POWNAL — For many, camping out is all about canoeing, hiking and communing with nature.
But good friends Christina Maiorano of South Portland and Sally Langerak of Harpswell say they find camping is just an excuse to cook over a wood fire with a set of cast-iron pans.
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That is why the two nurses at Maine Medical Center in Portland found themselves spending the weekend in a tent competing in the Cast Iron Cook-Off at Bradbury Mountain State Park.
“We love to cook and we love to camp,” Maiorano said.
The event featured cooking demonstrations and discussions about the best way to clean and care for cast-iron cookware – with some swearing by kosher salt and a potato. There was also a cast-iron skillet toss with prizes for the longest throw.
The cook-off participants had to agree to camp overnight as they vied for a set of Lodge cast-iron pans. Competitors could enter any of three categories: a main dish, bread and dessert. Their entries had to contain at least one Maine-grown or -produced ingredient.
Maiorano and Langerak were entering all three categories, with Maine blueberry shortcakes, Maine-raised beef short ribs and lobster risotto, and native cornbread with maple butter and homemade choke cherry jam.
“They are always hungry and cast-iron holds the heat,” she said.
Choi was cooking up a pot of marinated pork and bacon with vegetables to be served over a bed of steamed sushi rice.
“It’s simple but it tastes delightful.” Choi said.
Across the campground, sisters Rosa Nowak of Topsham and Melody Thibodeau of Woolwich were preparing chicken stew, ployes – which are buckwheat pancakes popular in northern Maine, served with butter and maple syrup – and apple cobbler.
“We are both cooks,” Nowak said.
Nowak said she saw a notice about the cook-off when she was camping at the park earlier in the summer.
“I said I am coming back,” she said.
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