LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (KRQE) – As we head into the fall season, it’s the perfect time of year for a New Mexico favorite dish: posole. This past weekend, people came to test their culinary chops at the Tesuque Casino World Posole Cooking Championships; and KRQE News 13 spoke with one 11-year-old contender from Los Alamos who came to stir up the competition.
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“Uh, about like a year and a half now;” That’s how long 11-year-old Christopher Rutherford of Los Alamos has been cooking for. His zest for it was picked up online: “I’m pretty sure it was like one day I was watching like a Youtube video and I watched this video about like every way to cook an egg and I was like, ‘hm, I’m really hungry, I want to cook an egg,'” Rutherford said.
He quickly worked his way up from there: to omelets, Italian cuisine, and posole—a traditional hearty Mexican soup. “This was actually my second time making it,” Rutherford says; but don’t let the lack of years behind the stove fool you: “I get the hang of cooking things quickly,” Rutherford said.
He took his talents to the Tesuque Casino World Posole Cooking Championships and beat out most of the competition. “They tasted the food and they picked me for second place. I beat out professional caterers and Mexican grandmothers!” Rutherford said.
It’s the third year of the championship—and the first time it’s been held at the Tesuque Casino. “This is our first year holding the event. It is actually the third World Posole Championship—the previous two events were held at Acoma, New Mexico, at Sky City,” said Jamie Williams, marketing manager for Tesuque Casino.
“Christopher cooked all day. I seen him in his booth, he was stirring, he was doing all the preparation. We were so excited to have all ages and all backgrounds here in the contest,” Williams said. It was held outside of the casino, with live music and art vendors; and, it was judged blind by three judges from around the state: “One was from Las Cruces I think, the other was from Albuquerque, and the other was from like Santa Fe I think,” Rutherford said.
“It was blind judging, so every entry got a random number cup, so when we coordinated the judges they didn’t know who was who,” Williams said, “as we were tallying because I did oversee that part, I did see him start to rack up the votes and the points and I thought it was really exciting.”
Rutherford’s second-place prize? “$750, which I spent on an espresso machine. Don’t worry, I make myself decaf espresso!” Rutherford says. “It was a thousand dollars for first place, 750 dollars cash for second place; and it was really just something we wanted to put together to welcome the fall season and to kind of make this an annual event,” Williams said.
Rutherford is willing to share some of the secret to his championship posole: “I would say it’s primarily the seasoning and also I put in a little bit extra white wine than most people.”
“My second secret is the way I season the pork, like I season it the night before I make the posole,” Rutherford continued, “I put salt and my special seasoning powder, which I’m not going to tell you the proportions because I’d ruin the secret.”
His mother, Becky Rutherford, signed him up for the competition. She says he is always in the kitchen trying out some new recipe or grinding up spices: “It’s awesome! Like he makes dinner most nights and he’ll make cookies and bread and stuff, but also it’s like, if I’m not paying attention or I’m working or something and he’s really quiet then I’ll realize he’s probably in the kitchen doing something.”
As for a culinary career? Rutherford has something different in mind: “I would probably prefer to become like a chemist and work at the lab and then like integrate chemistry into my cooking more.”
He has some sage advice for other young chefs looking to get started: “I would recommend not thinking that you always have to get better cooking equipment and primarily focusing on improving your technique,” Rutherford said, “And start with simple dishes.”
Whether he’ll try his hand in the competition next year? That’s a resounding: “Yes, definitely!” Rutherford said.
For those who want to keep up with Rutherford’s cooking, he and his mom run a Facebook page called ‘NM Junior Foodies,’ where they post all about their culinary adventures.
