The Contest That Would Not End!

The whole problem started when Bruce (very graciously) agreed to do all of the grocery shopping for both of our dishes.  He did not know how much rhubarb it would take to equal a cup so he bought one bunch of it.  He made his Challenger dish first with half of the rhubarb and left Connie the other half.  His dish was quite beautiful, but looked more like a cookie than a crisp.

                                                  The Challenger's Rhubarb Crisp

Since she waited to the last minute to make her dish (and there was not enough rhubarb left for the full recipe) Connie was not able to make the casserole-sized dessert that the recipe called for. So, in her "finite" wisdom she decided to makae half the recipe as two small servings for our judges to taste.

Both Connie and Bruce decided that the rhubarb looked stringy and cut all of the exterior red part away. Then we both agreed that the remainder should be minced since it looked so unappetizing....more big mistakes!

Connie's recipe took forever and still didn't look like the topping had browned, but she stopped the cooking (at twice the recommended amount of time)!  The dish looked awful and the more that she thought about it, the more she decided that the whole problem was caused by Bruce not getting enough rhubarb...it couldn't have been her lack of cooking skills!

                                    Betty's Rhubarb Crisp with LOTS of Whipped Cream

 

On to our judges:

Tom and Kris have been our very good friends for many years.  Bruce and Tom used to work (and still golf) together and Connie and Kris are big-time hikers/walkers. We chose them for this competition because they come from the midwest and both are die-hard rhubarb lovers!  Strange folks, the Midwesterners!

                                                                                                              

They invited us over to their house so that we could all make individual pizzas.and we agreed to bring the dessert:  rhubarb crisp, of course!

                                Kris and Tom Hosting the "Make Your Own Pizza Party"


We ate way too much and laughed way too hard as we quickly covered their kitchen in flour and pizza toppings.  The wine, rum, vodka, and beer flowed steadily which probably didn't help our creative skills, but the pizzas were all delicious.  As we got ready for our yahtzee competition (yes, we are a wild bunch!) we set up the rhubarb crisps for tasting.

Both Tom and Kris were quite perplexed with our creations, flatly stating that they had never tasted rhubarb like ours before!  Given that they are very kind people, they struggled hard to say something positive about both dishes:  Bruce's crisp was buttery, but the rhubarb flavor didn't really come through and Connie's was more like pie filling (Midwestern speak for "mushy, overcooked mystery fruit").
They then quizzed us on how we prepared the rhubarb and brought out their cookbooks to try to help us...definitely not a sign of a successful cooking competition.  We realized that you are supposed to leave the outer skin on the rhubarb and cut it in big chunks instead of mincing it!

We were quite disillusioned with the whole rhubarb experience, but Connie decided to give it one more attempt.   Back to the grocery store went Bruce to get the correct amount of rhubarb and this time she prepared it correctly and made the casserole-sized crisp.

                                                          Betty's 2nd Rhubarb Crisp

For the second tasting, Tom and Kris came over to our house for a Mexican Fiesta which included pulled pork salad and tilapia enchiladas...those dishes should have been this week's challenge!  As we got ready for another yahtzee competition (no, we aren't stuck in our ways), Connie prepared Betty's 2nd Rhubarb Crisp.  The comments were MUCH more positive -- they happily said that this was almost like something they've tasted before!  Not exactly glowing praise, but ....whatever.  Our experiemnentation with rhubarb is over and we've declared this week's competition a DRAW...no winner!

One final note:  We're boycotting the rhubarb.

The Current Scorecard Stays the Same:

Betty:                     3
Challenger:           1

(These) Southerners Should Not Mess Around with Rhubarb!

Neither Bruce nor Connie knew much about rhubarb, so it seemed like an intriguing idea to attempt Rhubarb Crisp...seriously, how hard can it be to make a crisp?  Visions of Apple Brown Betty danced in our heads and we knew that we were up for the challenge!

                                                  Apple Brown Betty

First problem:  we didn't even know what a rhubarb looks like (we thought it might be like eggplant)!  And, we had no idea where you buy the things!


Off  we went to Wikipedia to find out the basics and this is what we learned:

Rhubarb is a group of plants that belong to the genus Rheum in the family Polygonaceae. They are herbaceous perennial plants growing from short, thick rhizomes. They have large leaves that are somewhat triangular-shaped with long fleshy petioles. They have small flowers grouped in large compound leafy greenish-white to rose-red inflorescences.
Although the leaves are toxic, various parts of the plants have medicinal and culinary uses. The traditional Chinese pharmacopeia features rhubarb (as a laxative).^[1]
In culinary use, fresh raw stalks are crisp (similar to celery) with a strong tart taste. Most commonly the plant's stalks are cooked with sugar and used in pies and other desserts. A number of varieties have been domesticated for human consumption, most of which are recognised as Rheum x hybridum by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Rhubarb is usually considered to be a vegetable; however, in the United States, a New York court decided in 1947 that since it was used in the United States as a fruit, it was to be counted as a fruit for the purposes of regulations and duties. A side effect was a reduction on imported rhubarb tariffs, as tariffs were higher for vegetables than fruits.^[2]

Bruce agreed to go in search of this mysterious ingredient and he went to the most exotic shop we frequent...Kroger!  (Actually, we sometimes venture out to Publix).  And, this is what he found --

                                                                ^{The Mysterious Rhubarb}
                                                                                     
They're quite pretty...like red celery.  They seemed kind of stringy so we made a joint decision to skin them first and chop them up really small...first big mistake!  Our second big mistake was not buying enough rhubarb for both of our dishes.  Our third mistake was not tasting the thing before we started cooking with it...we were both kind of scared of it! And our final (and biggest) mistake was serving this to one of our judges who had just had a colonoscopy (we didn't read the fine print from Wikipedia that it is used as a laxative...whoops!)

Anyway, on to this week's recipes:

Betty Crocker's Rhubarb Crisp

4      cups cut-up fresh rhubarb
1/2   teaspoon salt
1 1/3 to 2 cups sugar (depending on tartness of rhubarb)
3/4   cup all-purpose flour
1      teaspoon cinnamon
1/3   cup butter or margerine
Whipped Cream

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place rhubarb in ungreased baking dish, 10x6x2 inches.  Sprinkle with salt.  Measure sugar, flour and cinnamon into bowl.  Add butter and mix thoroughly until mixture is crumbly.  Sprinkle evenly over rhubarb.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until topping is golden brown.  Serve warm with whipped cream.

6 servings.

The Challenger's Rhubarb White Chocolate Crisp

Prep Time:  10 mins
Total Time:  1 hrs 10 mins
 Servings:     12

Ingredients:
4 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place chopped rhubarb in a 13 x 9 cake pan
Bake for 20 minutes.
While rhubarb is baking, mix the rest of the ingredients.
Crumble mixture on top of cooked rhubarb and bake 40 minutes longer


So, who do you think will win this week's challenge??? Stay tuned for the strange story of the rhubarb cookoff!!!