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Life and death encounters on the battlefield prepared Harold Cohen for the pressure-cooker of the kitchen.

"I have the confidence, the skill levels, and the fact that I have faced infinitely more traumatic experiences before," Cohen, a 76-year-old Vietnam War veteran and former reconstructive plastic surgeon, told The Jewish State, as the 4th Annual Man-O-Manischewitz Cook-Off was about to commence.

On March 18 at the JCC in Manhattan, the five finalists, selected from more than 2,000 entries, competed for $25,000 in cash and prizes.

In accordance with the competition rules, all recipes had to be main courses, original, kosher, and have no more than eight ingredients, with one of them being the company's recently unveiled "Ready to Serve Broth."

The five finalists -- Harold Cohen of Hollywood, Fla., Julie DeMatteo of Clementon; Sarah Freedman-Izquierdo of Miami Beach, Fla.; Rachelle Lapidus of Lawrence, N.Y.; and Jamie Brown Miller of Napa, Calif. -- were judged by a panel culinary experts led by legendary chef and author of "Fast Food My Way," Jacques Pepin.

In addition to Pepin, the judging panel consisted of Betsy Andrews, senior editor of Saveur; Emily Fleischaker, associate multimedia editor of Bon Appetite; Jamie Geller, author of "Quick and Kosher"; Jennifer Goren, director of culinary arts at the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan; and freelance lifestyle and travel writer Aly Walansky.

Cohen's dish was Ethiopian chicken stew; DeMatteo's, Hungarian chicken spaetzl; Lapidus's, creamy tarragon chicken; and Brown-Miller's, rosemary duck cassoulet.

But in the end, it was Freedman-Izquierdo's Mandarin dumpling soup that was declared the victor.

Even more than the variety of dishes, it was the diversity of the participants that stood out: Jewish and non-Jewish, kosher-observant and those who are not, the experienced food competitor and the novice, young and old, East Coasters and West Coasters.

"I have such a sense of pride," Geller said of the diversity of dishes and contestants. "I'm giddy like a school girl. It brings kosher to a level that we never expected. People are recognizing the great products no matter who they are, where they came from, and what their backgrounds are."

Freedman-Izquierdo, a 53-year-old mother of two and the owner a marketing company, decided to enter the Manischewitz competition after searching for a cooking contest online, the first one she has entered in 12 years.

DeMatteo, a 68-year-old retired teacher who is not Jewish, has won between 350 and 400 cooking contests since participating in the Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) Chicken Cook-Off in 1991.

While she often gets butterflies before the start of a competition, DeMatteo said that between the number of cook-offs in which she has participated and the many times she has practiced making this particular dish, that she "can do it in my sleep."

For Lapidus, on the other hand, this was her first competition.

"It was a fluke that I entered," Lapidus said, finding out about the competition after reading about it in her local newspaper.

"It's an easy recipe that's not labor intensive," she said. "It's a basic staple recipe-flour, a little oil, broth, radish sauce, chicken, and tarragon."

David Yale, president and CEO of the Manischewitz Company, said the different backgrounds -- religious, geographic, age -- of the finalists was to be expected.

"I think the awareness of the benefits of kosher and in this case a crossover product that is all-natural, no MSG, and kosher really has a widespread appeal beyond traditional kosher consumers," Yale said, referring to his company's new broth. "And that's what we're excited about and that's what we plan to do more of as we continue to grow our Manischewitz business."

Shmuel Rosenfeld, a culinary student from Brooklyn who cooks exclusively kosher, came to the competition in order to see for himself innovations in kosher cuisine.

"It's mind-boggling because when are parents and grandparents who came from Europe they didn't have half the products we have now," he said.

Dvora Hyman, also a Brooklyn resident who keeps kosher, said that she was impressed by the sophistication of the recipes.

"The dishes are intriguing," Hyman said. "Some of them would never occur to me. I would never have the gumption to try them." "They're putting together an event where I can use the recipes and don't have to worry," she said of the Manischewitz cook-off. "It's ideal for my kind of cooking,"

Mandarin Dumpling Soup
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely grated
1/4 cup diced water chestnuts
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
14 ounces ground turkey
25 dumpling wrappers or wonton wrappers
6 cups Manischewitz Chicken Broth

1. In a large mixing bowl mix the ginger, chestnuts, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sherry together.
2. Add the turkey to the ginger mixture and combine all ingredients well.
3. Scoop 1 level tablespoon of the mixture into the center of your dumpling wrapper Using water, moisten the rim of one half of the wrapper.
4. Fold the wrapper in half and press the dough along the edge to seal. Lay the dumplings on a separate plate as you finish each one (do not flour!).
5. Bring the Manischewitz Chicken Broth to a boil in a 3 quart pot.
6. Gently drop dumplings in one at a time.
7. Use a rubber spatula and skim along the bottom of the pot every so often to keep the dumplings from sticking.
8. Reduce the broth to a simmer. Cook for 506 minutes then serve!

Makes approximately 24-28 dumplings. These can be frozen for up to two months or used right away.