This week's judges are April (Bruce's daughter) and her husband Nick...by the way, they are the proud parents of our last judges...sweet Elise and Emma.
April and Nick are no strangers to food competitions. For many years now they have hosted a much-attended chilli cookoff during the New Year's holiday. And, of course, they are competitors in our annual family food competition...this year we'll be hosting it during the Thanksgiving holidays.
Our family is full of fierce competitors and we can be quite critical as judges. So, when family members are involved in the Betty Crocker cookoff, Bruce and I hold our collective breaths and steel ourselves for whatever may happen!
April and Nick Before the Cookoff
We spent the day at the Historic 4th Ward Park in Atlanta to amuse the kids...
and....Bruce.
Finally, back at home we got the potatoes in the oven and Bruce cooked steaks in the sous vide. At this point we really haven't gotten the hang of perfect sous vide cooking; we haven't figured out how to serve the food really hot given that it is coming out of a warm water bath. We have tried flash cooking the meat after it comes out of the bath, but we're still not satisfied. However, last night we made a knock-it-out-of-the-park Mediterranean Shrimp in the sous vide. It was over the top deeeeelicious!
Anyway, back to the potatoes. Betty's potatoes were drier and more like cheesy hash browns.
Betty's Au Gratin Potatoes
and Connie's Challenger potatoes were creamier (you can never go wrong with bechemel sauce in any casserole)!
The Challenger's Au Gratin Potatoes
They tasted so different that we feared there might be a tie, however one bite of each and April and Nick quickly declared the Challenger the winner! Connie did her happy dance around the kitchen while Bruce quizzed them on why they liked this dish better. Their answer was surprising: it was because of the sliced American cheese in the challenger's potatoes. Ah, Betty, I'm surprised you didn't add this old stand-by to your dish! After a yummy meat and potatoes dinner everyone was satisfied and ready for a nap, especially Nick!
Another happy cookoff and it's getting interesting:
This Week's Scorecard
Betty: 3
The Challenger: 3
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