What a week we had down in Harrow! The kids and I arrived in Harrow on Sunday. All of our fair entries had to be submitted anywhere from 9am to 9pm on Wednesday. Thursday morning the judging began and by Thursday afternoon, we were able to check out the results. At 6pm on Thursday, the pie auction was held on the main stage. Read on for more details!
1st place - Orange Pound Cake (entered under Any Other Variety (AOV) quick bread)
No dice - Pumpkin bread
This category gave me some troubles. I figured I would make the loaves ahead of time and freeze them. At first I was going to use a banana, coconut, and maraschino cherry recipe from a cookbook that my friend Elaine worked on in NFLD. I have made it many times before and it is really good (yes, I do know about that red dye they use in the cherries but for this loaf, I make an exception). Not so good the day I made it for the fair, though. Too dark on the outside, sunken in the centre. By Tuesday, I decided that I wouldn't risk losing more time. I decided to make the Orange Pound Cake from the "Barefoot Contessa's Family Style Cookbook" which I hadn't made before but trusted Ina not to lead me wrong. For the pumpkin bread I used Anna Olson's Sugar cookbook, I recipe I have made several times. Unfortunately, I forgot that it makes enough for two regular loaves or one big one (the recipe says it makes one loaf). I put all of the batter into a regular loaf pan and it wasn't too long before I could smell something burning. The pumpkin bread was oozing over the sides of the pan and most definitely was not fair-worthy. The next batch was fine, but not good enough for a ribbon. This might be a good time to mention that the smoke alarm only went off twice while we were there!
There were a few items that we could do ahead of time, but the majority of items were better fresh. On Tuesday morning my Dad decided that he would make his items. Barbecue sauce for pork and oatmeal raisin cookies - both in the "Men's Only" section. I won't give you all the details of that horse & pony show, but let me share a couple highlights. At one point, Dad asks me where the brown sugar is. I didn't know and he quickly tried to give up the hunt. "Can I substitute corn syrup for brown sugar?" he asked. Um, NO! A quick phone call to my Mom and he was back in business. The first batch comes out of the oven. They are very thin and have all run together, as you can see from the picture above. I wasn't paying too much attention as I was already starting to work on my own recipes. The next batch, same thing. He calls Auntie Carol from next door. She soon walks through the door and says, "Did you forget the flour?" My Dad used the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe that you can find on the internet. Of course, he added his own touches and in the end he had some really good cookies.
1st place - Chocolate Layer Cake (iced)
1st place - Best Chocolate Dessert
I was thrilled with these results! The recipe I used for the cake can be found here on the blog (Sept. '07) and in the "Barefoot Contessa At Home" cookbook. It was getting pretty late on Tuesday night when I started making the cake. Luckily, I licked the spatula just before putting the cakes into the oven. I hadn't put any sugar into the batter. I quickly added the required amount of sugar, swirling it around gently, and popped them in the oven. When I took them out of the oven, I wasn't quite sure that they were finished. They seemed a little too underdone. This actually worked out because, in the end, the cakes were seriously moist.
I wonder if you might remember when I blogged about the Fair last year (Sept. '07)? My Uncle John, from Vancouver, was very vocal about the fact that his better half, Toni, made a pumpkin pie that would beat mine any day. I kept telling him to put his money where his mouth was and enter the Fair, putting the issue to rest with concrete results. Well, Uncle John just happened to be in town for a few weeks and was able to enter! Not only did he enter the pumpkin pie, he also made a Key Lime pie. Both pies had to go into the AOV category. I don't know if it's really fair to be judging banana cream pies against pumpkin and key lime or not (it certainly wouldn't be easy). Uncle John ended up with an Honourable Mention for both of his pies, which is pretty incredible considering that these were the first pies he had ever made! My Dad said that he didn't even have a beer after their golf game because he needed to go home and bake the pies. Now that is dedicated! Uncle John mentioned that he had a secret ingredient for his pumpkin pie. Toni had instructed him to cut out the words "Hog Wild" (the theme for this year's Fair) and also a little piggy. We've now realized that the judges love to see references to the theme, and Uncle John could very well have beat me in this category (if his pie would have been better, ha!). But seriously, I was really impressed by the fact that he entered the pies and they were recognized by the judges. Did I mention that he also entered the "Rooster Crowing Contest"? He does a darn good crow, but he didn't fluff up his pretend feathers and flap his wings (like the winner did)!
Peach Pie (entered in Peach Pie category) - Better luck next time.
