DATE: Friday, May 16, 1997                  TAG: 9705140109

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 03   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: THUMBS UP! 

SOURCE: BY SUSAN SMITH, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   74 lines

AFTER STEWING FOR YEAR, HER RECIPE WAS FINALIST IN VA. BEEF COOK-OFF

FOR YEARS, Diane W. Edwards' family knew her ``Cowboy Stew'' was a five-star dish. When Edwards read about the 1997 Virginia Beef Cook-off contest, she thought she would see if a panel of judges would think so, too.

``I've always cooked, but I've never entered a contest. I thought I would just give it a try.'' said Edwards, 56, who is employed by the Norfolk Airport Authority and lives in Deep Creek.

The state contest is sponsored by the Virginia CattleWomen and the Virginia Cattle Industry Board with the assistance of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Besides the honor of winning, there is a $1,000 prize. The first-place winner is also eligible for the National Beef Cook-Off competition, sponsored by the beef industry, which has a $25,000 grand prize.

The cooking event, held every two years, calls for the beef-based entries to be original, flavorful, easy to fix and have no more than eight ingredients. Salt, pepper and water do not count.

Edwards' recipe, passed to her by an aunt, has been a family favorite for her seven children and eight grandchildren for years. And the simple recipe met the contest requirements. Although, she had made the beef and vegetable stew hundreds of times, Edwards made it again and again in March 1996 for practice and precision.

She said she has always cooked hearty meals and lots of pies and cookies for after-school treats, family reunions and for care packages once her children began moving away from home. Squash casserole, cheesecake and dressing are some of her most requested dishes.

But Edwards had one problem with entering the contest. She never used recipes.

``I've always just used a dab of this or a cup of that,'' said Edwards. ``And if I am out of an ingredient, I substitute with something I have on hand.''

But the contest rules called for exact measurements. So, Edwards weighed, measured and sifted until she was satisfied her measures of chili and garlic produced the right tangy flavor. She even went to a neighbor's house to make the stew so she could practice making it away from her own kitchen and to insure that she had all the ingredients with her. Then she filled out the entry form, dropped it in the mail and forgot about it.

Almost a year later, Edwards received a call from a test kitchen in Chicago with news she had been chosen as one of five contest finalists.

On April 25, Edwards and her husband, Bobby, traveled with her own pots and pans and a sack of groceries to Harrisonburg to cook for the final judges.

Each contestant was assigned counter space, a stove and a starting time. The cooks had one hour to create their entry.

``I was nervous, but once I started cooking, I stopped shaking,'' Edwards said.

When time was up, the dishes were whisked to a panel of sequestered judges for evaluation. In the end, ``Quick'N Easy Tuscan Beef with Cannellini Beans'' beat out ``Cowboy Stew.'' But Edwards won $100 as a finalist, and she called her children and her sisters to share the news.

Although, she is not eligible for the national competition, her family still thinks ``Cowboy Stew'' is a winner.

Edwards is already planning another entry for 1999, and she is thinking about a special recipe for the Pillsbury Baking Contest, which has a $1 million prize.

But now, she also makes time for crafts, gardening and bike riding. Because Edwards said for years when she was not cooking, she was washing dishes. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY KNAPP

Diane Edwards' recipe, passed to her by an aunt, has been a family

favorite for her seven children and eight grandchildren for years.

Edwards, 56, is employed by the Norfolk Airport Authority and lives

in Deep Creek.

Graphic

[For a complete copy of COWBOY STEW recipe, please see microfilm.]

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