The 2nd Annual Macaroni & Cheese Bake-Off presented by Granite State Dairy Promotion created a lot of excitement last month. Amy Hall, GSDP executive director, estimated the crowd at 600–650 people lining up to sample all the different variations on the comfort food classic.
Farm cooks continue to shine in this competition. This year a team of two dairy farmer sisters took that coveted prize. Deb Erb of Springvale Farms in Landaff and Doreen Morris of Gamblin’ Farm in Haverhill took first place in the NH Made category. Contestants entering this category were required to use at least one milk and cheese product sourced from a NH dairy farm or cheese making facility.
This award gets their recipe on the menu at Cotton restaurant in Manchester for the week of February 20th, and will feature the New Hampshire products that Deb and Doreen used to make their “Northern Comfort Macaroni and Cheese“—the Erbs’ own Landaff cheese, Cabot Creamery Cooperative butter, and half-and-half from Hatchland Farm dairy in North Haverhill. The Erbs make their Landaff Creamery cheese based on a traditional Welsh recipe.
Second place in the “NH Made” Category was Carolynn Durrel of Manchester, who featured Brookford Farm’s cheddar cheese and quark, and Bartlett Farm milk in her recipe for “Mmm Mmac and Cheese“.
For these and other winning Mac & Cheese recipes: www.nhdairypromo.org.