Get stuck in your craw(fish)
Lincoln City Jambalaya
Cookoff warms up winter with Creole cuisine
Event set for Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012
[Posted Jan. 24, 2012]
What makes a great jambalaya? For Sharon Wiest, executive chef at the Culinary Center in Lincoln City, crawfish, shrimp and Andouille sausage are essential ingredients.
But, jambalaya is a Creole treat that chefs can make their own, based on their own preferences and tastes. Wiest said that so long as a dish contains rice, meat, seafood and tomatoes, it can be called a jambalaya.
This weekend, you’ll be able to sample many takes on the classic dish, prepared by a number of talented Northwest chefs, as they vie for votes from a panel of official judges, and compete for the coveted “People’s Choice” title.
This Saturday, the Culinary Center will host its fourth annual Mardi Gras Jambalaya Cookoff. Doors will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the center, on the fourth floor of the city hall complex at 801 SW Hwy. 101. Admission is free to all festival guests, with samples of jambalaya sold for 50 cents each. Guests may also buy single servings for $3 or family-sized portions to take home, $5-$8 each.
Local chefs from the Nelscott Café and the Mist Restaurant and Lounge (in Lincoln City) and Green Gables Italian Café and the Shilo Inn Restaurant (in Newport) will be up against visitors from Black Market Gourmet in Coos Bay and Jocelyn Kelly. Kelly, dubbed “The Gumbo Goddess,” is from La Center, Wash., and was a big hit at last year’s cookoff, Wiest said.
During the festival, the crew from Capt. Dan’s Pirate Pastry Co. in Lincoln City will be selling sweet treats while Karen Richards, proprietor of the Nelscott Wine Shop, will sell beer and wine selected to pair well with the jambalaya dishes.
Strolling from tasting to tasting at the Culinary Center’s myriad cook-offs is always a treat, but this year’s jambalaya festival will offer entertainment to further spice up your afternoon.
The Taft High School culinary students will participate in a timed technical knife-cuts competition. Watch these teens’ parents wince while their children mince – as well as dice, julienne, and brunoise – their way through a variety of vegetables. Music will be provided by singing troupe “Passin’ Notes.”
And just because this event is happening a few weeks before Mardi Gras officially arrives (Tuesday, Feb. 21) doesn’t mean it will lack for Louisiana tradition. Wiest said the city is having King Cakes flown in from the Cinnamon’s Bakery in Lake Charles, La.
In keeping with New Orleans tradition, each King Cake will contain a small baby doll. According to the Cinnamon’s Bakery web site, any person who discovers the baby in her piece of cake is to “continue the festivities with another party and another cake. The New Orleans-style King Cake is brightly decorated with Mardi Gras colored sugars and pieces of fruit. The colors purple, green and gold represent justice, faith and power, respectively.”
Purple, green and gold icing? Not a bad way to brighten up a wintertime Saturday on the Oregon Coast.
For more information, contact the Lincoln City Visitor and Convention Bureau at 800-452-2151 or visit oregoncoast.org.
Cookoff warms up winter with Creole cuisine
Event set for Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012
[Posted Jan. 24, 2012]
What makes a great jambalaya? For Sharon Wiest, executive chef at the Culinary Center in Lincoln City, crawfish, shrimp and Andouille sausage are essential ingredients.
But, jambalaya is a Creole treat that chefs can make their own, based on their own preferences and tastes. Wiest said that so long as a dish contains rice, meat, seafood and tomatoes, it can be called a jambalaya.
This weekend, you’ll be able to sample many takes on the classic dish, prepared by a number of talented Northwest chefs, as they vie for votes from a panel of official judges, and compete for the coveted “People’s Choice” title.
This Saturday, the Culinary Center will host its fourth annual Mardi Gras Jambalaya Cookoff. Doors will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the center, on the fourth floor of the city hall complex at 801 SW Hwy. 101. Admission is free to all festival guests, with samples of jambalaya sold for 50 cents each. Guests may also buy single servings for $3 or family-sized portions to take home, $5-$8 each.
Local chefs from the Nelscott Café and the Mist Restaurant and Lounge (in Lincoln City) and Green Gables Italian Café and the Shilo Inn Restaurant (in Newport) will be up against visitors from Black Market Gourmet in Coos Bay and Jocelyn Kelly. Kelly, dubbed “The Gumbo Goddess,” is from La Center, Wash., and was a big hit at last year’s cookoff, Wiest said.
During the festival, the crew from Capt. Dan’s Pirate Pastry Co. in Lincoln City will be selling sweet treats while Karen Richards, proprietor of the Nelscott Wine Shop, will sell beer and wine selected to pair well with the jambalaya dishes.
Strolling from tasting to tasting at the Culinary Center’s myriad cook-offs is always a treat, but this year’s jambalaya festival will offer entertainment to further spice up your afternoon.
The Taft High School culinary students will participate in a timed technical knife-cuts competition. Watch these teens’ parents wince while their children mince – as well as dice, julienne, and brunoise – their way through a variety of vegetables. Music will be provided by singing troupe “Passin’ Notes.”
And just because this event is happening a few weeks before Mardi Gras officially arrives (Tuesday, Feb. 21) doesn’t mean it will lack for Louisiana tradition. Wiest said the city is having King Cakes flown in from the Cinnamon’s Bakery in Lake Charles, La.
In keeping with New Orleans tradition, each King Cake will contain a small baby doll. According to the Cinnamon’s Bakery web site, any person who discovers the baby in her piece of cake is to “continue the festivities with another party and another cake. The New Orleans-style King Cake is brightly decorated with Mardi Gras colored sugars and pieces of fruit. The colors purple, green and gold represent justice, faith and power, respectively.”
Purple, green and gold icing? Not a bad way to brighten up a wintertime Saturday on the Oregon Coast.
For more information, contact the Lincoln City Visitor and Convention Bureau at 800-452-2151 or visit oregoncoast.org.
If you go
Mardis Gras Jambalaya Cookoff
When: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 28
What: A competition featuring chefs from the local area and across the region, preparing jambalaya (generally including rice, tomatoes, seafood and meat) and vying for People’s Choice and judges’ selections.
Where: Culinary Center in Lincoln City, 801 SW Hwy. 101, fourth floor
Cost: Admission is free. Tastings for $.50. Single servings for $3. Take-home size prices vary, from $5 to $8.
FMY: 800-452-2151 or visit www.oregoncoast.org
When: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 28
What: A competition featuring chefs from the local area and across the region, preparing jambalaya (generally including rice, tomatoes, seafood and meat) and vying for People’s Choice and judges’ selections.
Where: Culinary Center in Lincoln City, 801 SW Hwy. 101, fourth floor
Cost: Admission is free. Tastings for $.50. Single servings for $3. Take-home size prices vary, from $5 to $8.
FMY: 800-452-2151 or visit www.oregoncoast.org
