Carmell Childs: Mormon Cook
Carmell Nielsen Childs is a home cook who has won contests and placed as a finalist with her innovative cooking. When she gets bored, she searches the internet for corporate-sponsored cooking contests. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Her Cherry Chicken Bacon Burger won a $20,000 family reunion in Smucker’s Spreading Family Traditions Recipe and Essay Contest. Her Mandarin Tin-Can Tower Cake won the first Del Monte’s Crown the Cook recipe contest in 2011. She was a finalist in the Dole Cook-Off 2013 with “DOLE”ightful Tropical berry Sticky Rice with Mango Passion Coulis and a finalist in the Real Women of Philadelphia cooking video competition in 2011 with Coconut Shrimp Poppers with Chili Mango Cream. She was again a finalist in the 2013 Great Midwest “I Heart Grilled Cheese” recipe contest with her Smoky Hoisin Ham Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. She was the grand-prize winner in the Gorton’s/Ortega Fish Taco Challenge in 2011 for her Grilled Fish Tacos. She placed first in the California Giant Berry Farms berry baking contest with her Baked Blueberry Citrus Pears a la Mode.
In 2015 she was a runner-up in the Idaho Potato Commission’s Tailgating Recipe contest with her Blue-Forty-Two Idaho Potato Kabobs. In 2018 she earned an honorable mention in the National Watermelon Promotion Board’s annual consumer recipe contest with her Watermelon Key Lime Sticky Rice recipe. She continues to compete in recipe contests.
Childs was born on March 11, 1980, and is from Ferron, Utah. In 2012, she gave up a chance at the grand champion title of the World Food Championships because the final competition was held on a Sunday. She said, “Because I teach my children that the Sabbath is a sacred day, I opted out of the Sunday competition for the $50,000.”[1]
In the contest, she competed against professional chefs and restaurant owners in her category and won the World Recipe Champion title and $10,000 for her Sweet Cherry Baby Bellas (stuffed baby bell peppers with a mixture of bacon, onions, cream cheese, cherries, and peppers), which moved her to the final competition.
Childs has a food channel on YouTube and her recipes are featured at http://www.justapinch.com and various other websites.
