FAIRMONT - Holy hotdish, it's a cookoff! The competition is fierce, and the results are plain old-fashioned fun in the Holy Hotdish Cookoff.
Each Tuesday, leading up to Interlaken Heritage Days Festival of Lakes on June 11-13, a different church is opening its doors to the community for a hotdish supper.
Last week, St. Martin's Episcopal Church hosted the first, serving up chicken supreme.
Tonight, guests will dine on country wild rice hotdish at First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ at 319 Downtown Plaza, Fairmont. Admission costs vary at each church. First Congregational is charging $7 per person, with dinner from 5-7 p.m.
"Seven churches are vying for the hotdish award," said judge Joan Suhr. "This will go on for another six weeks, with the winner crowned at the Interlaken lake festival. I believe it's going to be a very difficult choice."
Guests attending four of seven dinners can submit their names to be eligible for prizes at the end of the competition.
As judges, Suhr and Bonnie Fjelstad are taste-testing each church's one hotdish and making sure the casserole qualifies for the competition.
"A hotdish has to have certain ingredients to make it a hotdish," Suhr said. "... It's very typical of church suppers and Minnesota-type cooking. Every good cook should have several hotdishes in her repertoire."
To meet the criteria for the Holy Hotdish Cookoff, the casserole has to feed a large group of people, and feature some type of meat, with a filler like pasta or rice. Other ingredients help add texture, Suhr said, and a cream soup base holds the whole thing together.
When judging, Suhr and Fjelstad must consider more than just the hotdish set before them. Service, food temperature, serving size, appearance and the general atmosphere and are all taken into account.
"I look at the table setting myself," Fjelstad said. "... At St. Martin's Episcopal, they had crystal vases with tulips and bleeding hearts, and a beautiful tablecloth. ... I was particularly interested in the wait staff, and there were an ample amount of people and a never-ending amount of coffee. All you had to do was put up your hand and someone was there."
"And the hotdish was hot - hallelujah!" she added, laughing.
More than 200 guests showed up at St. Martin's last Tuesday, Suhr and Fjelstad estimated, with people of all denominations mixing and mingling.
"I would call it a hometown experience," Fjelstad said. "If you're not part of it, you're going to be sorry because people are going to talk about it for a long time."
Fjelstad and Suhr also are known as adversaries on "As the Corn Grows," a soap opera on local cable access channel Our Story Studios. Suhr plays Betty Thompson, host of "Cooking It Up with Betty." Fjelstad is Mrs. Swanson, owner of Sweets & Eats. Like the fictional characters they represent, both women enjoy cooking.