First Course: Learn canning under pressure

Anyone interested in learning the correct techniques for pressure canning should attend the Sacramento County Cooperative Extension Master Food Preservers demonstration at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The two-hour workshop at the Sacramento County Cooperative Extension office, 4145 Branch Center Road, is free, and you do not need reservations.

For more information: (916) 875-6913.

Shake a leg -- it's recipe time

Do you have a great original chicken recipe in your files? There's still time to enter the Cook Like a Californian recipe contest.

The grand prize is $5,000, plus there are bonus prizes for using specific ingredients such as walnuts, California cheeses, figs, peaches, plums, nectarines, table grapes, tomatoes and pears.

Judging will be based on ease of preparation.

The deadline to enter is Sept. 30. For a list of rules and an entry form, check the California Poultry Federation Web site, www.cpif.org, or mail a request with a self-addressed, business-size envelope to Chicken Recipe Contest, 4640 Spyres Way, Suite 4, Modesto, CA 95356.

Matzah activities ahead

Get ready for some serious kugel munching: Congregation Beth Shalom's annual food faire and kugel-off is planned for Oct. 8.

The 29th annual event coincides with the Jewish holiday Sukkot, or harvest festival. It takes place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Beth Shalom, 4746 El Camino Ave., Carmichael.

Matzah recipes will be featured, including matzah granola, matzah kugel, matzah candy, matzah brei and matzah ball soup.

Other Jewish fare includes noodle kugel, cheese blintzes, mandelbrot, rugalach, strudel and cabbage rolls.

There will be an appearance by Matzah Ball Man and 40 craft vendors.

Admission is $2 with a canned-food donation or $3 without. Children 12 and under are admitted free. Food and beverages are individually priced.

For more information: (916) 485-4478 or www.cbshalom.org.

Best in the West winners

A team from Minnesota, not generally considered one of the nation's barbecue hot spots, won last weekend's 18th annual Best in the West Rib Cook-Off at John Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks, Nev.

What's more, reports The Bee's Mike Dunne, who was a judge at the event, Mike Bowar and his fellow winning ribbers were representing a chain of restaurants, Famous Dave's Barbecue of Minneapolis. Their branch, in Plymouth, a Minneapolis suburb, is one of about 140 in the group.

The Famous Dave's team won $7,500, a trophy and bragging rights. It beat 23 other teams from throughout the country.

B.J.'s Barbecue of Sparks finished second, while the Sweet Meat Cooking Team of Euless, Texas, placed third.

Porky 'N Beans of Parma, Ohio, won a separate competition to select the best barbecue sauce.

A full list of winners is available at www.nuggetribcookoff.com.