AWARD-WINNING RECIPES Fair winners share secrets

For some Valley families, winning ribbons has become a tradition.
By LINDA M. LINONIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
Participating in the Canfield Fair is a family tradition for Kathryn Bennett of Greenford, who has served on the fair board for 14 years. Her father, the late Elden Groves, also was a board member.
She is a director of the arts and crafts building and medical and fine arts building. She is directly involved in setting up the categories in the cooking contests for junior participants and adults.
"Overall, we had about 3,500 entries [food and arts and crafts]," she said, referring to the 2004 fair. "The food, including canning, totaled about 1,450 entries."
Forty judges evaluated junior and adult entries in confections (candy), breads, cakes, pies, cookies and special needs such as diabetic, cholesterol and allergies and international and men-only category.
"We don't use the same judge in the same category two years in a row," she said. And qualified judges, with a food-related background such as home economists, are sought. "We also go by recommendations," Kathryn added.
Contestants, who prepare their recipes at home, bring in the finished products. But they must include a list of ingredients with their entries.
In another category, the Silver Spoon, entrants all use the same recipe. "It's interesting to see how the one recipe turns out differently," she said.
Another tradition
Participating in the food contests is an integral part of the fair for many families. And for some, winning ribbons also is a tradition.
Delores Damico and her daughter, Doxie, both of Austintown, have been entering the cooking contests at the Canfield Fair since Doxie was about 9. (She's fortysomething now.) Cooking and experimenting with recipes is part of their family heritage.
Doxie won 12 ribbons this year. Among her first-place entries were her recipes for angel and molasses cookies and caramels. "The Angel Cookie recipe I got out of a cookbook. I like sugar cookies, and this combined white and brown sugars. And they're light and fluffy," she said.
Her prize-winning molasses cookie, White House Gingerbread, was handed down to her from her grandmother, the late Olga Stanton. "I liked it because it was moist and soft."
Doxie said she often modifies recipes to suit her own taste. "If I like the recipe and it has nuts, which I don't like, I change it a bit but add to the flavor," she said.
The Damicos have the distinction of being featured in a 1996 article for Midwest Living, which featured three large fairs including Canfield. Their recipes have been included in the latest Canfield Fair cookbook.
Doxie said she and her mother send for the entry tags they think they may need but sometimes don't end up using them all.
"But you want to have them in case you come up with a recipe," she explained. "We usually have about 25 entries each ... but the older you get ... it gets harder to get them all done."
What helps
Over the last 35 years, Doxie has won 318 ribbons in first, second and third places. "Since the judges change from year to year, you don't know what they'll like," she said. "Sometimes I've thought a cookie turned out great and it won nothing and then thought another was kind of a flop and it won."
Getting air conditioning installed in their home has helped the baking process, Doxie said. "When the humidity was very high, sometimes cookies were soggy. But the AC has helped in that respect."
Doxie's mother, Delores, said their motto is "We bake what we like."
The fun and excitement of competing and seeing fair staff they have come to know over the years are reasons why Delores said she loves the fair.
Delores said she usually takes a vacation (from her job at Austintown Library) around fair time. "I had a 40-hour baking marathon," she said of her preparation for this year's event. "The kitchen looked like a hurricane had hit it."
She said she picks recipes by browsing through cookbooks and deciding what interests her. And she also has used recipes handed down in her family.
Delores said she sometimes makes changes by opting not to use an optional ingredient such as nuts or coconut. "It's a family preference."
Overall, she estimated that she's won between 300 and 400 ribbons and this year won first places for Peanut Butter Cups, Peanut Butter Cookies, white bread and French bread.
Delores said she isn't sure why so many of her entries have been winners. "I really have no idea." And she agreed with her daughter in that contestants have no idea what will please the judges. "One thing I have learned is not to overbake," Delores said.
Best of show
Mary Lou Senchak of Youngstown won a best of show this year for one of her entries, Lemon Sponge Pie. "I hadn't made it for 35-40 years ... since I had card club," she said. But looking through her recipes, she came across it and decided to enter it. "And I followed the recipe to a T, not changing anything."
Mary Lou has been entering the cooking contests for 10-11 years. She said family members, who usually attend the fair on Labor Day, encouraged her to enter. "I love to bake and sew ... and do stuff around the house," she said.
Her husband, Mike, frames her ribbons (now totaling 166) and displays them in their TV room. This year, she won 12 first places, six second places and two thirds.
Last year, she also had a best of show with her Cinnamon Date Bread. This year, the recipe was used in the Silver Spoon contest in which everyone uses the same recipe. "I was honored to be asked to be a judge [for the Silver Spoon event]," she said. The 32 entrants all made the bread recipe, one she said was an old recipe she had from Fleischman's yeast.
If there's a secret to her success, it's loving to cook. Mary Lou said she loves the challenge and loves the idea of participating. Winning a ribbon is secondary to the enjoyment Senchak said she derives from baking and canning.
Husband and wife winners, Harry and Peggy Potts of North Lima, said they have been entering fair contests for about 10 or 11 years and both have had success. But they said they don't really keep track of the number of ribbons they've won.
Peggy said finding and trying out recipes for the fair is a year-round activity. "We have a folder marked Canfield Fair and when we have something we think is outstanding, it goes in there."
Choosing recipes
The two said they find recipes from a variety of sources. When it comes time to select recipes for the fair contests, they look over what they've collected and make decisions.
"Presentation is important," Harry said.
"The appearance, taste and something different .. we look for that," Peggy said.
"I was lucky with the recipes," Harry said. He won a best of show last year with a white fudge recipe with cranberries and earned a first place in confections this year with another candy recipe. Harry said he always has enjoyed cooking and has taken some classes at the vocational center.
Peggy said she and her husband love the fair. "We like the challenge of participating and enjoy preparing the recipes," Peggy said.
Peggy, who also enters roses and needlework at the fair, won two first places this year with a Peanut Butter Fudge ("really creamy") and Razz-Ma-Tazz Bars ("raspberries and white chocolate ... make it different").
Both noted that contestants never know exactly what will catch the attention and satisfy the tastebuds of the judges.