Cooking at the Minnesota State Fair Was Awarding Experience

On Aug. 28, I had the honor of demonstrating my Mu Shu Pork Hot Dish at the St. Agnes Baking Company Demo Kitchen in the Creative Arts Building at the Minnesota State Fair. The crowd included my mom, nephew, friends and about 100 other fairgoers.

I looked at pictures posted of the St. Agnes Baking Company Demo Kitchen and noticed there was not a stove top in the front of the stage to cook; I needed a way to cook, this is a demonstration. A friend loaned me an induction burner which I could simply plug in and cook. I had never used and induction burner so the night before I did a final test and practice session in front of my parents. I am glad I had this final practice because I found out the induction burner did not come with a manual and when I turned it on I got an error message accompanied by a loud beeping sound. I tried to reach my friend and could not reach him. I then called the store that sold them to see if they might have one in stock that they could check the manual for me; they did not, come to find out they clearance the burners out because many did not come with manuals. “Oh great! This is not what I need now.” I said. I decided to do what any modern gal would do—I Googled it.  The only manual I could find was written in German. Ugh? The only German I know is names of food or beer. I kept searching.  Finally, I found a reviewer on Amazon.com mention having the same problem and how it was resolved. It worked! I was able to cook.

The next morning when I arrived at the St. Agnes Baking Company Demo Kitchen, organizer and baker Danny Kelcko asked if I was nervous; I wasn’t about the presentation, however the burner was in the back of my mind.  I credited my background as a trainer and teacher for making the confident presentation interactive and one that no one just passed by. At 11 am Danny Klecko introduced me to the crowd of onlookers who had gathered to watch me demonstrate making my Mu Shu Pork Hot Dish. I encouraged questions to be asked during the presentation because it is often times helpful for people to understand what is being talked about. I felt like I was in my element. Then the time came to put the pork in the pan on the induction burner. I pictured the contestants on The Next Food Network Star when they are given a challenge that has an ingredient or tool missing or something doesn’t function—just keep going and don’t let it throw you I told myself.  No one noticed I had to keep adjusting the burner to keep it working without it giving me a loud error beep.

When I was done with the presentation and the crowd dispersed Klecko said, “People walking up stayed and no one walked away during it. I don’t think I have ever seen that in all my years doing these demos and I do almost 50 of them during the two week fair each year.”

On Sept. 6, Danny Klecko announced I was the recipient of the 2012 Minnesota State Fair Golden Whisk Award. This award goes to the presenter who came to the Fair with the most complete demo including: recipe, presentation, production value of handouts, and tangibles. This award is judged solely by Danny Kelcko.  He wrote on his blog (www.lastamericanbaker.blogspot.com):

“Kelly is one of the few presenters that I brought in from the Minnesota Food Bloggers site called Fortify. Kelly has always done interesting Blog posts so I asked her if she would be interested and let me tell you....Her vibe is to talk about the need for having access to single serving recipes. Well.......about 4 hours before show time, this young woman wheels in a gigantic suitcase filled with who knows what. She was with other adults from her family, but the thing I remember the most is how she had a nephew tagging along with her. At a moment like this it would have been EZ for Kelly to be locked into her own world, but she was very sensitive and deliberate when answering the 10 billion questions that this little boy hurled at her.

As show time drew closer.....Kelly set up a portable kitchen like I have never seen in close to 500 shows. All this culinary apparatus was certainly enough to nominate her for the golden whisk....but then I saw her hand outs. WOW......she had 4 color professionally designed recipes that were worthy of a glossy mag. I was pretty impressed. But then....get this, then when the audience was assembled, Kelly pulls out a big Bible like looking book.  Then she smiles and says...................."In my kitchen at home, I leave this book open and anybody who comes over to my house is free to sign it. I really enjoy looking back and remembering some of my fondest moments, but then I got to thinking....this may be the biggest kitchen I ever get the chance to cook in, and I would be really honored if you folks would take the time to sign my book."  What a classy move.  And when the presentation was over.......Kelly's groupies swarmed the stage to add to her memories of this special day. About a million hours later when her fans thinned out, and she packed all her gear away, her family filed into the kitchen to thank me for allowing Kelly the opportunity to present. I felt kinda weird cuz.....truth be told, the pleasure was all mine. Nice job Kelly.”

I really enjoyed the experience of cooking at the St. Agnes Baking Company Demo Kitchen in the Creative Arts Building at the Minnesota State Fair. I look forward to cooking there again next year.  

For the recipe, please visit my blog http://smallserving.blogspot.com/2012/08/mu-shu-pork-hotdish.html.