Camilla Saulsbury, Ph.D.
2006 Grand Prize Winner
Sociology professor, cookbook author, recipe developer, and fitness teacher from Nacogdoches, Texas.
Inspiration for Born in Berkeley Burgers
“I am always drawn to recipes that reflect where the recipe creator is from, so I decided to follow that mode when I invented this burger. Although I recently moved to East Texas, I was born in Berkeley and grew up in the San Francisco East Bay. This burger is really me, and captures many of my food experiences, food memories, and favorite ingredients growing up there, such as picking Meyer lemons, herbs, and tomatoes out of my parents’ garden, shopping for fresh fruits and vegetables with my mom at Monterey Market, discovering and sampling all varieties of locally-produced (e.g. California Teleme) and exotic cheeses at Berkeley’s Cheese Board Cooperative, and grilling burgers with my dad in the backyard (often a teeth-chattering summertime experience, thanks to the evening fog; we would huddle around the grill for heat!). A bacon cheeseburger is the very best kind of burger in my book; this just has what I consider my own East Bay spin.”
Memories of BBB:
“Grilling under the palm trees. Gourmet burgers. Great people. And glasses (aplenty!) of fine wine.
It sounds like a recipe for a heavenly weekend, and it is and was. It’s also how I will always remember Build a Better Burger.
I have had the good fortune of being chosen as a BBB finalist twice, the first time in 1999, the second in 2006. The ’99 BBB was my first-ever cook-off, and I was petrified. I tend to be an easy-going cook, so I had no idea how I would fare in competitive (and closely-timed) cooking mode. Moreover, I was a huge fan of head judge James McNair (I started collecting his cookbooks as a teenager) and one of the other judges, Thomas Keller of French Laundry fame. But my terror was ameliorated by the troops of Sutter Home staff, who apparently received a memo that we were royalty rather than burger contestants. After we were wined, dined and limo-ed all around Napa, the cook-off ran like clockwork. Grilling under the palm trees was surreal. My knees were shaking, but only because the Napa morning was FREEZING and I managed to avoid lighting myself on fire and/or sending raw burgers (I think...) to the judges. Success! And James McNair and Thomas Keller? As kind as can be. I didn’t win, but I could hardly wait to get back.
Seven years later, I somehow made it back; it was so worth the wait. My fellow contestants, the food, the wine, the hospitality of the judges and the Trinchero/Sutter Home family of employees—extraordinary. And because my parents live about 45 minutes away, they were able to witness the whole thing. Appearing on the Today show with my burgers a mere 2 days later was surreal and so much fun. This really was the win of a lifetime.”
Other Notable Wins:
First Place, National Chicken Cook-Off, 2005
Grand Prize, Better Homes & Gardens Annual Reader’s Recipe Contest, 2001
Grand Prize, Gilroy Garlic Festival Cook-Off, 2000
Winner, Pace Salsa Kitchen Makeover Contest