COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina Department of Agriculture has announced the winners of the Lee Brother Your Holiday recipe contest. Based on the success of the Lee Brother Your Supper promotion this summer, the Lee Bros. and South Carolina Department of Agriculture decided to continue their partnership and launch a holiday campaign that focused more on consumer engagement and celebrating South Carolina’s holiday recipe traditions.
The sixweek Lee Brother Your Holiday campaign gave South Carolinians the opportunity to submit their favorite, original holiday recipes showcasing at least one Certified SC ingredient in the following five categories: entrees, sides, appetizers, desserts and baked goods. The winners are:
• South Carolina’s Best Side Dish: Elizabeth Benfield’s Vegetarian SC Grown Collard Greens
• South Carolina’s Best Appetizer: Dawn Dausman’s Rosebank Farms Heirloom Pumpkin Bisque
• South Carolina’s Best Dessert: Ines Gillier’s Pecan and Honey Tart
• South Carolina’s Best Entree: Beaumont Riley’s Apple and Prune Pork
• South Carolina’s Best Bake Good: Rose Stancil’s Sweet Potato Pound Cake with Caramel Sauce
The Lee Bros. reviewed all submissions and selected the finalists. The top winners will have their recipes featured on printed recipe cards that will be available in participating grocery stores across the state. Five grand prize winners, one from each category, and their guests will also be invited to the South Carolina Department of Agriculture’s State Farmers Market Exhibition Kitchen in West Columbia, where the Lee Bros. will prepare and serve all of the grand prizewinning recipes. The date has not been set yet, however as soon as it is the South Carolina Department of Agriculture will provide that information.
“We were blown away by the quality and variety of the recipes that were submitted,” Matt Lee said. “It was a challenge selecting the top recipes, and we are super excited to cook them all for the winners at the State Farmers Market’s new kitchen!”
About Certified SC
SCDA’s Certified South Carolina program is an exciting cooperative effort among producers, processors, wholesalers, retailers and the SCDA, to brand and promote SC produce and products. The program is based on the idea that when presented with the option, South Carolinians will buy local because Nothing’s Fresher, Nothing’s Finer than South Carolina products and produce. Additional information about the SCDA and its branding programs, including a Certified SC Grown directory, may be found online at www.agriculture.sc.gov and www.certifiedscgrown.com.
About The Lee Bros.
Siblings Matt and Ted grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, and are now celebrity chefs and bestselling cookbook authors who give lectures, cooking demonstrations and host events around the country. They currently write food stories for Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Martha Stewart Living, and Bon Appétit, and are commentators on the show "Unique Eats," on The Cooking Channel. Their journey began when they left SC to attend colleges in the Northeast. They so missed the foods of their hometown that they founded The Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue, a mailorder catalogue for southern pantry staples like stoneground grits, fig preserves, and, of course, boiled peanuts. When an editor of a travel magazine asked them to write a story about roadtripping their home state in search of great food, they embarked on a second career as food and travel journalists. They are the bestselling authors of The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook and The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern. Their third cookbook, The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen, will be published by Clarkson Potter in February 2013.
Source: South Carolina Department of Agriculture