Peach Pie (entered in the Pie Auction category, vying for the Best in Show) - Same.
3rd place - Pumpkin Pie (entered in the AOV category)
The Pie Auction at the Harrow fair is a lot of fun, especially if you have a pie that is being auctioned off. I had one peach pie go for $85 and another for $45. There were just under 120 pies to be auctioned off for charity and they raised over $11,000. The biggest winner of the fair had a pie auctioned off at $2400! I'd love to pick her brain!
I thought all of our pies turned out pretty well. I don't think any of our pies (of which Lori & I entered 5 pies plus 3 extra pie shells for judging) received any notes from the judges for anything gone wrong. By the time Wednesday afternoon rolled around and we were trying to finish up, I didn't have a clue whose pie dough I was even using. It was a real marathon (my cupcake knee has been acting up ever since!)
1st place - Sticky Buns (used the recipe for Pecan Sticky Buns from "Baking with Julia") picture above
3rd place - Sticky Buns (used the Apple Cinnamon Twist recipe from the blog - April '08)
The two recipes of sticky buns were made ahead of time. The Pecan Sticky Buns take some work but the results are out of this world. You start out by making a brioche dough, a very rich, buttery bread dough. Add more butter, sugar, cinnamon, and pecans and voila! They are rolled and sliced, creating the perfect looking bun. These buns also won "Best Sticky Bun in Show" and I received a Mazola & Beehive apron and some other promotional materials from those companies. Just for the record, neither of the buns contained any Mazola or Beehive honey, which might mean that I wasn't eligible for that apron, but I'm going to assume that the judges know what they are doing!
The Apple Cinnamon Twists were my old standby in the sticky bun department. They were delicious and I was able to deliver a hot plate of the buns to Al as well (who has always loved them) three doors down (to read about Al and the buns, see the blog - May '08)
The cookies that we entered this year didn't do so well. I made Gingersnaps from the "Great Cookies" cookbook by Carole Walter. I should have realized that they weren't an exact gingersnap by the introduction in the book that said they were a little unusual. These cookies didn't have any molasses in them and the traditional gingersnap does. The judges let me know by writing a note on my entry tag. "Gingersnaps are a thin molasses cookie." My friend Kristin's oatmeal raisin cookies looked great to me, but not according to the judges (overdone). Lori's oatmeal raisin cookies didn't have a comment but they weren't ribbon winners either. The oatmeal raisin cookie category was tough and there were a lot of entries, probably because most people think they can bake a pretty good one. My Dad got a little note from the judges for the jar he used to hand in his barbecue sauce ("improper container"). There was nothing saying what container it should be in, but apparently Mason jars are the norm and he used an old horseradish jar.
Some other ribbons that were taken home by our family and friends...
1st place - Rhubarb Pie (my sister, Lori)
3rd place - Bacon Served Three Ways (Lori)
1st place - Crabapple Jelly (my Mom)
2nd place - Pencil Sketch 5-6 year olds (Gavin)
3rd place - Design your own Bookmark (Gavin)
Participant ribbon - Ellen (her proudest entry was the macaroni pig, painted)
3rd place - knitted poncho, cape or shawl (Moira)
1st place - Counted cross-stitch article, not mounted in frame (Moira - Ellen's Christmas Stocking)
2nd place - Winter Shenanigans photo (Alan)
Honourable Mention - Transportation photo (Alan)
1st place - Ice Cream cone Christmas Tree (our friend Andrew, age 4)
Items that we entered that I haven't mentioned were as follows...
3 empty pie shells (two by me, one by Lori)
2 peach pies (Moira)
banana muffins (Moira)
banana snack cake (Lori)
biscuits (Lori)
oatmeal raisin cookies (our friend & Andrew's Mom)
banana blueberry cake - Best Dairy Dessert category (Aunt Evie, Kristin's Mom)
zucchini loaf (Aunt Evie)
strawberry freezer jam (Lori)
tomato sauce (my Mom)
Over the last couple months, Lori & I have deliberated over what the judges would be looking for. A lot of times, our favourite recipes have a special addition of this or that, and therefore stray from the original recipe. This is not the sort of thing the judges want to see. They want the quintessential recipe, not a modern rendition with something like "craisins" in it. We learned a lot this summer and we are definitely looking forward to next year! As a matter of fact, I have been baking again this week, helping Lori with a few things to enter at the Lincoln County Fair, in Niagara. As I said to my Dad last week, "Some people really take this stuff seriously." He sort of rolled his eyes and said, "You don't say..."
