Posted by Dallas Morning News, TX on April 13, 2008 at 11:50:05:
Area cooks set for Pillsbury Bake-off in Dallas
12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, April 13, 2008
By MICHAEL GRANBERRY / The Dallas Morning News
mgranberry@dallasnews.com
When it comes to Mango-Jalapeņo-Chicken Salad in Cumin Tortilla Bowls, Frances Pietsch pretty much has it nailed. At least the recipe part.
And yet, a sense of hesitation simmers in her tone. For the Flower Mound homemaker and 99 other contestants in the 43rd Pillsbury Bake-Off who will light up the ovens at 8 a.m. Monday in the Regency Ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel Dallas, doing it over and over and over does not necessarily leave anxiety out of the recipe.
Gwen Beauchamp of Lancaster isn't focused solely on winning. For now, she's just eating up the chance to compete. "I fall asleep thinking about this stuff," Ms. Pietsch says.
And why wouldn't she? The winner will cart away $1 million, albeit in 20 annual payments of $50,000. The grand prize only heightens the nervousness, which in this competition is as omnipresent as sugar and eggs. The winner is scheduled to appear on The Today Show on Thursday, and the Food Network will tape the competition while Bake-Off host and on-air personality Sandra Lee walks around the floor, tasting the entries.
"First of all, they are competing for $1 million," says Onju Sturlaugson, the Pillsbury Bake-Off manager. "So, I'm sure they're a little excited. But we do everything possible to make them feel comfortable," including serving a lavish ballroom dinner tonight.
The Bake-Off began in 1949. This is the third time Dallas has played host to the biennial event, the previous being 1968 and 1996, when the Bake-Off elevated the winning prize to $1 million, and for the first and only time, a man won it. Over the years, special guests or emcees have included Joy Behar, Dick Clark, Art Linkletter and former President Ronald Reagan (before he left acting for politics.)
When it comes to anxiety in this or any endeavor, Stephanie Hollowell is a cool customer, a woman whose day job all but bleeds pressure.
Ms. Hollowell, whose recipe for Fudgy Chocolate-Peanut Butter Thumbprints thrust her into the finals, is an air traffic controller at Addison Airport. So the thought of baking cookies against a clock doesn't keep her up nights. Precious seconds have challenged her for years, and with much higher stakes than whether she burns the cookies.
"As an air traffic controller," says Ms. Hollowell, 45, who lives in North Dallas, "we do everything down to the split second. Timing is everything. So I've had perfect training!"
Robin Hill, 56, a senior engineering technician with a petroleum firm, lives in Arlington, where her kitchen has served as a training ground for years. In 1993, she was a finalist in the National Beef Cook-Off and won the Texas Beef Cook-Off in 1990, 1993 and 1995. A native of Del Rio, Texas, where she mastered a south-of-the-border twist, her recipe is Spinach and Mushroom Enchiladas With Creamy Red Sauce.
For her, experience is the best anti-anxiety antidote, and yet, there's no competition like the Pillsbury to get the adrenaline juiced up.
"I just hope I stay cool and don't get too flustered with the competition part," says Ms. Hill, who has two grown sons and three granddaughters. "My fear is that I don't totally burn the enchiladas."
For finalist Gwen Beauchamp of Lancaster: "This is the big one. This is the competition that every cook who competes wants to be in. It's the Super Bowl of cooking."
Like most contestants, Ms. Beauchamp is no stranger to cooking confabs, having entered the 2006 Battle of the PAMazing Grillers in New York, sponsored by Pam cooking spray, and at least three other national events.
Because anxiety is a Pillsbury given, Ms. Beauchamp copped an attitude well ahead of time. "I have made up my mind to just go and have a good time," she says.
Her recipe is Toffee-Banana Brownies, one she deduced would be easier to make given the ticking clock. Like the 99 other recipes that qualified, it mandated the use of two eligible products. Hers include Pillsbury Traditional Fudge Brownie Mix, Crisco Pure Vegetable Oil and Smucker's Caramel Ice Cream Topping.
Between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday, contestants are obligated to whip up their own dish at least twice, once for judging, once for photography. They may then make it a third time, to allow floor walkers such as Ms. Lee a chance to taste it or if they're not that jazzed about the first two attempts.
Ms. Beauchamp, 54, is an information specialist at the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. She's married with five grown children. If she wins the $1 million, she dreams of "clearing 7 acres and planting a pecan orchard on 10 acres of land we own near Red Oak. I'll buy my husband a tractor, and we'll plant pecan trees. The old boy is ready to have some fun. As far as he's concerned, I'm already the winner. He loves chocolate. The man's a chocolate fanatic."
Ms. Hollowell is single, so her support group is her mom, her brothers and four cats. This is her third time to enter Pillsbury, the first being 1996.
"Honestly," says Ms. Hollowell, "I don't expect to win. Cookies generally don't win. They're not considered enough of a showplace item."
She marvels at how many strange and exotic ingredients are being deployed in this year's Bake-Off, which also features eight male contestants (though 14 men competed in the 1998 Bake-Off). If Ms. Hollowell does win, she hopes to buy a house and turn it into a part-time restaurant.
If Ms. Hill wins, she hopes to get the travel bug out of her system, then slap a new roof on the house and add a new air-conditioning system.
Ms. Pietsch, 43, had intended to buy her husband a new car should she be declared the winner, but he ended up getting one anyway, only to have it pummeled in a recent hailstorm.
"So, now I'm amending my dream to fix the damage on his car. Or at least cover the deductible," she says with a laugh. "I know that doesn't sound too exciting, but I would be thrilled. Of course, just winning would be thrilling. I'm one of those people who's never won anything big in her entire life. Come to think of it, why wouldn't I be nervous?"