No. That’s not a typo. The American Egg Board really has an award for ‘America’s Worst Cook’. This year’s “kitchen klutz” winner prepared Thanksgiving Stuffing in a clothes dryer.
It’s not often that a clothes dryer is a part of cooking Thanksgiving dinner, but then again, you probably haven’t spent much time with Shannon Mountjoy and her family. Her sister, Debby, has, and when she heard about the American Egg Board’s “Search for America’s Worst Cook” contest, she knew that Shannon’s infamous Thanksgiving stuffing — prepared in a clothes dryer — would be a top contender.
The “Search for America’s Worst Cook” contest was launched to find the home “cook” who needed the most help in the kitchen — and today it’s official: Out of nearly 700 entries, Shannon Mountjoy of Houston, Tex. has been selected as “America’s Worst Cook.”
Shannon gets a cooking makeover:
Years after her infamous Thanksgiving meal, Shannon still struggles when it comes to preparing quick and easy meals. But, that is all about to change. As the winner of the “America’s Worst Cook” contest, Shannon and a guest will soon be whisked off to New York City, where in addition to cooking classes at the famed Institute of Culinary Education, they also will receive a personal egg cooking lesson from Howard Helmer.
Debby’s story about her sister Shannon started out routine:
The setting is Thanksgiving Day. Shannon is cooking for her mother-in-law for the first time. Of course she is a bit nervous. Our mother is there, but is really no help since she was on her second hot toddy when my sister started cooking.
The “uh-oh” factor:
My sister realized that she hadn’t taken the bread for the stuffing out of its package to allow it to dry out. There wasn’t time to go buy breadcrumbs and pure panic started to set in. Then a light bulb went off! She took several loaves of bread, cut them up and put them in the clothes dryer. Oops, it seemed like a good idea until… she went into the laundry room after 15 minutes and saw breadcrumbs shooting in an arc across the room. The hot air in the dryer was pushing the breadcrumbs right out of the air vent. But wait! Shannon has an idea! She grabbed a clean garbage bag and tried to catch the airborne main ingredient to her stuffing. She caught enough to make one pan of stuffing (which actually wasn’t that bad). Her new mother-in-law complimented her on the stuffing (sigh of relief all around). Then, she turned to my sister and said, “You must give me the recipe.” It took supreme will for my mother and me not to spit out our food in laughter.
“I love my sister, but the truth is, she’s no Julia Child,” says Debby, “So we were really amazed that she was able to save the day and impress her new mother-in-law. Being named ‘America’s Worst Cook’ is just icing on the cake.”
Why Search for America’s Worst Cook?
A survey from the American Egg Board found that nearly half of America’s home cooks (44 percent) experienced an all-out disaster in the kitchen at least several times a year, and even more (47 percent) knew someone in desperate need of basic cooking skills. So, the American Egg Board called upon its expert for quick and easy meal solutions, the Guinness World Records “World’s Fastest Omelet Maker,” Howard Helmer, to help out America’s worst cooks.