TCTC student a winner in Maine Potato Blossom Festival cooking contest
By Paul Bagnell, The Star-Herald Staff
FORT FAIRFIELD — Locals gathered under the humid open tent for the first-ever Potato Dish in the County cooking contest at the Maine Potato Blossom Festival.
The cooking competition was split into two parts with three teams of career technical chefs cooking their potato-themed dishes from ingredients collected from local farms around Aroostook County.
The Potato Dish in the County Competition was held underneath an open tent on the Village Square on Main Street in Fort Fairfield. It was the third day of the career technical education chefs culinary tour of Aroostook County as part of a $300,000 Professional Development in Agriculture Literacy grant awarded to the University of Maine in January 2021.
POTATO CHEFS — Executive chef Rob Dumas, left, oversees chefs Patrick Austin, middle, and Tri-County Technical Center student Elizabeth Mullin potato dish during the Potato Dish in the County Competition held in Fort Fairfield during the Potato Blossom Festival on July 12.
Patrick Austin of Capital Area Tech Center in Augusta and Elizabeth Mullin of Tri-County Tech Center in Dexter won the competition with their appetizer featuring Maine potatoes with assorted vegetables.
“We are getting the opportunity to work with our state’s career technical educators in the culinary arts programs,” said Rob Dumas, executive chef and food science innovation coordinator and facility manager for the UMaine at Orono.
A judging panel consisting of Pam Townsend, president of Maine Agri-Women, and David and Sue McCrum of Penobscot McCrum scored the six dishes presented to them.
“We are here to get our career technical educators excited and proud of Maine ingredients and the Maine people that produce them,” Dumas said. One of the ways of getting the career technical educators excited is through the potato cooking competition.
SEASONED ROASTED POTATO — Chef Elizabeth Mullin of TCTC takes the seasoned roasted potato out of the pan as the clock ticks down during the Potato Dish in the County Competition at the Potato Blossom Festival in Fort Fairfield on July 12.
Dumas presented to the audience the details of their week-long tour of the Maine food system in Aroostook County that began on Monday, July 10.
A couple other dishes submitted to the judges were a flatbread loaded baked potato pizza and a steak dish with mashed potatoes, scallions and peas.