Steak cookoff a sear-iously good time

Published 10:38 am Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Attendees at Deep Roots 2024 may have noticed some mouth-watering smells wafting into the festival zone from between Mary Vinson Memorial Library and the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Chamber of Commerce.

That area of South Jefferson Street on Saturday was home to a Steak Cookoff Association sanctioned competition as a total of 19 teams did battle to see whose ribeye could hit all the right flavor notes. Teams could enter in two different steak contests, and there were Bloody Mary and dessert competitions as well.

In the “Steak A” competition, Huntsville, Alabama’s Gene Skillin came away as the winner while Jacksonville, Florida’s Randy McKnight won the “B” contest. Each winner was awarded $750 and a hickory cutting board laser-engraved with the Deep Roots Festival logo and year.

First-place finishers were also presented with a golden ticket invitation to the Steak Cookoff Association’s world finals held in Texas each year. If the winner already has a ticket from another competition, it passes on to second and further along until it reaches someone who does not have one. Karen Wright (third place) of Senoia, Georgia wound up with the ticket from the “A” contest while Leslie Turner (seventh) of Byron got the “B” invite.

In the dessert and Bloody Mary categories, Ralph LeGrand from Goldsboro, North Carolina wowed judges with his Reese’s Pieces cheesecake and drink-making skills. He won $175 for each and a cutting board.

The dessert and Bloody Mary winners get golden tickets as well. LeGrand’s ticket from the drink competition wound up in the hands of Milledgeville local Haley English, who originally placed fourth. Jacob Turner of Byron, the second-place finisher in dessert, got the ticket in that category.