‘palooza to rock downtown Houma
April 3, 2012
Time to plant those veggies
April 3, 2012
“Bring it on.”
That’s the message last year’s winner of the Cut Off Cracklin’ Cook-Off wishes to deliver to her opponents. That’s right – her.
Kristina Bare, the first woman to participate in the event three years ago, now has first- and second-place prizes from the Lafourche event. Not bad for someone who only began to dabble in the cracklin’ world after being chided by a male rival.
“A guy told me girls couldn’t do it,” Bare says. “I was like, ‘You want to make a bet?’ and I did it.”
Bare, who has fried and seasoned pork fat in a cauldron for six years now, participates in five events annually. Like most, she’s mum on what seasonings and temperature she uses to create the perfect cracklin’. She isn’t too reserved to explain how she got there, though.
“One person will not tell you exactly how they do it, so I got all of my questions and I asked a whole bunch of different people,” the 27-year-old St. Amant native says. “I ruined like four boxes. My dog couldn’t even eat them. Like, just straight up, it was so hard, couldn’t chew them, nothing.”
The Cut Off Youth Center hosts its 11th annual cook-off April 14. It’s the centerpiece of an event that also features a car and crafts show. Admission is free, but attendees must pay to sample cooks’ offerings.
One box of fat is needed to participate in the contest. Each contender donates the cracklins, and the proceeds are dedicated to the center.
Although the Cut Off contest is renowned for its competitive atmosphere, Bare says the participants were immediately friendly when she entered the contest.
“It’s cool beating them, but we’re all friends now,” she says. “It’s just, ‘Congrats,’ and they’re all really cool with it. I can’t wait to go down there this year and see them again.”
– editor@gumboguide.com
The Cut Off Youth Center hosts its 11th annual Cracklin’ Cook-Off, Car and Crafts Show April 14.
