Stewin'
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on November 8, 2015 3:05 AM
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Chris Holmes and Todd Jackson fill the judges' cups with the seafood chowder at the annual Albertson StewFest Saturday. The Boy Scouts have been participating in the cook-off for three years.
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Ellis Daniels pours eggs into his shrimp and fish stew. Daniels has been cooking stew for the First Citizens Bank sponsored booth for seven years. Hundreds gathered for the 12th annual StewFest in Albertson to try a variety of concoctions.
ALBERTSON -- The corner of North Carolina Highway 111 and Sheep Pasture Road was packed with cars, tents, craftsmen, entertainment and all kinds of stew on Saturday as hundreds gathered for the 12th annual StewFest in Albertson.
More than a dozen teams competed in a stew cookoff, with teams making surf and turf stews, Brunswick stew, fish and shrimp stews and more.
One team, "Papa's Crew," even made banana pudding in a wash pot tucked inside a pig cooker.
This year marked the team's third year competing in the StewFest. Their banana pudding won the past two years, and it was so good it forced the rules to be changed so that teams can no longer enter desserts into the competition.
So this year, the team cooked the banana pudding for everyone to enjoy knowing they could not enter it in the competition.
"The idea came from a story my dad told me about a man that used to live in our neighborhood that had about 18 or 20 children," said Gregory Smith of Papa's Crew. "This man would buy a whole slew of bananas every fall and cook all this banana pudding in a wash pot for all of his children."
Chip Foster, cooking for his family team named "The Fosters," whipped up a several gallon bucket of chili for the competition. It was his first year competing, and he brought a unique ingredient list to the mix.
He prepared his chili with chili powder, chili sauce, garlic, crushed tomatoes, four different types of beans, salt, pepper, sugar and six cans of beer.
"We've been asked to do this before," Foster said. "Pink Hill had their rose festival three or four years ago and they asked us to come down and make chili for the festival and said they would sponsor us and pay for it, so we've done that in the past. I don't make it too hot. It's got just enough kick for a little back bite."
Bob Kornegay, with Tri-County Electric Membership Corp., used a Brunswick stew recipe from a Ruritan Club in Edgecombe County for his fourth year competing in the StewFest. It included 22 pounds of chicken and 10 pounds of Boston butt, all cooked in a 30 to 40 gallon bucket.
"It's a great cause that helps support the (Grady-Outlaw Memorial) library," Kornegay said. "In a small town like this we don't always have a lot of things, so it's nice to have a library like ours that puts on events like this."
Sue Smith, who organized the event, said every StewFest is put on by volunteer work only. Arm bands at the event cost $10 and all proceeds went to the library, which receives no funding from Duplin County and operates on grants and fundraising alone.
"This is the one thing we do each year to help us get money from fundraising," Mrs. Smith said.