The condiments apparently piqued the interest of Food Network staffers, because she received a call asking where to buy some of the ingredients. She explained that huacatay is a Peruvian herb and ajies are Peruvian hot peppers. Achiote is a paste made from annato seeds. These ingredients are sold in specialty markets; Alam buys them at the Chevere International Market in Layton. Some cooks also may not be familiar with yucca root or cassava, a starchy tropical vegetable eaten like potatoes in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Alam said she wasn't nervous during the contest.

"In South America I worked in advertising for 10 years, so it was like I was coming back to what I like, with the cameras and all the people around me. The Food Network was very organized and took care of the finalists in an excellent way."

Alam works in the Wal-Mart bakery in Clinton and hopes to open her own restaurant someday. She submitted several entries and her chicken recipe was submitted only four minutes before the midnight deadline. "Tell me I'm not lucky!"

Erin Mylroie, 37, is already a veteran of major contests such as the Pillsbury Bake-off and National Chicken Cooking Contest. Last year she appeared on the "Everyday With Rachael Ray" TV show as the grand-prize winner of Ray's Burger Bash contest. She'll be seen competing on March 3.

"The (showdown) was quite different from other contests, mainly because the point was to produce great entertainment, not just find the best recipe," said the Dixie State College humanities professor and mother of two. "We spent quite a bit of time in interviews, filling out question-and-answer biographical forms and also in prepping triple amounts of food items to assure that things would run smoothly on camera."

Mylroie noted that the semi-finalists were asked to submit videos of themselves before being chosen as finalists.

"It seems to me that they picked confident, strong and interesting personalities to be finalists. No shrinking violets allowed," she said.

Mylroie belongs to a Web site devoted to cooking contests and the video requirement sparked lively conversation on the site's forum.

"Seriously, there were many complaints about (the contest) being a beauty show or personality exhibition rather than a cooking contest," she said.

Mylroie's recipe was inspired by her wedding cake. The day after her wedding ceremony 12 years ago, she and her husband went to pick up the top layer of their cake at her parents' house. They found all of her siblings were huddled around the counter eating the cake right off the pan. So, the newlyweds joined right in the nibbling. It's become a tradition for Mylroie to make a similar cake on their anniversary and invite friends and family over to eat it right out of the pan.