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Lecheras beat out last year’s returning champion to claim the winning spot in this year’s Whipped Challenge held Saturday, June 15 at Heritage Park. The team received a cast iron Dutch oven as their prize as well as an invitation to compete in the Dutch Oven Cook-Off later this fall. Staff photo by Tammy Vinson -
Myra Watson of Butter Chaos focuses on chopping tomatoes and bell peppers during Round Two of the Dairy Festival’s Second Annual Whipped Challenge. Contestants had to prepare a main dish featuring the either loved or hated Spam. Staff photo by Tammy Vinson
Six teams, three rounds, one winner
The second annual Whipped! Challenge kicked off Saturday morning at Heritage Park with six teams competing, including last year’s defending champion Butter Chaos.
The teams included: Butter Chaos, a team of lifelong friends; the Rosemary Society, a group of friends who met in high school culinary classes; the Alliance Bakers, a team of coworkers; Las Lecheras (The Milkmaids), a team made up of three generations of the Aguilar family; the Gouda Group, who attended culinary school at Northeast Texas Community College; and Legend-Dairy, a team made up of family members.
Teams provided their own cookware and equipment and came prepared to wow the judges with appetizers, main dishes and desserts. The ingredients were provided, with a few “curve balls” thrown in to keep things interesting. Contestants were required to use at least two dairy products in each dish, as well as a set of required surprise ingredients.
For the appetizer round, required ingredients included bread, dried cranberries, bacon, avocado and M&Ms.
A few electrical glitches didn’t slow the teams down much, as they toasted, chopped, pureed and candied their way to some mouthwatering creations.
Event judges were Emory’s own Denita Young, along with Ben Spraggins and Lindsey Caldwell Palmer, who both returned for their second year judging. Palmer introduced herself as the “Gordon Ramsey” of the group, using her New York culinary school background to “grill” the contestants on their cooking choices.
Two teams – the Rosemary Society and the Gouda Group – were eliminated after the first round.
The four remaining teams got busy preparing their next creations, the main dish. One of the surprise required ingredients for round two was — Spam! The contestants found creative ways to incorporate everyone’s favorite delicacy, from pan searing to pecan crusting.
Two more teams – the Alliance Bakers and Legend-Dairy – said goodbye after round two.
In the final round, Butter Chaos made up of Myra Watson, Mary Ellen Hey-book, Malita Reynolds and Jajan Davis, and Las Lecheras, with Ana Aguilar Shew, Jessie Aguilar Redding, Yadira Aguilar Caruthers and Victoria Shew, went head-to-head to create some “udderly” delightful desserts.
The judges had a difficult decision, but in the end, Las Lacheras was crowned Whipped! champion.