Anne Tegtmeier, Superstar

This article ran in the Hartford (Conn) Advocate today 2-26-08
I couldn't get the photo to post - sorry You can view the whole article with picture at :
www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=6101



The Comfort Food Queen Windsor resident Anne Tegtmeier battles for victory

Ultimate Recipe Showdown
"Comfort Food" airs March 2 on
the Food Network
Home cooks have always been fiercely competitive about their kitchen creations. Before the Food Network served up Iron Chef America and Bravo dished Top Chef, yuppies competed with each other to serve the most authentic tuna sushi with wasabi-encrusted smugness and mothers yearned to hear neighborhood children say their chocolate-coated play-dates were the best on the block. Even Marge Simpson entered her recipe for dessert hotdogs in Springfield's Oven Fresh Bakeoff, narrowly edging out Ralph Wiggum's "grilled crayon sandwich."

Ultimate Recipe Showdown, which premiered Feb. 17 on the Food Network, solicited thousands of recipes from amateur cooks for categories such as burgers, pasta, cakes and cookies. Each episode showcases the best recipes by nine contestants who compete in a kitchen arena to win $25,000 and prove their dish reigns supreme in each class. The show is hosted by FN's "food dude" Guy Fieri and Marc Summers (from Unwrapped), and judged by a panel of food professionals led by Katherine Alford, director of FN's Test Kitchen.

"Comfort Food," airing March 2, features Windsor resident Anne Tegtmeier, a trained dancer and licensed massage therapist working in West Hartford. Tegtmeier submitted just one recipe, "Ultimate Vegetarian Chili," to the contest. "It was one of those classic cliché things where I'd almost forgotten that I submitted it. Out of thousands of recipes across the country, to be one of three in the chili category, those are crazy odds," Tegtmeier said.

In 1999, Tegtmeier reconnected with her birth mother, Donna Kelly, 27 years after her adoption. She credits cooking as being a key element to building their relationship. Kelly, a child-abuse prosecutor and cooking fanatic, also had experience in food competitions. "One of the first things early on that we exchanged was a recipe for her original cheesecake that she'd won a blue ribbon for in a fair," Tegtmeier said.

The two later went on to co-author 101 Things to Do with Tofu. Tofu is a favorite ingredient of Tegtmeier, who explained, "People hear how healthy it is, how good it is for you, how versatile it is, and then they buy this bland white block, take it home, and they don't know what to do with it." Kelly was cheering from the audience during the taping of Ultimate Recipe Showdown and, unknown to either woman at the time, Tegtmeier was a week pregnant while competing on stage; she is expecting her first child in early May.

"My vegetarian chili comes from trying lots of different recipes at home and in restaurants over the years and taking different elements that I liked the most out of each of them," Tegtmeier said. This includes a surprising ingredient: cashews, an item she collected from Trident Booksellers & Cafe in Boston. "The recipe is idiot proof. I think what makes it good is that I've come upon a really good combination of textures and flavors and a good combination of ingredients."

Regardless of the contest's outcome, Tegtmeier's recipe will be featured on the Food Network's Web site. "Who cares about the money? Who cares about winning? It's amazing to be on the Food Network, period," Tegtmeier said. "I will cherish my Food Network apron with my name on it forever."