2010 IDOS World Championship Cook Off

It's been just over a week since Brian & Lisa Blodgett won the 2010 IDOS World Championship Cook Off with their Bacon-Herb Wrapped Pork Tenderloin, raspberry Pineapple Sweet Bread, and Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars with Streusel Topping. I'm here to tell ya friends, that was some good eatin. And, their competitors weren't far behind with some stick-to-yer-ribs dishes. If I'm not mistaken there were only a couple of points between 1st and 2nd and 5 points between 1st and last. That should tell ya how good these cooks really are. Oh, that shady lookin' hombre in the picture with Brian and Lisa has been identified as Ranes Carter, this years (and last's) WCCO organizer. What a great job he did. Much of the WCCO succes goes to Ranes.  He can trail with my outfit anytime. For more pics of the finalists and their dishes check out: WCCO Finalists and their Dishes.
Here are the pics of Brian & Lisa's winning dishes.

Now, if yer a wantin' to see a dynamite photo show take a look at this one: 2010 IDOS DUTCH OVEN Cook-Off created by Dee McMillan. Thanks Dee!

OK, it's that time again. After looking at all those terrific dishes and thumbing through the WCCO cookbook I decided to share something simple that I remembered from scouting.

For a fun and tasty dinner, try this dish that uses onions as the cooking container. And don't wait until you go camping; you can cook this at home in the coals from your living room fireplace.

You'll need the following ingredients and supplies:

• 3 large onions
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon (1 gram) of dry mustard
• Salt
• Pepper

Place the ground beef, egg, mustard and salt and pepper to taste in a large mixing bowl. On a cutting board, slice the onions in half horizontally. Coax the center sections out of the onion, leaving each half with two to three outer layers, or about 1/2-inch (13-millimeter) thickness, intact. Set these shells aside; they'll be your baking dishes. On the cutting board, chop the onion centers and add them to the other ingredients in the mixing bowl. Work these ingredients together until they're well-mixed.

Spoon the hamburger mix into the bottom half of each pair, mounding the mixture into a rounded ball above the edge. Cover the hamburger mound with the other half of the onion. 

Now, I first learned this as a foil dinner meal and wrapped the finished onion in foil and threw the thing in the camp fire. For the DO try skewering the two onion half's with toothpicks. 

Place each pair of onion halves in the Dutch oven. Bake at a medium heat for about 30 minutes. The temperature at the center of the concoction should not be less than 155 degrees. Remove the onions from the oven and allow to cool until they can be handled. The onion half's might still be hot so be careful when separating. As always, experiment with spices and different ground meats. 

Enjoy.