Competing in the seventh annual Man-O-Manischewitz Cook-Off last week in Newark, N.J., Josie A.G. Shapiro felt she had the constant support of her slice of the Bay Area Jewish community behind her.
Traveling alone to the competition — without her husband and away from her two young daughters for the first time — the San Francisco resident posted photos on Facebook nearly every step of the way: the freeway exit sign for Newark, N.J.; the Manischewitz matzah factory; a shot of herself wearing her official cook-off apron.
Each posting drew a lot of likes and comments from her friends, family and co-workers at the nonprofit Jewish LearningWorks — but nothing compared to the posting when she won the crown.
“I got more Facebook response on that than when I had either of my children,” Shapiro, 35, marveled.
“I went there by myself, but it really felt like I brought my whole community with me,” she said. “Everyone was texting me and Facebooking me. And they all had this confidence I was going to win, because I’m in fundraising and I like getting what I go after. They were like, ‘Josie wants her trophy and she’s going to get it.’ ”
Get it she did. Shapiro beat out four other finalists in the nation’s only national kosher cooking competition. Her $25,000 grand prize package includes about $15,000 in Maytag appliances, $7,000 in cash, a huge glass trophy and gift certificates.
Shapiro’s recipe for Faux Pho won over the seven-judge panel, which included chef and kosher cookbook author Jamie Geller (“Quick & Kosher”) and six food journalists. The scoring guidelines were 50 percent for taste, 25 percent for ease of preparation and 25 for creativity.
Each recipe had to include two Manischewitz products, a maximum of nine ingredients, and a total preparation time of less than an hour.
“I created my recipe with the contest in mind,” said Shapiro, who admits she has entered “an obscene amount of cooking contests”and has come away with some other stellar prizes, such as a 25-day trip to France, some crock pots and “a crazy amount of aprons.”
One of her secrets to entering: “It’s like writing a grant proposal: You really have to pay attention to the rules and details.”
Shapiro is the director of advancement for Jewish LearningWorks (formerly the Bureau of Jewish Education) in San Francisco. Raised in Oakland, she has worked for Camp Kee Tov in Berkeley, the Jewish Federation of Chicago and Temple Sholom in Chicago.
She and her husband of nearly eight years, Alex A.G. Shapiro, along with Naomi, 4, and Lilah, 1, have lived in the city’s Sunset District for about three years. They attend services at Congregation Beth El in Berkeley, “where I grew up,” she said.
Earlier this year, Shapiro’s recipe was one of four selected by Manischewitz from thousands of entrants nationwide. The fifth finalist was chosen in an online vote.
Shapiro traveled to New Jersey on March 20, a day before the competition. She was a little late for a dinner that night with the contestants, including 17-year-old Yitzi Taber from nearby Bergenfield, N.J. He was tabbed a “hometown favorite [who] brought along his own cheering section” by NJ.com. The other contestants were from Atlanta, Woodmere, N.Y., and Columbus, Ohio.
Shapiro competed next to Taber in a makeshift cooking arena, with five cooking stations that included Maytag ovens set up in the huge Manischewitz headquarters and manufacturing facilities. About 70 journalists and spectators, including two of Shapiro’s aunts from Manhattan, attended.
Shapiro said her recipe was so simple that, while other contestants were arranging their ingredients or doing last-minute planning, she had time right before the competition to join attendees on a tour of the matzah factory.
“It was really neat,” she said. “There were rabbis at every stage. Everything had to be done in under 18 minutes, so it was all being timed. And it was hard breathing in some rooms because there was so much flour in the air.”
For the competition, Shapiro’s Faux Pho was up against Chicken Potato and Leek Pie, Balsamic Mushroom Matzah Panini with Mango Jam, Garlic Chicken Rollatini with Falafel Balls, and Sweet and Spicy Seared Tuna. Shapiro said her dish was inspired by her love of Vietnamese food, the ease of preparation and the readiness of the ingredients, which she always has in her pantry — plus, her kids like it.
A riff on the traditional Vietnamese rice noodle dish, Shapiro’s recipe did pose some problems. Since it takes only 20 minutes to prepare, she had to make sure it would be at its peak and ready to serve at the 60-minute mark. So she cooked the chicken but kept it separate, and put her cooked Manischewitz egg noodles in cold water until the very end. Her other Manischewitz ingredient was chicken broth, to which she added vegetable oil, curry powder, orange juice, coconut milk and lime juice, keeping it on a low simmer until the final 10 minutes.
As she cooked, camera people were filming her, and others were putting a microphone in her face and asking her questions — kind of like a cooking show on TV. “That was a trip,” she said.
After 60 minutes elapsed, the judges tasted each of the final products, with Shapiro happening to go last, which amounted to another 10 to 15 minutes of waiting time. If her soup was cold, it proved not to matter.
Minutes later, after the judges conferred, she was announced as the winner, with Newark Mayor Cory Booker handing her the trophy. Booker won over the crowd with Yiddishisms and effusive praise for Manischewitz for moving its administrative offices from Secaucus, N.J., to its Newark plant in 2011. “Baruch HaShem for Manischewitz,” he said. This year marked the first time the cook-off was held outside of New York City.
Shapiro is the first person from the Bay Area to win the title. The last time a Bay Area resident was in the finals was in 2010, when Napa’s Jamie Brown-Miller made it with her Rosemary Duck Cassoulet.
Shapiro said she is ecstatic about getting $15,000 worth of new appliances. “I love our house, but our kitchen is straight out of 1952, so we really need it,” she said. Only three of her stove’s burners work, and her dryer recently had a gas leak. “I think we’ll get a refrigerator first, then a dishwasher, then look into seeing if we can get a gas stove.”
Shapiro returned from the competition on March 22, saying she had the time of her of her life and that her fellow competitors were so friendly it almost didn’t seem like a competition.
“It felt really warm. Everyone was so nice and friendly,” she said. “By the time I left, I was talking like a New Jersey Jew.”
For a three-minute video on the cook-off, visit www.bit.ly/YzXNuU.
Here’s is Shapiro’s winning recipe:
Josie Shapiro’s Faux Pho
Serves 4-6
12 oz. Manischewitz egg noodles
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 Tbs. curry powder
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 6-8 oz. each
32 oz. Manischewitz chicken broth
1⁄2 cup orange juice
1 cup coconut milk
1⁄4 cup lime juice
salt and pepper
1 1⁄2 cups fresh basil leaves
Cook the egg noodles 2 minutes less than directed on package. Strain, run under cold water to stop cooking process, and set aside. Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add curry powder, stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add chicken. Flip to coat in curry. Add broth, orange juice and coconut milk and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and gently simmer until chicken is almost cooked through, about 15 minutes.
With a slotted spoon, remove chicken from soup and roughly chop into bite-size pieces. Return chopped chicken to soup. Add cooked egg noodles, turn heat to high and return soup to boil. Lower heat and simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat and season with lime juice, salt and pepper. Serve topped with fresh basil leaves.