Halls Ferry Drive Iron Chef Competition 2011

Each year for Thanksgiving, the Hill compound cooks up some Thanksgiving dishes and heads across the street. Their neighbors, the Cedars, have been hosting Thanksgiving for... something like 30 years? Once all 36 of us had gathered in the living room, we had a Thanksgiving prayer (ending, of course, in a request that the LSU Tigers be granted three more wins this season). Then we started in on the 7 different turkeys (some roasted, some fried and some smoked), 18 different side dishes (including 4 different types of stuffing) and 12 different desserts. It was delightful.

(A happy Chris with his first plate...)

(Of course, football is on in the background...)

Once everyone had enjoyed their feast, we started the Iron Chef Competition.

This started two years ago when we realized that there were 5 different dishes that contained pumpkin. We had an informal judging and my mom took the first victory with "Lynn's Classic Pumpkin Pie." Last year we were a little more organized with the secret ingredient: cranberries and I took the first place.

This year we were in full Iron Chef mode. The secret ingredient was announced the previous year and everyone was invited to participate by bringing their best Sweet Potato recipe. We have four judges and they are given a score card and asked to vote on taste, presentation and originality.

Here are a few of the dishes that competed:

Chris thought he might fool the judges with his presentation:

 (He placed the first place ribbon on his dish.)

Since I did not have a dish in the competition, I played the role of Alton Brown/MC... here I am adding up the scores...

It was a close race, with a tie for second place! Both Kimmie/Ms. Brenda's dish: Pumpkin Crunch (picutured in the upper left-hand corner two photos above) and Tom's Sweet Potato Ice Cream:

You can tell the judges were intrigued by his choice:

After they had scored this dish, Jeremy came out with...

More sweet potato ice cream! He is pictured here grating fresh nutmeg on top of his creation.

You might notice the judges seem to be even happier with Jeremy's creation and sure enough... he was crowned the winner!

The winner receives bragging rights for an entire year as well as the honor of choosing the following year's secret ingredient. Jeremy chose green beans.

Congratulations to all of the Iron Chef competitors of 2011, especially our top three honorees: Kimmie/Ms. Brenda, Tom and Jeremy!