Texas Onion Fest announces winners of the H-E-B Onion Recipe and Salsa Contests

 Texas Border Business

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The Onion Recipe and Salsa Contests, sponsored by H-E-B, were held on Saturday, March 22 at Texas Onion Fest held at Weslaco City Park.  The contests took place at the AEP Texas Culinary Center which featured a high tech kitchen built by Lowe’s Home Improvement of Weslaco.  The kitchen featured an outdoor patio and grill set up.  TV monitors on either side of the stage showed a live feed of the chef demonstrations for the audience’s viewing pleasure.

During the Onion Recipe and Salsa contests, contestants displayed their entries in decorative fashion before a live audience while judges sampled each dish.  Judges based each onion recipe entry on appearance, texture and flavor, giving an overall score.  In addition, each recipe had to contain at least ½ cup of onions. 

The onion recipe contest included three categories- appetizer, main dish, and dessert, with two separate divisions for adults and professionals.  The salsa contest included one adult division.  After the judging portion of the contest, spectators enjoyed tasty samples of each entry after the judging portion of the contest.

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Winners for the 2014 Onion Recipe and Salsa contests are as follows:

Appetizers:

Professional Category:

1^st Place – Julian Ybarra, The Blue Onion – American Brown Ale

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Adult Category:

1^st Place – Rene Garza – Green Onion, Shrimp and Pork Dumplings

2^nd Place – Audrey Eoff – Bacon Jam on Bagel Crisps

3^rd Place – Maria Antonieta Arevalo – Rajas de Chile Poblanos Encebolladas con crema

Main Dish:

Adult Category:

1^st Place – Rene Garza – Caramelized Onion Beef and Ginger

2^nd Place – Audrey Eoff – Texas Style Salmon Patties with Zesty Citrus Sauce

Dessert:

Adult Category:

1^st Place – Audrey Eoff – Lemon-Thyme Cake

Salsa Recipe:

Adult Category:

1^st Place – Rene Garza

2^nd Place – Antonio de la Garza

3^rd Place – Jody Hernandez

Audrey Eoff was the Onion Recipe Grand Champion.  Thank you to all the participants and to sponsors AEP Texas, H-E-B and Lowe’s Home Improvement.  Thank you also to ASG Security and Max Fine Furniture for the video cameras and TVs that were used in the set up.  All of the winning recipes can be found on www.weslaco.com/onionfest.

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