Spam turkey, Spam light, Spam hot and spicy, Spam garlic, and Spam with cheese - all types were on display during the National Spam Recipe Competition.
And with all the endless combinations possible, one Floweree recipe came out on top.
Linda Graft is a national champion when it comes to using Spam in her recipes and her winning recipe is called Spamaroni & Cheese Swaddlers.
She explained that the first step to making it to nationals is to enter your recipe at the State Fair.
"I have entered Spam since 2002, never won, never even placed. I didn't have a dream that I would win or come even close this year so it was a real thrill to win first place at the state fair," she noted.
As if winning at the State Fair wasn't enough, finding out she won nationals was more than she could ever expect
"When they called and said, 'This is Spam headquarters calling for Hormel foods,' and I said, 'Do I need to sit down?' and she said, 'You might want to,' so I sat down and she said 'You are the grand champion winner for Spam and I just went...'I'm so glad I sat down!," Graft said.
As for her recipe, she made a smart move by not adding too much spice.
"Spam does make six different varieties of Spam and one of them is a hot and spicy, and you could use that and really kick it up, but I was a little leery to do that because I don't know if the judges like hot and spicy or not," Graft explained.
The judges obviously loved her dish and scored it based on a specific grading scale, using taste, originality, and creativity.
Not only did she win the national championship for her recipe she also won a trip for two to Hawaii.
"I'm bringing my daughter Erin who lives in Austin, Texas, and the reason for that is because she was here helping me cook during harvest and also her father, my husband, will be seeding at the time so he can't go...too bad for him!," Graft told us.
Here is the prize-winning recipe:
1 cup elbow macaroni
1 (12-ounce) can SPAM® Classic, minced
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup shredded mild Cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
4 slices Monterey Jack cheese with peppers, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons diced green chiles
2 (8-ounce) cans crescent seamless dough sheets or 2 cans crescent roll dough
1 egg white, beaten
Sesame seeds
Heat oven to 375°F.
In pot of boiling water, cook macaroni 10 minutes; drain. In bowl, combine macaroni, SPAM® Classic, evaporated milk, cheeses and chiles; stir 2 minutes or until cheese is softened. Remove from heat.
Remove crescent dough sheets from packages; cut each rectangle into 4 squares for total of 8 squares.
Place 1/2 cup macaroni mixture in center of each crescent square. Pull up corners, pinch seams together and twist top ends.
Place filled squares on baking sheets. Brush each square with egg white; sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.
If using crescent roll dough, roll out crescent rolls, two triangles together, to form a square.
Source: kaj18.com
