Posted by Rapid City Journal, SD on May 05, 2010 at 09:05:10:
Local cook competes in Pillsbury Bake-Off
Amid applause and cheers, Jeri Scranton-Skyberg of Box Elder lined up at her assigned mini kitchen at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek hotel in Orlando, Fla., on April 12.
It was the official start of the Pillsbury 44th Bake-Off.
“I was so excited. It would have been something to have won,” said Scranton-Skyberg, who competed for the first time at the bake-off.
She didn’t win, but the experience was enough to last a lifetime.
“It was just a grand time,” she said.
At 8 a.m., 100 home cooks from 36 different states sprang into cooking action to compete for the $1 million prize.
Scranton-Skyberg began her four-hour quest at kitchen No. 37 to bake two batches of her Mexican Appetizer Cups. After the first 20 minutes, news and food broadcast journalists were allowed into the football-sized ballroom to interview the cooks, catch the action and sample the fare.
She shared an assistant with four other cooks, who ran for the foods stored in refrigerators about 50 yards from the kitchens.
Alice and Ron Scranton of Box Elder, her parents, were in the guest gallery watching her cook.
“They were anxiously waiting to watch me have a meltdown,” she said.
It nearly happened.
“My only moment of panic was that in October I had to verify all of my ingredients and utensils,” she said.
The entire list of food, utensils and cooking gear was stocked into her kitchen.
There were strict rules to protect the integrity of the contest. If contestants wanted to take an aspirin, they had to officially check out. They could not communicate with their guests beyond waving.
After the contestants walked into the ballroom, they were not allowed to bring anything onto the contest floor — no cameras, no phones and nothing in their pockets — or they could be disqualified.
“I go over to get my Rotel tomatoes and green chilis — which were there — but discovered there was no can opener. I call over to the official Pillsbury ‘police’ to tell her there’s no can opener,” she said.
The official at first questioned whether the can opener was on Scranton-Skyberg’s original list, which it was.
“I bet she waited five seconds before she said, ‘I’ll get you one,’” she said. “I thought, ‘OK, game over. I can’t make my recipe because I can’t open this can.’”
She said as big as the ballroom was, it soon was crowded with many food experts, who were allowed to sample the products.
After her appetizers were finished, Scranton-Skyberg took them to the judging gallery.
“When you take your product to the judges, it is a big production,” she said. “They would lead you through the crowd because there were so many camera people and so many people and things in the lanes. This path would open to the judges gallery,” she said.
As the officials called, “Recipe coming through,” the crowd would cheer and applaud.
She made two batches, one for the judges and the second for the media area. There, she was groomed and photographed holding her appetizers.
“There were 10 people ahead of me; they had the lights up and they powdered my nose. By the time that was over, I didn’t have time to make the recipe for the third time,” she said.
She was finished by 11:20 a.m. Officials then asked all contestants to pack their suitcases for the 6 p.m. award announcements. The winners were to be whisked from the ballroom on a private jet to Chicago, where Oprah Winfrey was standing by to announce the winner nationally.
“They would send someone to get the bags. The winners didn’t get to go back to their rooms,” Scranton-Skyberg said. “They know how to keep things exciting.”
Although she didn’t make the cut, Scranton-Skyberg hopes to return as a finalist.
“Oh, for sure, I’ll submit recipes again and hope that many other people from South Dakota would, too,” she said.
Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or
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