Send in the sauces! BDN cookoff seeks entrants

Forty jars. Three judges. One winner. And one runner-up.

Last year’s inaugural Bangor Daily News Tomato Sauce Cookoff was an event of epicurean proportions. We came. We saw. We tasted. And to be honest, we’re still full.

But it’s time, once again, for you to put your best to the test. We’re talking tomato sauce, and we mean business.

You know as well as we do that this isn’t just about the sauce. It’s about family tradition. It’s about Sunday supper. It’s about bragging rights.

Last year’s top honor went to Dan Manzo of Brewer – he won both the meat sauce category and best overall. For the last 22 years, since Manzo and his wife, Tandra, met, the couple have spent their Sundays making a big pot of pasta sauce. Now that their family has grown to include Danny, 15, Cody, 13, Randy, 11, Keely, 8, and Johnny, 4, everyone calls Manzo “Chef Daddy.”

Sharon Jordan of Hampden took the vegetarian sauce category for her fresh-tasting, parsley-laced sauce.

Could you be next? Only time – and taste – will tell.

Here’s what you need to do: During the weekend of Oct. 6, cook up a batch of your favorite tomato sauce. Between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9, drop it off at the Bangor Daily News lobby at 491 Main St. in Bangor. To keep things manageable, bring the sauce in a clean, 1-pint canning jar, such as a Mason or Ball jar. Please note that your sauce doesn’t need to be “canned,” per se, just presented in a jar so they all look the same.

On the bottom of the jar, please firmly attach a label with your name, address and phone number. On a separate label, which can be placed anywhere on the jar, please list ALL ingredients.

And don’t try to fool us – last year, one cheeky entrant tried to pass off Ragu as homemade. Don’t think we didn’t notice.

On Tuesday, Oct. 10, the sauces will be judged by a panel of food aficionados: BDN food reporter Kristen Andresen, Italian chef Frank Pendola of Nostrano in Bar Harbor, and foodie-scholar Laura Lindenfeld. They will taste each sauce three separate times: Once cold, once hot on bread, and once hot on pasta.

Winners will be chosen in two categories: Best meat sauce and best vegetarian. The better of those will be named “best overall.” Prizes will be awarded to each winner.

Of course, the satisfaction of knowing you’re the best tomato sauce cook in all of eastern Maine is its own prize.

For information, contact Kristen Andresen at 990-8287 or kandresen@

bangordailynews.net.