Satroms win food challenge
Another year of the Stutsman County Fair’s Chef’s Challenge, and yet another victory celebrated by Diane Satrom.
- Image
- Image
- Image
- Image
- Image
Another year of the Stutsman County Fair’s Chef’s Challenge, and yet another victory celebrated by Diane Satrom.
“It feels pretty good,” said Satrom, who with her husband Bernie was victorious in the Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce’s second annual Chef’s Challenge on Thursday.
The Jamestown couple’s main dish — which Diane called a modification of an ancient Sicilian recipe — was a spiedini that featured both ground beef and ground chevon (goat meat).
Spiedini typically refers to cubes or balls of meat cooked on a skewer.
The dish was accompanied by a mixed salad and garlic bread.
Out of a possible 45 points, the Satrom dish earned 37 points based on the judges’ criteria of creativity, taste and presentation.
“It was all so good,” said Denny Ova, Stutsman County commissioner and one of three Chef’s Challenge judges. “This was a tough job. I tasted tastes that I’ve never even tasted before.”
The Satroms earned $50 in “Chamber bucks” with the win, in addition to what Chamber Program Coordinator Lisa Hicks said was the “unofficial title of ‘Grill Master.’”
Bernie said he was just happy to help his wife out as much as he could.
“I was honestly surprised we won, there were just so many other great dishes presented so creatively,” he said.
Diane, who won the challenge last year cooking on her own, said her husband “was a good sous chef for me.”
The judges awarded first place but did not disclose the scores of the other four entries in the contest, beyond stating that it was a one-point victory for the Satroms.
“We really enjoyed all of these dishes,” said Jamestown Mayor Katie Andersen, another judge.
Teams had 45 minutes to prepare their dishes, with the only stipulation that they had to use the following ingredients: 1 pound of ground beef, 1 pound of ground chevon and a selection of produce that included mixed greens, Swiss chard and green onions.
The teams provided their own grills and were allowed to bring additional ingredients to complement the local ingredients that they were required to use.
“The whole point of this challenge is to showcase locally grown food,” said Judy Nohrenberg, chair of the Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce’s Ag and Energy Committee. “Good local food is being produced in and around Jamestown and Stutsman County and we’re seeing that here tonight.”
The meat was provided by Kristi Wirrenga of County Line Meats in Adrian, N.D., and the produce was provided by Annie and John Carlson of Morning Joy Farms in Cleveland, N.D.
After 45 minutes, the teams then presented their dishes to each of the judges, who rated each team on a 1 to 5 scale in each criterion of creativity, presentation and taste.
“All of the dishes were presented so well,” said Charlie Kouraijian, Jamestown city councilman and another judge of this year’s challenge.
The other four entries offered a variety of dishes of their own.
The Otter Tail Power Co. team of Kardell Blumhardt, Denny Ellefson and Richie Wolff presented a burger and mixed salad with barbecue sauce on the side.
The Haak for House team of Victoria Clark, Nate Clark and Paulina Haak used a three-tiered approach of a slider and stuffed pepper appetizer, taco pizza main dish and frozen peach dessert.
The Stutsman County Clover team of Tim Hermann, Kim Hermann and Deb Hatlewick created a lettuce-wrapped hamburger, a Swiss chard-wrapped chevon sandwich and accompanied both with a raspberry sauce.
The Orr team of Betty Ament and Julie and Lindsay Orr showcased a gyro sandwich combining both types of meat as well as a Swiss chard side dish that was sautéed in garlic.
The Chef’s Challenge was part of the Stutsman County Fair, which continues at the Stutsman County Fairgrounds in Jamestown today and Saturday.
Sun reporter Brian Willhide can be reached at 701-952-8454 or by email at bwillhide@jamestownsun.com
Tags: local news, news, fair
More from around the web
RSS Feeds