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2013 POMA Axed Outdoor Cooking Competition Top Chefs Selected at Columbia, S.C. Business Conference

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A cooking competition on outdoor steroids is how one person described the POMA Axed outdoor cooking competition. The new conference tradition was launched at the 2011 Odgen Conference. It’s a spin-off of the popular television show “Chopped.” Three years later, the dishes coming off the Camp Chef grills and cookware are astounding.

A cooking competition on outdoor steroids is how one person described the POMA Axed outdoor cooking competition. The new conference tradition was launched at the 2011 Odgen Conference. It’s a spin-off of the popular television show “Chopped.” Three years later, the dishes coming off the Camp Chef grills and cookware are astounding.

Along the shores of Lake Murray, eight two-person teams competed in two, four-team flights, in hopes of winning a berth into the two-team POMA Axed Championship Cook-Off. Flight competitors bellied up to the grills perched on Yamaha Rhino tailgates loaded with indigenous mystery ingredients.

The competitors were: Bill Miller and J. Wayne Fears; Monica Manley and MaryCarolyn Gilliam; David and Mary Gayle Sartwell; Darla Guyer and Betty Lou Fegely; Hovey Smith and Gary Wilson; Craig Haney and Josh Wolfe; Charlie and Cheryl Burchfield; and Larissa and Savannah McHale.

In the qualifying heats, contestants ripped open FoodSaver vaccum-sealed pouches full of fresh-caught Lake Murray striped bass, okra, and boiled peanuts – the mystery ingredients. The chefs were required to use the meat and pick either okra or peanuts for their dish. They had 30 minutes to pull together three plates of tasty game.
“The quality of the qualifying round dishes was top notch,” said Steve McGrath, with Camp

Chef. “The creativity was amazing. They used everything at hand, even resealed ingredients with the FoodSaver GameSavers to marinade meat and veggies.” Three judges tasted and scored each team’s dish. David and Mary Gayle Sartwell and Charlie and Cheryl Burchfield were declared the qualifying heat winners.

In the final cook-off, the mystery meat was dove, harvested by Lake Murray Regional Tourism Board professional Amy Hoffman’s husband Dustin. The grills were fired up once more. Who would be axed? Who would be crowned the 2013 POMA Axed Top Chefs?
When the grill smoke cleared, Charlie and Cheryl Burchfield stood victorious. According to Charlie, they simply served up good old Northcentral Pennsylvania home cookin. Check out the POMA Axed Top Chef’s winning recipes.
The POMA Axed Top Chefs received a 2,000-watt inverter generator from Yamaha as well as a fabulous camp-cooking equipment prize package from Camp Chef.