Deep fried and sweet

Herders offer tortilla cinnamon rolls in Taco John’s contest

By JUSTIN PITTMAN
Reporter/Photographer

A carefully proportioned blend of cinnamon and sugar with butter melds with the slight crunch of an otherwise fluffy, deep fried tortilla. A simple chocolate dipping sauce finishes off the creation and, as soon as the idea for Deep Fried Tortilla Cinnamon Rolls popped into Mary Nelson’s head last fall, her and teammate Trenton Layher knew they wanted the dish to be their entry in the annual Taco John’s West- Mex Culinary Competition.

Nelson has made a non-fried version of the snack since first grade.

“In my family, you learn how to cook early,” Nelson explained. “You just have to learn how to cook.”

The snack, apparently, made for the perfect entry and judges selected Layher and Nelson’s creation, from a record large pool of 71 entries, to compete with four other teams Feb. 9 in the state finals at Taco John’s headquarters in Cheyenne.

“It felt pretty good,” Layher said of the team’s invitation to the finals. “Especially after there was 71 people.”

Layher said he’s taken all of Glenrock High School Culinary Instructor Candice Stoll’s cooking classes and competes on the GHS culinary team. Nelson has taken all but one of Stoll’s classes.

“They want fast food,” Nelson explained. “So we’re trying to make it fast.”

Taco John’s looks for recipes that require less than five minutes of preparation, according to Nelson and, despite only having made the dish two or three times, the pair can whip it up in just a few minutes.

Still, the team maintained that flavor remains their biggest concern.

“We’ve been trying to get the flavor right,” Nelson said. “And I think we might have it.”

The pair will also be judged on a variety of other factors ranging from menu price to customer appeal.

A four person panel of judges will rate each of the teams in the contest. Stoll said one year the panel included a radio announcer for the Wyoming Cowboys and a chef from New York.

Nelson and Layher will compete in two rounds against teams from Riverton, Rock River and Cheyenne Central. All four teams will first compete in a preliminary round. The top two contestants will then return Feb. 10 for a second round that requires them to create a new recipe using a mystery ingredient.

“That’s the main thing for me, I’m pretty nervous about,” Layher admitted.

“We’re both pretty creative,” Nelson explained. “That’s something that will be hard to do on the spot, but we can probably do it.”

Both of the GHS seniors said they’ve already begun mentally evaluating their options for different possible mystery ingredients.

Stoll’s culinary students have a pretty impressive track record. Last year the GHS team took second place at the Taco John’s competition and the year before they won top honors.

“I was real excited (upon learning that his year’s team was selected to go to Cheyenne),” Stoll said. “I was amazed and astounded, it’s a nice honor . . . I’ll be proud no matter what place they get, that’s pretty amazing.”

If they win, the duo’s meal will be put on the Taco John’s menu for a period of time and they will get an inside peek at the processes involved with putting an item on the franchise’s menu.

And what grand lesson have the two budding chefs learned, thus far, from the competition?

“Deep fried food is good.”

This is part of the February 4, 2010 online edition of The Glenrock Independent.

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