How do you know the recipes you find online are any good without trying them? Do votes or comments make you more confident? If you've wondered about "user submitted" recipes, you're not alone.

Recently I was invited to a taste test of recipes submitted online. The culinary social network CookEatShare held a cooking contest and brought together a number of restaurant chefs and food professionals to cook and judge the recipes. I wasn't a judge, but I did get to try all the dishes.

What a surprise! Some recipes that sounded terrible ended up being terrific and others that sounded great really missed the mark. I guess this proves that you can't necessarily tell a good recipe without cooking it. I'll let you know which ones were my favorites and then you can follow the linked recipe name to get the ingredients and preparation details.

While it didn't win any top prizes with the judging panel, TomCo's Yogurt Pumpkin Pie was my favorite recipe and it also received the highest number of reader votes. I can honestly say this was one of the best pumpkin pies I've ever eaten. It had an almost cheesecake-like texture and a crunchy cinnamon nut topping that was irresistible. The executive chef from Draeger's markets who tested the recipe said it was very easy to make.

The winning recipe of the contest was Cranberry Yogurt Relish. The chef testing the recipe wasn't sure if the cranberries were supposed to be dried or fresh, so she used a combination, but I believe the size of the bag, 12 ounces, was a dead giveaway that the recipe meant fresh (that's the standard size of fresh bags of cranberries). Judges agreed that the author of the recipe might not come from California since she used, gasp! canned peaches. We all thought this recipe sounded less than ideal, but it was surprisingly good. It was fresh and creamy and had a nice tang from both cranberries and yogurt.

Finally, despite its ridiculously long name, I liked the Chesapeake Memories Sausage and Oyster Dressing with Red Quinoa and Crispy Apples. This dressing has lots of traditional ingredients like sausage, sage, onion and celery and some unusual ones such as English muffins, rosemary, quinoa and sun-dried tomatoes. I particularly liked the texture. Quinoa in dressing, who knew?

Here's hoping all your holiday dishes are winners. Happy Thanksgiving!

Last week Tutti Foodie, Scharffen Berger, and Marcia Gagliardi of Tablehopper joined forces and unveiled The Chocolate Adventure Recipe Contest with a number of events at local restaurants featuring pastry chefs and chocolate. On Monday August 13 I went to Campton Place to see what Boris Portnoy {pastry chef of Campton Place, the restaurant) might make and talk about. An innovative and forward thinking chef, Boris's desserts guarantee a challenge to the palate as well as mind.

Much to my delight there was more in store than the same old chocolate thang I, and other pastry chefs, often find ourselves at. The afternoon at Campton Place was spent in a small private room on the second floor with some of California's most dynamic food writers, bloggers, bakers and movers and shakers in the local chocolate scene.

Before we set about eating the arranged chocolate on our plates, John Scharffenberger gave a short but thorough history of cacao and chocolate. If you work for a school, or just love chocolate, give this semi-retired chocolate maker a call! His talk was engaging, funny, compassionate and delicious in every sense of the word. While leading us through the earth's best rain forests for cacao growing, harvesting and fermenting, he directed us to eat the disparate chocolate shapes on our plates, in the order his lesson informed.

Much to the surprise of many of our virgin mouths, we tasted a number of chocolate examples which were not chocolate in the truest sense of the word. We learned that when tasting chocolate in its pure form, tongues met with acidity and tannins most commonly found in wine and bitter edges associated with dark-roasted coffees.

After eating 8-9 versions of cacao and chocolate we listened to Boris talk excitedly about his love for cacao nibs; their texture, flavor and versatility tantalized his sweet imagination. And discovering how to make his own chocolate in a food processor appeared to have changed his life! Yes, he encouraged, go and try this at home. After a short demonstration he motioned with a regal flourish, and quiet waiters appeared with a three component cacao nib-themed plated dessert.

You'd think after three hours of smelling, tasting, eating, talking, inquiring, and listening to chocolate I would have left the hotel without a desire to ponder the chocolate contest... But the truth is that my friend and I discussed what we would do if we could enter the contest. {I cannot, but he can.}

I thought I would share a bit of our conversation. Think of these word formations the way you would poetry, a game, an interpretive dance or maybe like you were sitting near us on BART, overhearing our chocolate-meal fueled crazytalk.

Theme: Bacon & Chocolate

Render bacon fat brunoise or dice, caramelize crispy pork fat cubes and make chocolate with this in food processor with cacao nibs.
Pork cracklins (like the snack food found at gas stations) enrobed in bittersweet chocolate.
Bacon lardons half dipped in chocolate.
Fatback chocolate with quince paste.
Pork belly & rosemary infused chocolate pot de creme, quince paste (?) & sea salt garnish.

Don't worry, these ideas won't end up on a dessert of mine.....

The Chocolate Adventure Recipe Contest website. "You. Dark Chocolate. And A Special Ingredient."

The Rules are simple: pair a list of innovative/ aromatic spices and flavors with any of Scharffen Berger's exquisite dark chocolates. The prizes include both money and fame. If you don't want the Bacon & Chocolate dessert to win, enter soon.

And, as Jen Maiser said aptly, "What could be better than the opportunity to create an interesting recipe using chocolate?"

Related Links:
The Art of Tasting Chocolate
Jalapeno Girl
Ladle and Whisk

What could be better than the opportunity to create an interesting recipe using chocolate? TuttiFoodie has teamed up with Scharffen Berger to host an exciting recipe contest that will take place this fall.

THE GIST. Contestants create a recipe combining Scharffen Berger chocolate (cacao content 62% and above) and at least one "adventure ingredient," which can be chosen from a list of 20 ingredients including amchur powder (powder made from raw green mangoes), green tea, mastiha, quince, star anise, and wasabi. The recipe can be savory or sweet, and can be an appetizer, entree, dessert, or beverage.

THE PRIZES. The grand prize winner receives $5000 and will have their recipe featured at Scharffen Berger's Cafe Cacao for a month in 2008. Other prizes include cold hard cash, publicity for your recipe, and cookbooks.

MORE INFO. For more information, check out The Chocolate Adventure Recipe Contest site.