Cheesiness
I entered my name into the hat for the Third Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational, regional Austin.
So on Saturday, Graham, who will be djing the event, and I will head on up to Austin with a cooler full of fixings for grilled cheese sandwiches, and at some point, I'll be making 20 portions of my grilled cheese sandwich for the judges.
I've never done this before. I helped Graham two years ago at the second annual (annual is a loose term in these parts) Grilled Cheese Invitational, but I've never competed myself.
I've been thinking about my sandwich for a few weeks now, and I have it worked out conceptually, though I do need to do a few trail runs tomorrow to make sure what works in my head works in the griddle. (Note: due to competition reading this journal, details of the sandwich are kept secret. I will note that it is titled Margharita Samba, ut is in the Karma Sutra (vegetarian)* category, and it will be delicious. Hopefully it will deliver what's promised.) My mother called me today with a bread suggestion, and I think I'll head over to a local artisan bakery during lunch to see if I can special order it for Friday pickup.
If I win the whole shebang, I think I get to go to the National event in Los Angeles at the end of April and compete with the big boys and girls. If I win just my category, I get a kick ass trophy and bragging rights for the rest of the year (or until such time as a Grilled Cheese Invitational (regional, Austin) happens again. If I don't win, I'll have had an awesome time.
*From the GCI official rules: The Kama Sutra
The Kama Sutra sammich is any grilled cheese that is made with exotic bread or contains any other ingredients than the above mentioned.
The only rules to the Kama Sutra sammich are as follows: The sammich MUST be grilled and the internal ingredients must be at least 60% CHEESE. Other than that, this is a freestyle category, so go for it. This is where you can create any savory flavor concept your twisted mind will allow, so long as the internal ingredients are at least 60% cheese.
The Kama Sutra category is not only the most liberal, but also the most popular. So you must keep in mind that the competition is fierce and you could be up against the largest block of competitors, so you better get it right!
So on Saturday, Graham, who will be djing the event, and I will head on up to Austin with a cooler full of fixings for grilled cheese sandwiches, and at some point, I'll be making 20 portions of my grilled cheese sandwich for the judges.
I've never done this before. I helped Graham two years ago at the second annual (annual is a loose term in these parts) Grilled Cheese Invitational, but I've never competed myself.
I've been thinking about my sandwich for a few weeks now, and I have it worked out conceptually, though I do need to do a few trail runs tomorrow to make sure what works in my head works in the griddle. (Note: due to competition reading this journal, details of the sandwich are kept secret. I will note that it is titled Margharita Samba, ut is in the Karma Sutra (vegetarian)* category, and it will be delicious. Hopefully it will deliver what's promised.) My mother called me today with a bread suggestion, and I think I'll head over to a local artisan bakery during lunch to see if I can special order it for Friday pickup.
If I win the whole shebang, I think I get to go to the National event in Los Angeles at the end of April and compete with the big boys and girls. If I win just my category, I get a kick ass trophy and bragging rights for the rest of the year (or until such time as a Grilled Cheese Invitational (regional, Austin) happens again. If I don't win, I'll have had an awesome time.
*From the GCI official rules: The Kama Sutra
The Kama Sutra sammich is any grilled cheese that is made with exotic bread or contains any other ingredients than the above mentioned.
The only rules to the Kama Sutra sammich are as follows: The sammich MUST be grilled and the internal ingredients must be at least 60% CHEESE. Other than that, this is a freestyle category, so go for it. This is where you can create any savory flavor concept your twisted mind will allow, so long as the internal ingredients are at least 60% cheese.
The Kama Sutra category is not only the most liberal, but also the most popular. So you must keep in mind that the competition is fierce and you could be up against the largest block of competitors, so you better get it right!