When we announced the RD contest in mid-October, we said that anyone who won, hosted or judged a contest for the rest of the year would be eligible to compete.  A lot of challenges/contests means a lot of eligible people.  Below is the initial list of challengers, but I’ll probably let a few others who collaborated with us last year in on the fun (so email Justin if you think you should be in). 

The Ridiculously Delicious Challenge Eligibles Are:

Sue T.	Tri to Cook	The Messy Chef
Big Apple Nosh	Katie at the Kitchen Door	Lemongrove Avenue
Joanne Eats Well With Others	A Little Bite of Life	The Freckled Foodie
Joanna L.	We Like to Cook!	Healthy Delicious
Barbara	La Fuji Mama	A Thought for Food
Dinner at Christina’s	The Griddle	Lawyer Loves Lunch
Chez What?	Plate Fodder	Chef It Yourself
Food Hunter’s Guide	Cookistry	Salty Seattle
Nibble Me This	La Buona Cucina	The Leftover Queen
Leslie Uhl	Kate in the Kitchen

 

This is a multi-stage, winner-take-all challenge where the last challenger standing gets to pick their prize!  In fact, that’s your first assignment!

Challenge Timeline*

Stage	Challenge	Deadline	# Advance
1	Entry Post	2/7/11	20+
2	Original Recipe	2/25/11	15
3	Recipe Makeover	3/14/11	10
4	TBD	3/28/11	1

 

Stage 1: Entry Posts    Top 20 or So Picked by Marx Foods         Due 2/7/11

Challengers, pick three items from the below list and answer this question:

What ridiculously delicious thing would you do with them if you won?

Your answer needs to be posted on your blog by February 7th.  If you don’t have your own blog, e-mail it to Justin (at) marxfoods (dot) com and we’ll post it on ours.  Be careful which three you pick, because they’re the prize you’ll win if you are the last challenger standing!

The Marx Foods staff will select the top 20 (or maybe a few more at our whim) responses for advancement, and we’ll send you a mystery box of ingredients for use in the next round.  There are no rules really as to what you need to post, but whoever makes us drool, laugh or wince the hardest is the likeliest to advance.   

The Goodie List

Kobe Beef Sliders OR Kobe Beef Burgers	Whole Quail OR Semi-Boneless Quail
Wild Boar St. Louis Spare Ribs	Pink Salmon Fillets
Kangaroo Burgers OR Ground Kangaroo Meat	Wild Mushroom Sampler (contents may change)
Live Oyster Sampler	Ultimate Chile Head Sampler
10lb Specialty Burger Sampler	Mega Pantry Sampler
Pekin Duck Breasts	Fresh Blood Oranges
5lbs Frozen Wild Huckleberries	20lb Heirloom Potato Sampler
1lb Fresh Daruma Wasabi	Specialty Sausage Sampler
14lb Dried Bean Sampler	1lb Bourbon Vanilla Beans
Superior Spanish Saffron Threads	2 Live Geoducks
Edible Flower Assortment & Microflower Blend

 

Stage 2: Original Recipe    Top 15 Picked by Reader Poll   Due 2/25

By February 14th we will ship (via ground) each of the 20 or so advancing challengers a mystery box containing eight ingredients.  They will be asked to use two of the eight ingredients in an original dish and either publish it on their blog or e-mail it to Justin (at) MarxFoods (dot) com by February 25th.

From March 1st through March 4th we will run a reader poll on the Marx Foods blog.  The 15 recipes that get the most votes will advance.

Click here to see the Stage 2 Recipes!

 

Stage 3: Recipe Makeover       Top 10 Advance             Due 3/14

For Stage 3 the 15 top vote-getters will “make over” the recipe of their choice from any of the other 15 top vote-getters, except their own. In their post, they must also specify which recipe would have been their second choice for a makeover.

The contestants whose recipes are the 8 most made over will advance to the next round. (to be clear, by making over someone’s dish, you are voting for them to advance to the next round).  Also, two of the contestants who did the best job making over their chosen recipe will also advance to the next round (as judged by Marx Foods). If there is a tie in the number of times a recipe is made over, or if fewer than 8 recipes are chosen to be made over, the tally of “second choice” comments will be used to determine additional contestants. If there are still fewer than 8, Marx Foods will choose additional contestants.

