By JOHN EBY
Dowagiac Daily News

CASSOPOLIS – Lisa Broda of Dowagiac Saturday became Cass County’s first female Backyard Chef in four fair years with barbecued baby back ribs.

Drake’s Little Super in Glenwood sponsored her.

Originally from Illinois, Broda, who also took second for propane beef, credits slow roasting the meat.

“It’s all about not burning it,” she said.

She is unemployed, so the $500 grand prize ($1,800 prize money total) will come in handy traveling to Nevada.

She and her friend Vicky Kocsis, also of Dowagiac, hugged ecstatically.

Five judges selected Broda’s propane pork first, with Kocsis second.

Kocsis captured propane beef, with Broda second.

Kocsis, sponsored by Cranky Hank’s, entered the only hamburgers in the spirit of “bringing back the backyard.”

“We do this all the time,” Broda said. “We get together at her house or my house and we barbecue.”

Broda and $250 Reserve Champion Jon Silvius also shared a hug after the event sponsored by Midwest Energy Cooperative, Great Lakes Green Power and an anonymous third party.
She said they cooked alongside each other in 2008.

“The camaraderie is awesome,” Lisa, a mother of three said. “We met through our boys in baseball.”

“Absolutely,” agreed Vicky.

“That’s why we got involved in this. We did it together and we had both our sponsors out there in our same little area.”

Kocsis works for Lewis Cass Intermediate School District.

Broda previously worked in manufacturing quality assurance inspections.

They promise to be back in 2010, and “we’re going to do something different,” Broda said. “We’re going to experiment. The beef recipe which took second place was off the cuff. I never tried it before. My sister suggested it. I got the (vegetables) from the big garden I planted because I’m unemployed. It was fresh and organic.”

Instead of winners receiving director’s chairs as in the past, every participant received an apron.