Cooking Contest

[eagle90]

We want to have a Dutch Oven Cooking contest at our cabin camping trip next month where the Troop supplies the same items to each patrol and they have an hour or so to cook something. Has anyone done this type of event before? What were your rules, and what items did you provide for the patrol? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

Dale

[GKlose]

I haven't done exactly that, but I've certainly heard of a few "Cast Iron Chef" competitions on this forum.

 

What I have done:

1. (the troop did this) up front, SM tells patrols that they'll receive two whole chickens. The patrol plans the rest of the meal.

2. (I organized this for a district camporee, where the theme was backpacking) Top "Philmont" Chef: challenge patrols to come up with a backpacking-friendly dinner menu. Raw ingredients (including packaging) were weighed up front. Points were awarded on several topics: overall quality, weight, ease of prep, cleanup, leftover trash to carry out, etc.

3. "mystery box" -- patrols were given cardboard boxes containing several different items, including canned vegetables, pasta, kidney beans. Differing proteins. Leftover staples went into a stash in the troop trailer and will probably be used in future mystery boxes.

 

What I'm planning on doing:

Repeat the mystery box, but use something clever like Spam (got that idea on this forum too).

Mystery envelope (since our patrols haven't been shopping on their own) -- envelope filled with a set amount of money, drop patrols at a grocery, and pick them up later.

 

I'm also thinking that a cast-iron only patrol competition would be fun too.

 

Before criticism is launched this direction -- yes, I know these are "troop method" ideas. That appears to be the way this troop has been for awhile. I'm working in these ideas to get the guys thinking more along the lines of "patrol method" in terms of their cooking.

 

By the way, for the patrol competition at the district camporee, I was cautioned against having too many rules. The organizer wanted a half-page or less of description. In practice, the quality of the finished food was quite good. The main differentiator was weight and trash (a lot of cans, boxes, etc). Almost everyone came up with a one-pot meal of some sort.

 

Guy

[TWOMORROWS]

Try this:

http://www.troop114.org/cooking_contest_nov04.htm

or

http://www.inquiry.net/OUTDOOR/skills/cooking/contest.htm

 

[John-in-KC]

Guy,

 

Nothing wrong with your events; the trick is to put the bug in your SPLs ear so he thinks it's his idea...

[CA_Scouter]

We've done patrol cooking competitions in the past but the patrols get to decide the entire menu individually. Scoutmasters are judges and we considered nutritional value, taste, presentation, etc. in our judging.

 

As I recall, we had a smoked trout dish, a beef stroganoff and something else I can't recall at the moment. The Beef Stroganoff won but not by much.

 

Winning patrol had all their cleanup done by the other patrols.

 

 

[Eagle1973]

In our Troop, the Scoutmasters function as a patrol. Therefore, the winning Patrol gets their next meal prepared by and cleaned up by the Rocking Chair Patrol. The intent being for a Scout Patrol to see how another patrol can function at meal time, where the "fights" are over who WILL do KP...

[GKlose]

John-in-KC -- I appreciate and understand your advice. The greater issue is that we're so troop-method adult-led, the SPL and PLs have all grown up under a system where they haven't had to do anything.

 

You know how everyone always says that as an adult you can't come into a troop and try and change the culture. Well, I'm idiotic enough to be attempting that. :-)

 

But I'm not alone any more. A new dad joined. He's an Eagle Scout, and he recognizes the same issues as me. We're on the same page, and we're working together on this.

 

My mantra is: one small step at a time. So that's why I'm trying to generate the ideas like the mystery envelope, which (hopefully) will force patrols to shop for themselves.

 

The good news is that I think the troop leadership is thankful that I'm bringing new ideas (and I'm thankful for this forum, where I get new ideas every day). They've continued the troop-method adult-led system from a previous SM who seemed burned out (he was before my time). I don't think they're resistant to change, I just think they're not sure about how to move forward.

 

I could give plenty of examples, but I don't really want to hijack this thread.

 

Thanks --

Guy

[WAKWIB]

Any competition/contest is helpful in driving the patrol method.

 

I suggested to our PLC about 8 years ago the idea of a cooking contest. They've gone bonkers with it ever since. The patrols actually compete in two different ones each year. One in the fall and one in late winter/early spring. Both contests take place on campouts--(although we did have a dutch oven cobbler contest at a troop recruiting night a couple years ago).

The fall contest is whatever the patrol decides for the menu. Usually cooked in a dutch oven but other methods have been used.

The other contest is specifically a chili cook-off. Travelling trophies for each contest to the winning patrol.

SPL, ASPL, and 18yr.+ leaders are the taste testers and vote for the winner.

This year my attendance hasn't been that great, but in previous years the cooking contests were the "must-go!!" camp-outs for me.

One young man from the troop discovered his passion for cooking through his experience with Scouts. Currently going to college for a food service/chef type of degree.

[Mike F]

Dale,

 

If your guys are new to DO cooking and you're pushing them to give it a try, consider giving them a fairly simple recipe and all ingredients for something like chili and cornbread or a pot pie (with ready-to-cook crust).

 

If they have experience, you might run it like an Iron Chef competition. Tell them the troop will provide meat and they need to be ready to prepare whatever they are given. Then get each patrol a brace (2) of cleaned but intact rabbits. Another option is whole chickens, but not as much fun.

 

We have a cooking competition at almost every campout. PLC usually sets a theme along the lines of Holiday Feast, Hawaiian, Mexican, Chili Cook-off, etc. Winner gets to hang the coveted Golden Spoon on their patrol flag staff until the next competition.

 

Have fun!

[resqman]

We have a cooking contest every campout. The PLC chooses the theme for Saturday evening meal. Each patrol selects its own menus and buys their own food for the entire weekend already. They just choose menu items that meet the theme. Started out simply enough with ethic weekends: Mexican, Asian, Italian, etc. After about a year of that, the patrols were confident they could cook. The PLC then started down the line of methods of cooking. Must cook something in a dutch oven besides dessert, must use a box oven for at least one part of meal, untensiless cooking, open fire cooking, backpacking meals, hobo meal, etc.

 

At the semi-annual YLT training the troop holds, we divide the attendees into patrols. Each patrol is given the same or similar ingredients, recipies, and time to cook. For instance each patrol was given fresh fish fillets, potatoes, onions, a bread product fixings(cornbread, hush puppies, biscuit fixings) and seasonings. One patrol was given a box oven, one was given a turkey fryer, and one a propane cook top. The attendees did not know the ingredients or the recipes before they were handed to them at cooking time. They can either follow the recipe or come up with something on their own. Each patrol ate what they fixed but was also able to sample the other patrols fare.

 

The scouts have been very creative. The food quality is excellent. Initally the adult leaders would waunder by and get a sample from each patrol. Now each patrol prepares a presentation platter for judging delivered to the adult area. There are no formal judging rules. The adults sample and discuss the pros and cons. SM makes final decision and awards token prizes to the winning patrol.

 

If your scouts are not used to cooking, I would recommend hosting a few demonstrations during troop meetings leading up to the weekend. A simple meal that is hard to do wrong is breakfast. A dozen eggs, a pound of bacon or sausage, a stick of butter, cheese, loaf of bread, box of bisquik, syrup, spice cabinet, and some milk. Lots of ways to make these ingredients into tasty fare. French Toast, omelettes, boil-in-bag eggs, bullseye toast, etc. Bisquick can become biscuits, pancakes, cinmmamon rolls, or all manner of other bread options.

[SSScout]

"...Aw, Red, why would a mother try to starve her own son..."