scratch.”

For example, in 1997, Fred Ballard of Davenport won second place with his Tomato Chicken Sauce, made with chickens he raised and tomatoes he grew himself. In 2008, Bob Soules of Otego made his own pasta for his grand-prize-winning Seafood Ravioli dish.

“That’s pretty ambitious from where I sit as a chef,” said Emily Popek, Daily Star associate managing editor and cook-off coordinator for the past seven years. “He was done in plenty of time, he gave a great presentation _ he made it look easy, and, I think by the time he was done, a lot of the people in the audience were thinking, `Hey, I could make pasta.’ And it was delicious.”

In recent years, there has been a greater emphasis on presentation, with some contestants not only plating their entrées with side dishes and garnishes, but also serving them to the judges on elegant place settings complete with fancy dishes and silverware, candles, beverages and fresh flowers.

“Thank you, Food Network _ sometimes I say that through clenched teeth,” joked two-time grand-prize winner Kitty Brennan, recalling the year she raced around the Hannaford supermarket in search of last-minute items to improve her chances of winning, after witnessing a “fabulous presentation” by another contestant. She arranged tulips in a sundae-glass “vase” to spruce up her place setting _ but finished eighth that year.

Brennan credits TV chefs with increasing interest in cooking and respect for culinary expertise. “People like to come and see the competition,” she said. “You’re seeing chefs kind of as rock stars right now.”

The biggest difference between the 1961 cookoff and today’s event?

“Now,” Brennan said, “people are understanding just how cool those housewives were.”

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