How do you follow a pizza crawl? For many, a salad and a triathlon might be appropriate, but for the some Emeril’s and Martha Stewart Living editors, you follow a pizza crawl with a Pizza Cook-Off. Previous cooking contests include a Chili Cook-Off and a Taco Cook-Off–the events are similar to a potluck, except a theme is assigned in the invite, and guests are invited to compete with the dishes they bring. The competition has gotten quite fierce at these parties, with the contestants putting more and more effort and creativity into their dishes.

The Pizza Cook-Off entries:

Mallory Cruz entered a White Clam Pizza, inspired by the Vognole pizza, served at Otto. Mal’s version included a homemade pizza crust topped with a creamy garlic sauce, mozzarella cheese, roasted garlic, and clams sauteed in white wine, garlic, and olive oil.

Read more »

As mentioned earlier, a group from Emeril’s and Martha Stewart Living has been hosting monthly cooking competitions. The first was a chili cook-off, the second was called, ” Your Signature Dish,” and the most recent was a taco cook-off. The events are a raging success, and at each cook-off, there are more competitors with increasingly creative dishes. The Taco Cook-Off entries included: Tuna Sashimi Tacos with Tomatillo Salsa, Korean Short Rib Tacos, Grilled Swordfish Tacos, Pork Tacos with Roasted Pineapple-Habanero Chile Salsa, Grilled Cod Tacos, Chicken Tacos, and a “Bahn Mexicano” Taco (Vietnamese Slow-Cooked Pork with Sriracha Mayo). Fancy, right?

The way the cook-off works is that the event and theme are announced a few weeks ahead of time and all guests are invited to bring a dish to compete. At the cook-off, the food is served, along with drinks and snacks–like a typical dinner party, but at the end of the buffet-style meals, guests vote for their favorite dish.

When the Taco Cook-Off results were tallied, there was a tie for first place: TJ’s Tuna Sashimi Tacos, and Tim’s Bahn Mexicano Tacos were the favorites, and Brian’s Grilled Swordfish Tacos came in second.

Regardless of winning or losing (which is something a good loser would say) the event was a great time and it was exciting to be a part of competition full of adventurous cooks. And while the winning tacos were amazing, I think that a re-count would reveal the Cod Tacos as #1.

Homemade hard taco shells for TJ’s winning Tuna Sashimi Tacos

Tony’s Braised Short Rib Tacos

Tim’s winning Bahn Mexicano Tacos

The pork for Alison’s Pork Tacos

Tequila, the Official Beverage of the Taco Cook-Off

A team of culinary enthusiasts (ok, fine, we just like to eat) from MSL and Emeril’s have been hosting monthly cook-off competitions — the theme of the first was chili, and for the second, everyone was asked to bring their signature dish. The competition has been heating up at these events, so when a Taco Cook-Off was announced, I knew I had to pull out all the stops. I began researching taco recipes (more on that later) but I knew that whatever I made HAD to be served in a homemade tortilla. I might have been intimidated by the thought of making my own tortillas, but I was emboldened by a recent tortilla-making how-to that Marc Matsumoto posted on twitter, and of course, motivated by the thought of taking the taco crown.

TJ Pitre, my friend, colleague, and cook-off cohort happened to have a near-full bag of masa harina, which is pretty much the only ingredient in tortillas, and I happen to have a brand-new tortilla press, so we teamed up to make a large batch. 7 large batches, in fact. The results were incredible in every way. I couldn’t believe how easy the tortillas were to make; we were adventurous enough to tackle both hard and soft shells. The hard shells were a little trickier, but after our 30th or so, we had all of the bugs worked out. They were so delicious and fresh, that I may not ever purchase packaged tortillas again.

 

« Back

Next »

Picture 1 from 11: Masa harina and my new tortilla press.

Get the recipe after the break:

Read more »