Fired Up About Cooking!

By: Melissa Henry, 4-H Agent

Kids and fire is usually not a good combination, but under the right circumstances and with adult supervision it can have tasty results! Putnam County 4-H members have an opportunity to test out their grilling skills in the 4-H Outdoor Meat Cookery contest. This event involves youth learning about safety when starting fires, developing their own recipes for flavoring the meat project, and utilizing food safety measures when cooking. The youth can only cook with charcoal and select their own cuts of meat to grill from either poultry, lamb, beef, or pork. The event is timed, with contestants having 2 hours to cook their meat and have it ready for judging. Contestants are judged on how safely and quickly they can get their fire lit, how creative they are with their marinade recipe for their meat, and finally on appearance and taste of the final product. This contest gets the whole family involved, since many of the kids cook for their families several times before the contest.

This year’s event was held at the Wilson County Fairgrounds. Around 100 4-H members from across middle Tennessee competed in the event. In the Senior division, Hannah Steger placed 1^st in lamb, Hannah Bernhardt was 2^nd in chicken, Dawsen Arms was 1^st in pork, Emily Welte was 8^th in beef, and Austin Lane was 8^th in pork. Overall the team placed 1^st in the region and will compete at the state contest in October.

In the Junior High division, Bailey Steger was 7^th in beef, Grant Mainord was 11^th in beef, and Luke Welte was 5^th in lamb. Special thanks to Thom Steger for coaching the participants.

Putnam County 4-H is known statewide for a successful program and food science events are an important part of the total program. If you would like more information about the 4-H program please call the 4-H office at 526-4561. 4-H is a proud part of the UT Extension and the UT Institute of Agriculture. UT Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment through the cooperation of county, state and federal governments.

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Photo Captions: (all photos by Kimberly Welte)

Cooking:                      Grant Mainord add spices to his burgers before cooking.

Contestants:                Putnam County had a great showing at the region meat cookery contest. (L to R) Dawsen Arms, Emily Welte, Hannah Steger, Hannah Bernhardt, Austin Lane, Luke Welte, Bailey Steger, Grant Mainord

Senior:             The senior team was 1^st place overall and will compete in the state contest in October.