By Sharon Thompson
If you bake cakes and they don’t involve a mix, you could win some cash.
A Best Cake in Town contest will be held at the Lexington Lions Club Bluegrass Fair on July 10. The categories are plain (pound, angel food); chocolate (iced); favorite (any kind not listed); white layer cake (iced); jam cake (caramel iced), cupcakes (iced), cake decorated by a professional, and cake decorated by amateur.
Entries will be accepted from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Ag Expo Center at Masterson Station Park.
For more information or entry forms, visit my blog at Kentucky.com or go to www.lionsclubbluegrassfair.com or call the Fayette County Cooperative Extension Service at (859) 257-5582.
Louisville-bound
The Southern Foodways Alliance’s annual field trip will be to Louisville this year, July 11 to 13. Participants will tour the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Muth’s Candies, Bourbon Barrel Foods and Shuckman’s Fish Co. & Smokery.
The Blue Grass & Brown Whiskey field trip also will feature classes, including:
■ Spoonbread school, led by Edward Lee, chef at 610 Magnolia.
■ Bourbon, led by Julian and Preston Van Winkle, father-son distillers at Pappy Van Winkle bourbon.
■ Oak Room chefs Todd Richards and Dwayne Nutter will lead a discussion on the cooks profiled in Blue Grass Cook Book, originally compiled by Minnie Fox and published in 1904. Toni Tipton Martin, who wrote the introduction to a 2005 edition, will attend.
■ Nancy Russman, a local chef and educator, will talk about Benedictine spread, a Louisville favorite, named for the late caterer Jennie Benedict.
■ Slow food leader Mark Williams will take guests on a farmers market tour.
■ Greg Haner, proprietor of the 1884 vintage Mazzoni’s Café, will share the lore of rolled oysters, favored in local barrooms.
■ Sarah Fritschner, retired food editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, will moderate a panel on the small Kentucky farm. Joining her will be Ivor Chodkowski of Grasshoppers, a local food-distribution company, and Mary Berry-Smith, who with her husband, Chuck Smith, operates Smith-Berry Winery in New Castle.
Registration is $405 for non-members and $365 for members. For application forms, go to www.southernfoodways.com.
Contest winners
At the annual Fort Harrod Beef Festival earlier this month in Harrodsburg, barbecue teams competed for trophies and bragging rights at the Kentucky Beef Cook-off. Here are the winners:
Professional division
Steak: High Mountain BBQ, first; Dunn’s BBQ, second; Darnell’s Pig Roast, third.
Brisket: Darnell’s Catering, first; Dunn’s, second; High Mountain, third.
Chili: Big Sam’s Pig Paint, first; Darnell’s Pig Roast, second; Darnell’s Catering, third.
Back-yard burger: Dunn’s, first; High Mountain, second; Darnell’s Pig Roast, third.
Amateur division
Steak: Holy Smokers (Immanuel Baptist Church), first; Fifth Third Bank, second; Community Trust Bank, third.
Brisket: Brother’s BBQ, first; Blue Man Dewey (Coleman’s), second; Up in Smoke (Wausau Paper), third.
Chili: Camo Cooking Co., first; Cornishville Cookers, second; Up in Smoke, third.
Back-yard burger: Camp Cooking Co., first; Up in Smoke, second; ACT Team (Trisler), third.
Youth division
Steak: Paige Anderson, first; Nick Yeast, second; Jordan Newsome, third.
Back-yard burger: Nick Yeast, first; Abby Readnour, second; Trey Darnell, third.
People’s choice
Camo Cooking Co., first; Dunn’s, second; Farmer’s National Bank, third.
Traveling trophies
Bank: Community Trust Bank, first; LNB Bank, second; Cheesebankers in Paradise (State Bank & Trust), third.
Industry: Up in Smoke, first; Old Skool BBQ (Trim Masters, Inc.), second; Crushed Stone Cookers (Mercer Stone Co.), third.
Overall winners
Camo Cooking Co. first; Cornishville Cookers, second; The Brotherhood, Bruner’s Chapel Baptist Church, third.
Here’s what’s cooking
Here’s the Quick Take recipe I prepared Friday on WKYT-TV’s 27 Newsfirst at Noon. My cooking segment airs between 12:35 and 12:40 p.m. Fridays on WKYT, then becomes available on Kentucky.com at 1 p.m.
Peppered halibut steak salad
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
11/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 6-ounce halibut fillets
3/4 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
Cooking spray
Variety of lettuce greens
Salad dressing of choice
Prepare grill to medium-high heat. Combine first 3 ingredients; rub over halibut. Cover and let stand at room temperature 10 minutes. Sprinkle fish with salt. Place fish on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes on each side, or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve on lettuce greens with your favorite dressing. Makes 4 servings.
