Bringing National Recipe Contests To Grassroots America...
The American Fair - Behind the Scenes
Ellen Tracy
New York State Fair Grand Prize Winner
At fairs aross the nation, one competitor is honored with the “Grand Prize” or “Best of Fair” Award. Of more than 2,000 entrants at the New York State Fair, Ellen Tracy won the coveted Grand Prize title.
Ellen Tracy has been attending the New York State Fair ever since 7th grade when she showed cattle as a 4-Her. She remembers, “When I saw exhibits in food I decided that when I was an adult I wanted to enter open class food and clothing.” Not only has she entered, she has won many ribbons over the years, and this past fair season she was awarded the coveted title of NEW YORK STATE FAIR GRAND PRIZE WINNER!
Ellen won with her Grandma Bessie's Date Filled Cookies. At her brother's suggestion, she searched through her mother's cookbooks for clippings, which led to the re-creation of her grandmother's best cookies. Her brother Dave has a vested interest because he is her number one taste tester, with his own panel of testers at the local machinery dealership.
Winning the grand prize, which is equivalent to “Best of the Fair,” is more challenging at the New York Fair than at some other fairs. Each fair has its' own system. The New York State Fair limits the number of entries per contestant to five in regular classes and six in special classes. So, unlike many other fairs, bakers cannot bring entries in by the vanload! The New York State Fair selects one grand prizewinner from 42 sectional winners, which are chosen from more than 2,500 entries!
All areas of Ellen's life seem to be connected to food and fairs. With a degree in Community Service Education from Cornell University, she has worked as a 4-H agent and currently, as a home economics teacher. As part of her teaching program for GED (general equivalency diploma), Ellen says, “We do cooking because it's the best way to learn how to sequence. If you don't go in order, your food doesn't turn out. Students also learn to read.”
In her home economics classes she is always evaluating what the students do and “this is a way of showing them that I understand what it's like to have something judged,” Ellen explains. “They always ask how I do at the fair. This year the huge foam core check which the fair gave me is displayed on my bulletin board.”
Some other highlights of her fair experiences include a TV appearance during which she met New York's governor Pataki. In 1999 she “got to see President Clinton at the fair.” She has been featured in the Syracuse Newspapers. Even her upcoming marriage has a fair connection. Her fiancé is a farm sitter for farmers who are on vacation, and sometimes that vacation involves going to the fair to show livestock!
When creating recipes, Ellen begins by reading food magazines to learn “what's in!” She then creates recipes with the popular flavors, like her Margarita Chiffon Cake that placed in the 1999 Softasilk Championship Cake Award Contest. She incorporated tequila in the recipe and soaked strawberries in triple sec and tequila for the fruit topping. She emphasized that it is also important to come up with a clever name.
Her advice for entering is to “follow directions in the fair book. If it says 'typed,' do it. If it says to attach empty packages of yeast, do it!” She adds, “It is also important to be pleasant to people in the entry receiving department. They will take good care of you.”
“Fun” ranks high on her list of why she likes to compete. She suggests, “Don't worry about winning, just think about the recipes you will try and the friends you will make.”
Ellen is sharing two winning recipes with us. Grandma Bessies's Filled Cookies and Locks of Love Chocolate Braid, the first place winning recipe in the breadworld.com bread competition which she entered as a team with her god- daughter, Hannah. Creating the bread was a celebration of Hannah's donation of her hair to a program that makes wigs for children who have lost their hair.
