A few weeks ago, we were doing our Vietnamese unit in my international cuisine class at school. The chef asked me to do the lecture and to prepare a few recipes i wanted to make…I have been craving the traditional Vietnamese sandwich: banh mi thit, complete with all the fixin’s: pate, baguette, pickled carrot and daikon, cilantro, cucumber, jalapenos, and lots of mayo.
We don’t have all the crazy meats here in Lexington, so instead, I substituted thinly pounded pork tenderloin
marinated in five spice. It was everyone’s favorite that day and I thought, “Hmmm, i wonder if this might make a good burger.”
I’ve watched the Sutter Home “Build a Better Burger” contest on the Food Network for the past few years, so I hopped onto their website to see if they were holding it again this year. Lo and behold, the deadline for submissions was August 20.
What day was it? AUGUST 20!!! It was 11 AM EST, and the submission deadline was noon PDT, giving me four hours. I took it as a fateful sign that I should enter, so I came up with the recipe right then and there for “Vietnamese five-spice pork burgers.” My friend Rob was sitting beside me the entire time, laughing at my silly antics while trying to come up with this organized recipe that i had never even made! All the ingredients had to be listed in exact quantity, in exact order of use, with all the directions being equally specific.
Fast forward 11 days, and…
I got a call today that i am one of five finalists in the alternative burger category! I get to compete for a $10,000 prize at sutter home in Napa. The beef burger category awards a $50,000 prize, so they get a bit more publicity, but I think entering the smaller competition with a unique recipe
got me in!
I am ECSTATIC. I am literally bursting inside. I get to bring Michael and the competition’s sponsors will fly us out to Napa from Thursday, Sept 27 through Sunday, Sept 30. I will try to get details on how to get tickets or how to attend the event for anyone in the Bay Area that would like to come.
It’s triumphs like these that reinforce my decision to leave my old job and enter the cooking world. I am just so excited–there is usually a celebrity chef on the judging panel, and it’s been televised in past years.
I’ll be cooking non stop for the next month to perfect my recipe, so get your tastebuds ready! Advice and tips are welcome. I have no business entering a GRILLING competition, as I’m one of those people who
uses a George Foreman! 
