Hot competition: Wingapalooza contestants vie for the spiciest, tastiest wings in Mitchell
It’s taken time and effort — and even some tears — for contestants to ready themselves for a local chicken-wing cook-off.By: Jennifer Jungwirth, The Daily Republic
- Wings, anyone?
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It’s taken time and effort — and even some tears — for contestants to ready themselves for a local chicken-wing cook-off.
Mitchell Main Street and Beyond’s and Time at the Table’s Wingapalooza is from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Masonic Temple, Mitchell.
Advance tickets are $10 and are available at County Fair Food Store, Mitchell, or online at www.wingapalooza.net. Tickets will be $12 at the door.
Entrants will vie for awards including Spiciest Wings, People’s Choice, Best Looking Booth and first through third in overall taste. There will be an all-youcan-eat wing contest at 3 p.m., and beverages, including beer and soda, will be served throughout the afternoon. Awards will be presented at the conclusion of the event.
Carrie English and Dan Brown, who will represent County Fair in the cook-off, have tried several recipes and opted to combine two “tried and true sauces to make one enticing one.” The sauce is homemade.
“It’s a combo of spicy and something else,” English said. “It’s awesome.”
To get the perfect combination of spices and other ingredients, it took some trial and error.
“We tried so many sauces — one sauce left me crying for half an hour,” she said, referring to a particularly spicy sauce.
Cody Miles, along with his dad, Jim, and several other coworkers at American Garage Door Co. plan to offer testers three sauces to choose from — a barbecue sauce, a mildly spicy sauce and one that is hot.
Jim Miles uses his homegrown peppers for the specialty sauces. Some of his peppers include jalapenos, habaneros and red and green peppers.
“The flavors are going to be different from what’s available in town at restaurants,” Cody Miles said.
Cody Miles would like to take top prize in each category, but he said,“We’re hoping our milder wings will have the flavor that will win the People’s Choice.”
Jim Porter, of Porter Distributing in Mitchell, said his crew is “wingin’ it.” His wife and office assistant have been working on a recipe to wow attendees and the judges. Porter said he’s not sure if the wings will be spicy or sweet, yet, but they will include beer in the recipe.
For anyone interested in competing, there’s still time to register. Registration can be completed online at www.wingapalooza.net. Contest rules and costs are listed there as well.
Money raised from the cook-off will aid Time at the Table’s Kitchen Kids program. Kitchen Kids is an educational workshop that teaches kids the basics of cooking and eating healthy. The program is in its first session. More Kitchen Kids sessions will be held in February and March.
Wingapalooza will also support education efforts by Mitchell Main Street and Beyond for Mitchell Main Street businesses and the community.
With the Super Bowl on Sunday, the timing of the cook-off couldn’t be better, English said.
“Having a wing fest the day before the Super Bowl is ingenious,” she said, as wings are often a staple of any Super Bowl party.
And as much as all the contestants are excited to get involved and raise money for the community, they’re ready for some fun competition.
“What does it take to make the best wings? Fortitude and intact taste buds,” English said. “We’re here to take the top prize — best wings.”
Tags: life, updates, food, local, mitchell, wingapalooza
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