Five-alarm recipes

Tabasco is calling on firefighters to submit their hottest recipes for the second national Cook & Ladder competition. Ten finalists will be flown to a cook-off at Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School. The grand prize is $10,000; the second prize is $5,000; and the third prize is $2,000, all of which will be divided between the firefighter and the firehouse. Recipes can fall in any category, but they must be original and include one of Tabasco’s four hot pepper sauces. Last year’s favorites included Chumley’s Fire Triangles and Spicy Shrimp Cordon Bleu in a Mushroom Cognac Tabasco Sauce (pictured). Dishes will be judged for taste, appearance, originality, creativity and clarity of directions. For contest rules and an entry form, send a SASE to: Tabasco Cook & Ladder competition, c/o Hunter Public Relations, 41 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10010. Entries must be received by Sept. 1. Firefighters with professional culinary training are not eligible to participate.

What a ploye!

This takes the (pan)cake. On Friday, Fort Kent will kick off its Ploye Festival, which includes a ploye breakfast, ploye cooking contest and the (hopefully) record-breaking cooking of the world’s largest ploye. The previous record is 8 feet in diameter, so they must have one big frying pan. The event is sponsored by Bouchard Family Farm, which manufactures mixes for the pancakelike side dish from home-grown silver-hulled buckwheat. For information, call 834-5354 or (800) 733-3563.

In a pickle

Don’t be alarmed if you run into an 8-foot-tall inflatable pickle in town next week. The Cains Pickle Tour will sweep through New England over the next few weeks and the “Pickle Person” will be in Augusta Wednesday, Aug. 1, and in Bangor Thursday, Aug. 2, to promote Cains’ newest products: Gherkin Babies, petite dills, and Zingers, a line of zesty pickles and relishes. A 1999 study revealed that 31 percent more pickles and relishes are eaten in New England than in any other region of the country. This surely was dill-ightful news to the people at Cains, who have been making pickles in western Massachusetts for more than 100 years.

Tidbits is hungry for news about local food products and events. Send your Tidbits to: Bangor Daily News, attn: Kristen Andresen, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402-1329, or kandresen@bangordailynews.net.