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Feb 20, 2009 10:55 am US/Central
Mpls. Firefighter Wins Tabasco Cooking Contest
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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Minneapolis firefighter Tracy Moore when she found out she won a Tabasco cooking contest with her entry, Mount Tabasco Chocolate Lava Cake.
CBS
A Minneapolis firefighter is getting national attention for her skills in the kitchen.
In early February she won the grand prize in the fifth national Tabasco Cook and Ladder Competition in New York City.
Capt. Tracy Moore works at Minneapolis Fire Station Number 5 and like her co-workers, pitches in to make the firehouse their home away from home.
She said she didn't really know how to cook until after she became a firefighter 14 years ago, but now she proudly holds the title of "America's Hottest Firehouse Cook."
"Coming up to it I was like 'I think I can win, I think I can win' but then when I got there and saw other people's recipes and saw them cooking and they were really fancy, I was starting to lose a little bit of my confidence," Moore said. "When they called my name, I have a few pictures of my excitement on my face ... I've never seen myself make that kind of face before, so it was fun to watch."
Moore calls her recipe Mount Tabasco Chocolate Lava Cake.
"When you first bite into it you can only taste the chocolate and then after a while the spice comes through," Moore said. "Actually, when I was at the contest, Tony Simmons, the VP of Tabasco, afterwards came up to me and told me that, 'Oh, I think you could have doubled the Tabasco.'"
The judges chose it over a macaroni and cheese dish and a meatloaf and Moore won more than bragging rights. She won $10,000.
The contest rules require her to share $5,000 of it with her firehouse.
Her buddies wasted no time putting together a wish list. Moore said when she returned from New York after the contest, she found her fellow firefighters lined up to greet her inside their firehouse.
When they stepped aside, they revealed a long list of things they want to buy with her prize money. Among the items on the wish list: weights, a DVD player, a boom box for when they're in the apparatus room washing things and cleaning the rig and a popcorn machine, so firefighters can give neighborhood kids popcorn when they visit.
The group also plans to donate some of the money to the fire safety and education officer who goes around to their neighborhood schools talking to kids about fire prevention.
Moore said she could use the money to buy badges and other stuff for the kids she meets as well as teaching supplies.
Moore gets to spend the remaining $5,000 any way she wants, so she and her partner are going to take a trip to East Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. It won't cover the total cost, but it's a nice start.
Another perk of winning is getting to judge the contest the next time it's held in two years.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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