Chef Jacques Pepin and The 4th Annual Man-O-Manischewitz Cook-Off

When I was young and Passover was in the air, a bottle of Manischewitz Wine was always part of my families Seder. Fast forward 30 years and Manischewitz has added food products that Jews and non-Jews can appreciate, like Manischewitz All Natural Ready to Serve Broth. This broth contains real kosher chicken and beef. What it does not contain is MSG! There is also a low sodium broth available. This product was used in the recipes (it was required) at

The Fourth Annual Man-O-Manischewitz Cook-off. Out of 3,000 recipes submitted, 5 finalist were picked to show their stuff last Thursday in Manhattan. Legendary

Chef Jacques Pepin and Esti (Me!)

Chef Jacques Pepin was one of the judges that picked Sarah Freedman-Izquierdo, as the winner. She won for her Mandarin Dumpling Soup . Sarah loves experimenting with food and coming up with unique recipes. She has been in the food industry her whole life and is now in the process of launching her own marketing company. Here is what she had to say about what she would do if she won a state-of-the-art GE Profile™ Stainless Steel Kitchen*, a $5,000 check from Manischewitz, plus other goodies.

 

The other finalist were all so interesting and different. Who knew a can of soup could bring so many different people together? Manischewitz!

Rachelle Lapidus from Lawrence, NY with her Creamy Tarragon Chicken is a stay at home mother of six who loves to cook and bake for her family and friends and volunteers at St. John’s Hospital every Saturday.

Harold Cohen from Hollywood, FL with his Ethiopian Chicken Stew is a
retired reconstructive plastic surgeon and a Vietnam war veteran who loves  to travel and compete at national cooking competitions all over the country. I had the chance to ask him a few questions, here is what he had to say about being a finalist. What a mensch!

Julie DeMatteo from Clementon, NJ with her Hungarian Chicken Spaetzl is a retired high school English & French teacher and mother of two; she has been entering cooking contests for over 20 years.

Jamie Brown-Miller from Napa, CA with her Rosemary Duck Cassoulet gets her inspiration from head judge Jacques Pepin.  She loves wine tasting and is a dog lover who regularly makes donations to the local Humane Society. She even invented a beer for dogs with the help of her company!

This was a really fun day and I loved hanging out with some of my favorite kosher and non-kosher foodie friends from twitter @susqhb, @NiceJewishGirl, @c2cmom, @kosher.com, @kosherDIY, @elierosenfeld, @JewishTweets, @JenniferPerillo,