W. Va. Ramp Festivals

[Varmint]

First, this was not a rhetorical question. I had no idea.

However, my handy dandy Merriam Webster's had the following information:

Etymology: back-formation from ramps, alteration of rams, from Middle English, from Old English hramsa; akin to Old High German ramusia ramp, Greek krommyon onion

[vengroff]

And so, on to the cook-off. One of the first stations I came across during the setup phase was this one:

I had no idea what this combination of ingredients was going to be used for. Ramp con queso? I just wasn't sure. Eventually, I found out that this was going to become a ramp pate. The key item in the picture is the meat grinder. All the ingredients, ramps, velveeta, baloney, pickles, etc... go through the grinder and are then spread on crackers and garnished with a slice of swiss cheese. Ramp pate, like the ramp egg rolls I mentioned before, is a classic ramp dish and there are multiple variations of it.

Here's a look at the preparation phase:

[vengroff]

Moving on, here's a dish that we big city folks really liked. Liver and ramps. If liver goes with onions, why not ramps?

I couldn't help noticing how many of the cooks here had beautiful mirror black cast iron cookware. I drive a black car and I have trouble keeping it as shiny as these well seasoned pots and pans.

Beef with ramps and peaches was also remarkably tasty. The sweetness of the peaches balanced the sharpness of the ramps, which were flash cooked just enough to wilt.

Most of the rest of the dishes that used cooked greens pushed them to the mushy gray-green point of no return. For kale, maybe that's appropriate, but ramp greens are far to delicate. Perhaps the judges deducted points for using stainless steel, because although we though it was one of the clear leaders, the judges did not place it in the top five.

We also thought the other ramp and fruit dish, a sort of salsa of fresh ramps, pineapple, and crispy bacon bits dressed in rice wine vinegar was quite good.

Serving it with corn chips may not have brought the most out of it, but as an accompaniment to simply a grilled red snapper it would have been fantastic.

[vengroff]

In addition to the cooking, there was a prize up for grabs for the best decorated booth. Some stuck with the basics, like this woman from Kentucky, who went with balloons and "ramp mints" designed to freshing your breath after eating ramps.

Her wild mushroom and ramp stroganoff was quite good, and was the only entry that added additional wild ingredients to go along with the ramps.

Others went for costumes, like these radio station guys in hula gear,

and their rival radio station in their biker gear,

But the booth to beat was the French-themed one. It was staffed by a French chef and a French maid, dressed in skunk costumes. OK, so they look like black sweats, but they have a white stripe pinned to the back, so that's good enough for me.

They served a fine vintage Chateau Le Stink to go with their ramp pasta.

In the end, the French came out on top in the decoration category; it was a fashion/cooking competition, so how could they loose?

The only serious threat came from the crowd favorite decoration, the old reliable, always good for a laugh, ramps in a bedpan.

[bilrus]

Everything sounded and looked great to me until I saw the Pate. Not a single ingredient that I like - except pickles.

Did you have the "opportunity" to try this delicacy?

[vengroff]

Did you have the "opportunity" to try this delicacy?

I had the opportunity to try all the entries. There were twenty something of them--ramp rolls, ramp pate, ramp pasta, ramp chili, ramp balls, shrimp rampafeller, potato ramp soup, Italian ramps with sausage and marinara, smoked trout dip with ramps, the list seemed endless. Here's proof that I made it through at least a few bites of all of them:

One of the ramp pates finished in second place behind ramp rolls, but I am pretty sure it was not the one whose ingredients I showed above.

[jeniac42]

See, I wish I'd seen this thread a week ago, because I would've been there. Instead I went to Southern Ohio and tried unsuccessfully to find some morels.

*looks through links in hopes that one of the festivals is still upcoming*