For the make-over, contestants must use 3 of their remaining surprise ingredients (not including the two they used for their own original recipe). Contestants should feel free to interpret “makeover” inclusively, as long as the made over dish relates in some obvious way to the original. Make over the dish by going high-end with it … or by making it rustic. Twist the flavor profile, re-imagine it, or reinterpret it. Make it your own.

The Ten Advancing Bloggers Are:

Eats Well With Others – Chicken & Waffles was remade by:
● Snippets of Sue – Chicken Waffle Dogs with a Cherry Chipotle Barbecue Dipping Sauce
● Tri to Cook – Szechuan Potato Waffles w/ Juniper Poached Salmon & Lemon-Dill Sauce
● Plate Fodder – Savory Tepin Chili & Herb Rice Waffles w/ Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad and Cherry & Dill Pollen Vinaigrette

Katie at the Kitchen Door – Cucumber Cups with Feta-Dill Stuffing & Lemon-Szechuan Dressing was remade by:
● Leslie Uhl – Spicy Crusted Salmon with Cucumber-Feta-Dill Sauce and Saffron Risotto
● Chez What? – Cucumber Cups with Dill Pollen, Szechuan Pepper & Saffron
● Big Apple Nosh – Chilled Cucumber Dill Soup

A Thought For Food – Chocolate Cherry Scones with Saffron was remade by:
● Eats Well With Others – Oven Baked Beignets with Saffron, Dried Cherries and a Coconut Sugar Glaze
● Lawyer Loves Lunch – Cheddar & Dill Scones

Lawyer Loves Lunch – Chermoula Fish Tacos & Moroccan Slaw was remade by:
● Dinner at Christina’s – Jerk Cod Tacos & Coleslaw
● A Thought for Food – Chermoula Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

Big Apple Nosh – Spicy Cherry Truffles was remade by:
● Katie at the Kitchen Door – Spicy Cherry Chocolate Souffles

Tri to Cook – Blueberry Cherry Crisp & Grains of Paradise Ice Cream was remade by:
● We Like to Cook! – Very Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler with Szechuan Pepper Dusted Whipped Cream

Leslie Uhl – Coconut Creamy Bread Pudding with Cherries was remade by:
● Food Hunter’s Guide to Cuisine – Individual Fiery Chocolate Bread Puddings Topped with Coconut Saffron Scented Ice Cream

We Like to Cook! – Fettuccini Alla Carbonara was remade by:
● Cookistry – Salmon with Saffron Pasta and Crème Fraiche Dill Sauce

Plus the two remakes selected by Marx Foods for their impressive quality:

Snippets of Sue – Chicken Waffle Dogs with a Cherry Chipotle Barbecue Dipping Sauce

We’re not sure what sort of arcane magic Sue used to transmogrify waffles into corndogs…but we like it!

Plate Fodder – Savory Tepin Chili & Herb Rice Waffles w/ Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad and Cherry & Dill Pollen Vinaigrette

Plate Fodder mirrored the basic elements of Eats Well’s original recipe (waffle, crispy chicken, sour-sweet sauce) while taking them in a very different direction.  A strong submission and an excellent example of a re-make true to its roots while striking out for new territory.

Stage 4: Final Challenge                  10 Challengers.  1 Winner                  Due 3/27

On March 16th we will ship all ten remaining challengers one very special perishable ingredient via Fedex Overnight (arriving 3/17).  They will be asked to use that ingredient to create a final ridiculously delicious recipe.  Submissions will be due by March 27th.

On or before March 30^th we will post a round-up on our blog linking all ten recipes.  All Stage 2 challengers (see the list here) will be asked to select the TWO recipes they find to be the most ridiculously delicious.  In addition, five members of the Marx Foods staff (Justin, Katy, Ryan, Matthew & Angela) will each select the FIVE they find to be the most ridiculously delicious.  (Up to 40 challenger selections + 25 MF.com selections = up to 65 votes total).  Only votes submitted by April 3^rd at 23:59:59 PST will be counted. 

The challenger who gets the most votes will win a case each of the three products they wrote about in their Stage 1 post.  On April 5^th we will announce the results. 

In the event of a tie, Justin Marx will act as the tiebreaker.

* This is the largest, most complex contest we’ve ever run, so please bear with us if we have to move a few dates.  Having said that, we will endeavor to stick to the schedule.