A new Hanukkah event this year at the Jewish Community Center was the jChopped Latke Edition.

Teams of five people were invited to participate in the latke cooking contest, which featured a prize of $250.

Various Jewish organizations organized five teams: the Jewish Day School, the Jewish Community Center Early Childhood Education, Keneseth Israel Synagogue, the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley, and Temple Beth El.

The teams were chosen, met about a week before the cook off and were made aware of the rules.

They were also given a box of five ingredients that had to be included in the recipes for the latkes.

The ingredients were a Yukon Gold potato, ginger ale, pretzels, an orange and cream cheese.

Teams got together and started developing a winning recipe.

On the night of the event, all the teams congregated in the auditiorium of the Jewish Community Center over their burners and equipment.

They had 45 minutes to prepare five plates for each of the judges and the order of presentation was chosen.

The Jewish Federation team went first.

While the judges were tasting the first entry, the attendees were served the same recipe as well.

Judges were JCC Board member Sara Jane Bub; JCC Fitness Director Clarence Cook from the Physical Education Department; Dave Addison, of Wells Fargo Bank; Bobby Hammel, JCC Board president, and Chef Norman Moses, reigning Latke Throwdown champion.

The latkes were judged on taste, originality, creative use of the special ingredients and the presentation.

Three-quarters of the total points were from the judges and one quarter of points were from audience votes.

After all the five teams' entries were judged, the winner was announced.

And the other teams were "chopped."

The Jewish Federation team was the winner.

Members included Mark Goldstein, Carol Wilson, Mitchell Cooper, Rebecca Cooper, Eva Levitt and Judy Diamondstein.

Their entry was presented in three parts: a Southwestern latke using the Yukon Gold potato enhanced by cilantro and finely chopped jalapeno peppers. The dish had an adobo-marinated chipotle pepper cream cheese sauce embellished with orange zest and a red pepper corn relish garni.

Also served with the latke was a chanukarita, a refreshing festive holiday beverage featuring tequila, Cointreau, fresh orange juice and a splash of ginger ale in a pretzel dust-rimmed glass with a pretzel twist sidecar.

The pretzel was dipped in a custom blend of 60 percent cacao, bittersweet chocolate, semisweet chocolate, essence of orange and cayenne pepper.

The competition was amicable and hearty.

Dr. Frank Tamarkin was the emcee and the roving food reporter.

Hannah Tamarkin was the timer. Tama Tararkin and Lynda Krawitz were the co-chairs of the event.