By KEN CARPENTER
Great Bend Post
This year will be the fourth year the Pawnee County Fair is hosting a steak cookoff. In fact, there will be one competition on Friday night and two more on Saturday.
76 contestants will be cooking an inch-and-a-quarter thick ribeye to see who will be crowned the best cook. The winner will receive a $1,000 prize and an invitation to participate in the Steak Cooking Association’s World Championship cookoff next March. With three cookoffs, there could be three different winners. Or one cook could win all three competitions.
Cory Johnson is organizing the cookoff events at the fair. He says there will be contestants from as far away as Florida taking part this year.
The contest is serious business. According to Johnson, not just anyone can be a judge.
“We have certified judges. They have to take a class.” Johnson said. “We put on a class last year so we’ve got a bunch of local people around the area that’s taken it because they just want to come eat steaks. In order for them to eat a steak, they have to be a certified judge. They don’t get paid. All they do is get to eat steaks from the best cooks around the world.”
Even though fairgoers can’t eat the steaks, they can watch the cooks at work. The cookoffs are taking place near the Haas Exhibit Building. The steaks are being provided by B&B Quality Meats in Larned.