A couple of weeks ago, I told you the story of entering my Triple Onion Potato Kugel into the Manischewitz Cook-Off; at that time, I promised to tell you the saga of my Spicy Seafood Stew, the only other entry I managed to submit. A few twists and turns in life have impeded my progress a bit, but here — ready for your perusal — is the story of how I actually made gefilte fish (an infamous traditional Jewish food, essentially poached fish balls) taste good.

There are many variables when entering cooking contests — first and foremost, does the recipe taste good? Can anyone from Fairbanks to Omaha to Charleston find the ingredients readily? (One unfortunate aspect of the bounty of ethnic markets in Ann Arbor is that I have access to items that few people in the country can find, so my most intriguing dishes don't get entered into contests.) Is my concoction new and novel? And — for marketing purposes, which is the primary goal of the companies which sponsor contests — does my recipe sell a product well?

And so, in devising my Manischewitz strategy, I sought to meet all of these criteria ... but I admit that my Spicy Seafood Stew seeks especially to engage in market manipulation by finding a way to sell gefilte fish. (Pronounced guh-FILL-tuh) Take minced fish, toss in some matzah meal, poach in water or stock with some vegetables and serve to an unappreciative audience.

Gefilte fish is not the luxurious treat that lox is; and so, my brain spun a theory that if I could find a way to make gefilte fish taste good, this contest would be mine!

I used the company's tomato sauce, some salsa and the contest's required broth to create the base. I added some fresh tilapia, and — after much analysis and brainstorming with Tom, who'd graciously lent his kitchen and his taste buds for this experiment — chopped fresh mango. A touch of spicy chili garlic sauce and ... drum roll ... the gefilte fish, hoping that they would absorb the rich flavors.

And you know what? It worked! If I were to make this again, I would add a variety of fresh fish and possibly add some black beans as well, which Tom had suggested as we perused our options. Thankfully, in the future I wouldn't be bound by the contest's eight ingredient limit, so I could make something much more sophisticated and complex with this basic stew as the inspiration.

But I have to say that I accomplished my greatest goal with my entry: Tom, his friend Alan and I were all eating — and enjoying — gefilte fish. Now if only Manischewitz would call to tell me I've been chosen for the finals ...!

Mary Bilyeu has won or placed in more than 60 cooking contests and writes about her adventures as she tries to win prizes, feeds hungry teenagers and other loved ones, and generally just has fun in the kitchen. The phrase "You Should Only Be Happy" (written in Hebrew on the stone pictured next to the blog's title) comes from Deuteronomy 16:15 and is a wish for all her readers as they cook along with her ... may you always be happy here!

You can contact Mary at yentamary@gmail.com. And look for an assortment of musings about a variety of topics on her blog: youshouldonlybehappy.blogspot.com.