Locals Take First-Place Awards with Barbecue Sauce and Baking at Fair

Scott Quinlan is a very lucky man. His first-ever barbecue-sauce entry took first place at the Orange County Fair this year and is also the division winner. But Quinlan isn't your average fair competitor. The first-time entrant is using his talents to help visually impaired people (into which category he himself belongs to after a battle with diabetes six years ago which left him completely blind), and has managed to parlay a 30-year-old family barbecue sauce recipe into the start of a set of food offerings which includes his sauce as well as a meat rub.

“I've been in the kitchen since I was 5,” says Quinlan, “and I remember my mom making this sauce for me when I was a young boy.” After a successful career in the aviation industry traveling around the world, this entrepreneur is ready for a new adventure in cooking. “I'm planning to have my sauce available locally, here at our neighborhood ,” adds Quinlan, “once I get my nutrition label, manufacturer and packaging organized.”

Quinlan's sauce is named Triple B Barbecue Sauce, for “Blind Boy's Best.” He contends that his sauce isn't anything special and that he uses all local items but feels the amounts used are what makes his stand out. “Cooking it slow is also important,” Quinlan says.

Currently the sauce is being sold to raise funds through the Lions Club, benefiting Guide Dogs of the Desert. Anyone interested in trying the winning sauce can reach Quinlan directly via email: triplebbar-b-q@hotmail.com or by calling 714-200-3964 to arrange to purchase from him directly. A pint of Triple B costs $6; a quart goes for $12.

And from a different side of the culinary arts is local hairdresser Amy Davis Iversen, who is taking home six awards for various baked entries: an orange layer cake, malt ball brownies, blueberry cinnamon chip scones, cherry pie, pecan pie bars and a pumpkin pie with gingerbread crust.

“This is really fun for me!” says Iversen. “I bake for fun, have since I was a kid. My first book I ever bought was a cookbook!” Iversen says that her baking is a great stress reliever and that she got her start baking for the masses when a friend suggested she enter the fair last year. Her experience has led to more customers and her “Treats by Amy” Facebook page, where her treats can be ordered.

“There are pictures of the different baked goods I do,” says Iversen, who has lately been booked to provide her goodies for social events, weddings, and parties. “I am starting to do business, but right now I am a home baker.”