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| Beef Cookery-February 23rd, 2026 |
| Louisiana Commodities Cookery |
| Egg Cookery |
| Poultry Cookery |
| Seafood Cookery |
| Sugar Cookery |
| Wild Game Cookery |
Submission Dates for our 2025-2026 Culinary Contests:
First things first, why do we have these cooking contests? Well, these contests are intended to help our 4-H members grow in their cooking experiences and skill level while enjoying quality time spent with their families who assist them in their cooking activities.
These contests are held on the parish level first. Still, if the 4-H member is the overall highest point-scoring member of the category they compete in, they will be invited to attend our Regional Culinary Arts contest in May, location TBA.
Here in Ascension parish, we conduct our contests in a way we hope makes it easier for our families to participate not only in each of the 7 cookery contests we offer but in the multiple categories that each contest has if they so choose.
The following are our judging procedures for the 25-26 contest year:
The cookery contests returned to the traditional format where 1-2 servings of the finished dish will be dropped off at the 4-H office between 8:00 am and 5:30 pm, for our judges to taste. We also added two bonus features for the kiddos to earn extra points for submitting pictures and a summary of their cooking process and experience.
Due to the fact that all dishes have to be transported on ice to ensure food safety for the judges, hot dishes cool and have to be reheated. Because our contest allows contestants’ dishes to be brought throughout the day, they will be stored in the refrigerator and prepared for judging the next day. Use a recipe that you feel reheats well and is a good leftover.
Monday the dishes are dropped off at the office with the recipes (2 typed recipes) from 8:00am-5:30pm (if times are an issue, please notify the office). The dish needs to be in a disposable plastic container, with a hard lid, with only 1 to 2 servings inside. (Dish Presentation is not a concern for the parish contest) It also is required that ALL dishes be transported on ice to ensure food safety for our judges.
Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s are the judging days which are done by volunteers. I assist the judges by heating up the dishes that need to be heated and serving the dish based on my observations of the recipe provided or per the instructions left for me by the contestant.
Thursday and Friday are the days I tally the scores and prepare the results page
Friday evenings I post the results of the month’s cookery on our Facebook (Ascension Parish 4-H) page for the students to see.
We are super excited to offer these cooking opportunities for our 4-H members. If you have specific questions pertaining to a cookery contest, please email cmoran@agcenter.lsu.edu or call the office at 225-621-5799.
