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Charleston Cooks Recipe Contest

click any of the photos below to start the slideshow

Charleston food editor Marion Sullivan and Charleston Cooks!’ Danielle Wexler culled the best, and the Culinary Institute of Charleston fired up its stoves for a live cook-off.

The Finalists: Front, from left: Sarah Digangi, Seth Purvin, Stephanie Jo Chapa. Back, from left: Dawn Baker, Lou Rena Hammond, Carol Cummings, Marion Mathes
Each finalist received a tray with all of his/her ingredients.
Littleneck clams for chowder
Emcee Chris Fraser takes questions from the audience.
Lou Rena Hammond finishes her prep.
Judges Nathalie Dupree, David Marconi, & Marion Sullivan
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Marion Mathes starts on her side dish.
Sarah Digangi & emcee Bobby Collins
Charleston Cooks Recipe Contest
“I like to experiment with recipes and then work to perfect them. I’ll try anything: Southern home cooking, ethnic dishes, sometimes even more exotic things.”—Dawn Baker
“Cooking is interesting, creative, and fun—and it’s different from my day job. Sometimes I cook just to cook.” —Marion Mathes
“I’m a ‘clipper cooker.’ I cut out recipes to get ideas and learn new techniques and then catalog them. My favorite resources? <em>Cook’s Illustrated</em> and <em>Bon Appétit magazines.</em>” —Lou Rena Hammond
A gift from her mother-in-law, Marion’s Berndes roasting pan boasts a terra-cotta lid and a cast-aluminum nonstick base. “It’s hard to burn things in this,” says the cook.
Lou developed this dish using wild quail hunted in Williamsburg County’s Ox Swamp, but the recipe also works well with domestic quail.
A trip to Sicily inspired Seth to try his own version of cannoli, combining a tuile-like benne shell and classic rice pudding thickened with just enough ricotta.
After finalists plated their dishes, the judges tasted and talked.
In the spirit of keeping the dish local, Dawn’s clams came from Livingston’s Bulls Bay Seafood in McClellanville. “The broth from these clams has the flavor of the sea—pure, clean, and briny,” she says. She opened the fresh littlenecks over a bowl to capture their juice for the broth, a move that impressed all three judges.
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