I'm Back!

Hey guys, sorry I've been gone. I still bake and still like a challenge. Like the upcoming trip to Sevierville, TN in a couple of weeks.

It is a bbq cook-off, but it has ancillary events for Friday night and a dessert contest for Saturday after the meat categories have been turned in. To tell you the truth, these are fun for me. Even though I am a baker, even had a bakery, I never have won the dessert category. I like a challenge- like the bean category and sausage category. I've won these several times. It amazed me the first time, even the second time. But I began pushing myself even more since then, just to see how far out I can go and still win.

Since I love to bake so much, I usually try to make something sweet with the beans or sausage.
The two times I tried to make something savory with sausage, I didn't win.

The first time I made Cajun crab cakes with sausage and a spicy remoualade sauce. I expected to win because of the taste tests I did before I made it for the contest. After the contest was over, one of the judges came to talk to me and said that if I hadn't put in the little cup of sauce, I would have won.
He said that if the judges (local people) not smothered both sides of the little crab cakes with it, and instead  used it just to lightly dress the crab cake or dip it lightly, then it wouldn't have burned them so badly. After all, it was called Cajun crab cakes-what would you think that would mean? HOT!

Anyway, after another failure, I went back to my old standby- sweets. Now even sweets didn't
work for me with sausage, but on the third try, it did!

Before at another contest, I made turtles with sausage and LOST again. The judge representative came over to our site and asked if I was sure this was my sausage entry. I told him yes, the he said he wasn't sure how it would go over. I didn't think about that, no one had told me there were restrictions against using sausage for dessert. Regardless, they threw it out. Told me it was absolutely great, but improper use of sausage. How dare they!

Now when I go to contests, I ask before I make anything. This year in our contests, I'm going to concentrate on winning the dessert category. It's embarrassing to lose these when I am a baker.

Follow me and see what I make this year at Tennessee.