2014 Christmas Cook-Off- Round 1- The Rafterys

Round 1- The Rafterys

Inspiration- "Memories of foods that we used to eat when we visited Virginia Beach before living here" - Sounds like a plaque that could be hung in this house with the other inspiring words.

Brunch

Preparation began at 8:15 with Kevin double-fisting.

Meghan was given a job which she couldn't mess up.  No skin please.

And Kip is still not here....

No healthier sound than the bubblin' oil for for breakfast fry.

A fine blend for a breakfast beverage.

And Kip is still not here...

The Brunch Menu:

Home style fried chicken biscuit with parmesan tomato and bacon

Sweet potato hash

Fresh fruit salad 

Pine-orange-banana booze

And Kip is still not here...

Taste test results for round 1, round 1 on a finely crafted grocery bag:

The taste test ingredients were: Parmesan cheese, honey dew, and Texas Pete Red Hot.  There was debate as to whether cantaloupe was acceptable for honey dew but as you can tell by the tallies, the consensus was NO.

And Kip is still not here...

After a short break, Kevin (and Meghan) began preparation of dinner. 

And Kip is still not here...

While the rest of the guests decided to poach.

Look who arrived!!- with no ingredients.

So off to the store.

Jude had time to double-fist some milk. LFLS.

Meghan spent the better part of 6 hours washing dishes:

Taste test results for Round 1, Round 2:
Mema takes the lead
beef, bleu cheese, raspberry vinegar

And finally

The Dinner Menu:

Pre-appetizer: Charcuterie with home-made cheese dip

Appetizer: Fried macaroni and cheese with chipotle panko bread crumbs and fancy sauce
Main Course: Roast beef with raspberry reduction, bleu cheese gnocchi, and brussel sprouts
Dessert: Kip's specialty- Homemade store-bought cheesecake
Beverages: Virginia white wine, Virginia red wine

Today's feasting is complete. Now it is your turn. Please vote and give us your comments here!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1iHItvhtk9GoMmM83q8lh6GgqULavvz0y-50AG3yw64A/viewform

Round 2- Dec. 29th

2014 Christmas Cook-Off- The Intro

Hello Horbal/Raftery/Frederick/Penning cookoff fans. This year's competition features a 3-day cooking marathon.  Each "family" is assigned a day to present their craft.

Dec 27th- The Rafterys (including Kip- still waiting for a family)

December 28th- Day of shopping for out-of-towners

December 29th- The Fredericks/Horbals

December 30th- The Horbals/Pennings

 Judging is based on presentation, taste, creativity, and overall inspiration for the day.  The competition includes a palate test.  Each team chooses six ingredients from their menu which the the non-cookers taste blind.  Results from the palate test will be used to settle any disputes which have a tendency to develop during the heat of the competition.  A brand new feature this year will include fan voting.  Be sure to review the blog at the end of each cooking day, access the survey link and submit your ratings.  The rating form includes a section for arbitrary points and comments so let your feelings be heard!

In order to avoid fighting and have ample space to prepare ever expanding menus, we have decided to rent a house for the competition.  Yes, you heard that right.  We rented a house to have a cooking competition.  Life's a Beach.

Sleeping 16, this semi-well-crafted bungalow has just enough space to house 7.5 highly competitive chefs and 3 highly competitive dogs. 

Ample space for the spread in this beach country-ish dining room with laminate flooring throughout.

Complete luxurious non-custom kitchen featuring laminate counters, white appliances, and an electric stove.

A partial view of the beach through the utility lines.

And a bacteria frappe. 

This rental was obviously meant for us.

Round 1 is about to begin. Stay tuned.

Christmas Cook-off 2013 (Final Meal and Results)

Christmas Cooking Challenge 2013

Round 4: Dinner

Our final meal had a long 3 hour preparation, which caused us to have an interim dinner, but was well-worth it in the end when we were gifted with homemade bread and a very finely marinated and corn-raised beef.

Jude got a little bored while the food was being prepared so he did a little light reading.

We also got into the Christmas spirit(s) and decided to dress festively.

The table-scape evolved throughout the evening and turned out pretty awesome.

The final dish was: Flat iron steak with arugula salad and lentils, maple oatmeal bread, and amaretto sour cocktail.

Maple oatmeal bread with maple worcestershire compound butter

Arugula Salad with grapefruit supremes, pomegranate seeds, maple candied almonds, and a maple worcestershire vinaigrette

Lentils with almonds, vegetables, and a worcestershire wine sauce

Pan-seared flat iron steak marinated in worcestershire, maple, ginger, soy, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and amaretto, served with a pan sauce of marinade, red wine, and butter

Maple amaretto sour with amaretto, bourbon, house sour mix (lemon and orange juice), maple syrup, beaten egg white, maple drizzle, maraschino cherry/lemon twist flag

The final dish was hearty and delicious. I had seconds of the bread.

Scully is tired of us.

Everyone voted and final results were tabulated. Total points were out of 140 and results were as follows:

3rd place: Liz (and Kip) with 108 points and 1st place in Presentation

2nd place: Greg (and Kevin) with 109 points and "best meat"

1st place: Marion (and Andrew) with 112 points and 1st place in Creativity and Taste

Specific results can be found at:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvXpVgy0xMeCdFhlQUV5N1pXN2JMQlVsbE13bDJFckE#gid=0 

Christmas Cook-off 2013 (3)

Christmas Cooking Challenge 2013

Round 3: Lunch

In signature timely fashion (bonus points) at exactly 2:00 PM, Greg and sous chef Kevin served us lunch. The "silent assassin", true to form, prepped and cooked silently with his sous for almost 2 hours as the rest of us sat around yelling ("someone turn off that cricket!") and arguing. 

We also lost one contestant, the elusive breakfast sous chef arrived late and half dead. Casey does not seem to mind.

The table-scape was a lovely non-Christmas theme, suspiciously lacking napkins of any kind. Otherwise, this was a fine meal.

The final dish, unofficially titled "All You Should Eat Lunch" was:

Sirloin hummus pocketless half-pita sandwich and fancy sauce, beer cheese roasted red pepper hummus soup with a Caesar salad cocktail (vodka, clamato juice, dash of tabasco, dash of worcestershire sauce, lime, sprig of romaine lettuce, and a rim garnished with parmesan cheese)

Ps. Worcestershire has to be the hardest word in the universe to spell. Note to self: Do not include this ingredient in the palate test next time.