So, I am not sure if you have heard but I killed it at the 2013 WFC – I came home with the title of World Recipe Champion 2013! What? Yep! Pretty cool, right? Well, it didn’t come easy, I can tell you that. As a matter of fact, it was about a year in the making. You may or may not know but I wasn’t always a champion food competitor.  I did well in many food competitions, but in the 2012 WFC competition, I came in near last place. I went into the 2013 WFC with a vengeance;  I was on a mission to improve and it worked. I want to share how I made it happen. Listen up, this could be big and help you set yourself apart for competition in a qualifying event or even for the next WFC. Here is what I discovered and how it became my strategy to taking home the big prize. I present to you a little concept called, “The Yum Effect”.

A revelation in recipe testing!
It starts out innocently. The doorbell rings and an angelic face makes an adorable appeal. I bite. I always do. If you send a child to my door selling old bike tires, I will say that’s exactly what I need.  The Girl Scouts around the hood know Mrs. Peterson is a sucker for cute – despite the fact that I’m already loaded up on cookies from my own little Girl Scout cookie monster. But these savvy girls know I have a slight issue with a Thin Mint addiction. I act cool and only get a half dozen boxes…usually Thin Mint heavy in my selection, but not all Thin Mints, ‘cause, what would the rest of the family eat?!  Anyone who’s enjoyed a Thin Mint knows what I am talking about.

The call of the Thin Mint sets off an intriguing internal conversation.  I can typically handle myself in the face of temptation. But sometimes, especially if I have fallen before with this particular tidbit of yum, the craving gets the best of me. It starts like this:  “Ok, Thin Mints, I’m in. But I‘ll only have two of you and just a small glass of milk.”  Then, later in the day I hear the sweet whisper again.  It’s a craving force that gets me to eat an entire sleeve of Thin Mints with a tumbler of milk. Within three minutes, I have decimated that box of Thin Mints and there is no milk left for breakfast the next day. My morning of cardio and a protein shake are a distant memory. How in the world could a little cookie knock me off my serious game?  My focus and dedication thwarted by the allure of chocolate-mint crispiness.  Since I have already fallen so low, I flip on trashy TV and gobble each crumb, because at this point watching Extra adds lots of awesome to the moment.

The question I always ask myself after a dalliance like this?  What drove me to this moment? What could take me out of my straight-laced world of discipline and conviction so quickly? As I contemplated this craving take over, I tried to turn it into something positive. How could I bottle that Thin Mint yum effect and apply it to my own recipe creations?  The hunt was on for me to chase down that yum effect on people. You see it in their face as they are digging into something that sends endorphins flying.  The eyes roll a bit.  There’s usually a little hmmmm…then praise. Elaborate praise. Loving words lavished on the crave dish.  It doesn’t happen every time we eat. It’s the special moment reserved for only the most irresistible food.  A plate of goodness that makes your brain so happy, you can’t stop thinking about it. You even create muscle memory for it. This is the thing that I studied to get ready for the 2013 WFC. The Yum Effect.  The thing that makes a typically sane, healthy-eater go a little cuckoo.

When developing recipes for the 2013 World Recipe Championship, I stuck with comfort recipes that fit within the guidelines of the category.   I set about tweaking them until I was sure they had that jolt of yum. I’d offer up my recipes, then study the faces and actions of my unsuspecting guinea pigs.  I’d bring my test dish to parties or large family gathering.  I’d set it up and walked away. Secretly, I was watching for reaction.  Typically if someone brings a dish to your party, you compliment the food. But in this situation, I was looking for more than just the niceties. I was looking for the tell-tale sign that this was more than just a typical buffet dish.  I noticed the ladies would be polite and compliment food, yet only take one bite. But the men, on the other hand, were the true barometer. They won’t fake a compliment. They’ll either the clean the plate and go back for more, or just leave it unfinished. I was looking for the truth. I wanted hard evidence of the yum factor in my recipes. So I narrowed my test subjects to the guys.

At the first few outings, nothing. A bite or three, but no evidence of plate cleaning. I’d go back and tweak. Finally, I had a break through moment with my White Chicken Chili Mac. I will never forget it. It was Halloween and I was still not sure about the recipes that I was bringing to WFC.  I had a handful of good ones, but the crave factor was minimal. Then it happened, I brought my crockpot of goodness (something that I had been fussing on all day) to our neighborhood gathering. I brought the accoutrements, set-up the bowls, sprinkled the top with fresh cilantro, placed a ladle and watched the show. I watched as people went for their first bowl, then, second and the accolades began. The hubbies dug in and they may have even hummed a little. They went for seconds and thirds, no exaggeration. Then, the ultimate Yum Effect moment. One satisfied guy quietly asked: “Can you give my wife this recipe?” That did it. Then I knew.  I knew this was a recipe worthy of competition.  It became my signature entry in at the WFC and it was my first step toward victory.

So you wanna win?  Go forth and seek The Yum Effect in your creations!