Award-winning chefs will judge pozole dishes Dec. 6 during a contest hosted by the UTRGV Border Studies Archive.
The contest will take place at noon in the Shary Room of the University Library on the Edinburg campus and is open to the public. The pozole recipes will be part of the Mexican-American Folklore collection. The contest has been hosted since 2013. Previous contests have included such dishes as capirotada, tamales and mole.
The Border Studies Archive is part of the university’s Special Collections and has local Rio Grande Valley folklore and traditional documents and resources.
Curatorial Assistant Shantal Brissette said the contest was created to let the public and students know about the archives and to expand the collection. Competitors are asked to write out their recipes and those will be added to the archive.
“During the event, we also take the time to, if some of the contestants want to be interviewed on camera, we actually interview them for them to actually tell us … how they came to know the recipe,” Brissette said.
Attendees may taste the competing pozole dishes and vote on the one they like best.
Anyone can compete, but contestants must call or email the Border Studies Archive office in order to sign up for the event. They will have to provide their names and an email address where the office can reach them and send them a set of rules for the competition.
The contestants may only bring one pozole recipe, their own ladle to serve the pozole with and arrive to the event an hour early.
Award-winning McAllen chefs Larry Delgado, owner of House, Wine & Bistro; Adam Cavazos, chef and owner of Bodega Tavern & Kitchen; and Jess Castellon, chef and owner of Motöramen, will judge the dishes.
The winners will receive university promotional items from the library and gift cards from the chefs’ restaurants. First-, second- and third-place winners will be chosen by the judges, and the public will vote on its favorite dish.
During the event, attendees will also get the chance to tour the archives.
“Everyone is welcome,” Brissette said. “Just come and have fun and eat a lot. Get to know the archives.”
