COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Leslye Louis of New Melle, Missouri, was selected as the winner of the 16th annual White Castle recipe contest for her original creation, The Latkes You Crave.
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A self-described "White Castle Purist", Leslye has been a fan of White Castles since she was a young girl. Through the years, White Castle has remained a big part of her life. She collects White Castle items; she's taken White Castles to her faculty meetings; enjoyed Valentine dinners at White Castle; and wherever she travels, Leslye always makes it a point to make White Castle her first stop.
"I'm really thrilled to have won the recipe contest," Leslye said. "My friends are calling me the 'Queen of the Castle.'"
The Latkes You Crave won out over nearly 300 tasty entries from throughout the country at this year's extremely edible event. Recipes were judged on the best use of 10 White Castle hamburgers, originality, and taste. Leslye will receive a gift certificate from the House of Crave, our online store, and a Crave Case of 30 hamburgers every week - that's more than 1500, if you are counting - over the next year for her creative use of White Castles. Here is her winning recipe:
The Latkes You Crave
Submitted by: Leslye Louis
10 White Castle burgers
3 eggs
4 cups grated potatoes
1/4 cup grated onion
4 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Vegetable oil
Remove the pickles and crumble or dice hamburgers in a large bowl and set aside. Beat eggs until light and foamy. Stir in the grated potatoes, grated onion, flour, seasonings, herbs and combine with the hamburger mixture. Heat 1/8 to 1/4 inch vegetable oil in a large skillet. For each Latke, drop about 1/4 cup White Castle potato mixture into the hot oil, fry on each side until golden brown. Add oil to pan as needed, to keep proper depth for frying. Drain Latkes well on absorbent paper. This makes about 14-20 of the lightest White Castle Latkes in the Latke-land. Serve hot, with applesauce, dairy sour cream, apple butter or eat plain.
The second place winner was Philana Ford of Chicago for her Philana's Dim Sum. Third place went to Betty McNees of Cincinnati for her Cook-Out Crave.
Rounding out the top 10 finalists were Donald Beisswenger of St. Louis for his White Castle Rueben Bake; Connie Pribish of Piscataway, NJ for her Fiesta Castle Ole'; Donna Nashar of North Olmstead, OH for her Southwestern White Castle 7-Layer Burger; Wanda Love of Detroit for her Craved Shepard's Pie; Bill Gilligan of Saugatuck, MI for his White Castlerole; Mary Massey of Waterlook, IL for her White Castlerole Breakfast Bake; and Pat Sanford of Westlake, MI for Castle Rouladen.
Deane Cobler, Assistant Professor of the Hospitality and Management program at Columbus State Community College, Columbus, Ohio and a team of culinary connoisseurs served as the judges for this year's event. Once again, White Castle presented a check for $2500 to Columbus State's Development Foundation for the school's culinary program.
White Castle is based in Columbus, Ohio, and operates 399 restaurants in 11 states. The company was founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921 and is the country's first fast-food hamburger chain.
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