by Kathryn Mullin
Cathedral of the Risen Christ
The rain did not stop the crowds from showing up for the Cathedral of the Risen Christ’s fourth annual “Picnic & Cook-Off” Sunday, Sept. 10, in Lincoln.
In past years, the event took place in the parking lot near the school playground, but this year, as the clouds rolled in, the decision was made to move the picnic into the basement of the church. Even with the last-minute change, more than 300 people stopped in to sample dishes from eight cook-off teams. It was hard to tell, in fact, that an indoor picnic was not the plan all along.
The planning committee and volunteers, in the hours leading up to the event, had the teams, food, and seating ready to go just in time for the arrival of the first attendees at 5:30 p.m. Not long after the event began, the line for food was out the door, with ballots in hand. Participants piled their plates high with food, ranging from smoked ribs, to beef-and-chorizo chili. Attendees had their work cut out for them when it came time to vote for their favorite dish.
“The friendly competition among the cook-off teams is a great sight,” said Adam Schlautman, one of the committee members. “I enjoy seeing people reconnect with friends and getting to know new people in our community.”
Just before 7 p.m., the top three teams were announced.
Third place went to “Meat the Steffens”–members of the Steffen family, and friends. They made marinated skirt steak in an Oriental wrap.
The “Cathedral Soar” team, comprised of Cathedral School teachers and staff, took second place with smoked ribs.
“Porkfection,” made up of the Korensky family, reigning champions from the 2022 cook-off, took first place with just over one-third of the votes.
The team was presented the “Golden Spatula Award” for its pork shots, created by Mason Korensky, which contained smoke garlic cream cheese mashed potatoes, topped with 40-hour pulled pork, a drizzle of tangy peach BBQ sauce and a dab of their “feel-good sauce.”
Korensky called food, “an art form of all five senses,” one of the best ways to bring people and the Cathedral community together to share in fellowship and great food.
“We had so much fun this year,” he said. It was a “great reason to socialize and eat some amazing food. The win was just the icing on the cake.
“I want to thank everyone for coming out and trying our food,” he continued. “I also want to thank all the other teams who brought such great competition.”
Although the annual event now centers on the friendly competition, that wasn’t always the case. What’s now an evening of food variety and taste-testing used to be a simple and easy parish picnic.
The event was started many years ago by Cathedral’s Stewardship Committee, with the Knights of Columbus grilling all the burgers and hot dogs.
While the date of the first year of the picnic remained a mystery in many memories, Herb Reese, one of the committee members, recalled some of the earlier picnics dating back to when Msgr. Tucker was the pastor at the Cathedral. It seems that gatherings like these have been a longtime staple in the parish.
As the years passed, an idea was eventually suggested to add some competition to the picnic. And so, the cook-off was born in 2019 and has continued annually, with only 2020 as the exception. Though the event has certainly grown over time, the goal to provide simple fellowship free to the community has remained the same.
