Winner (and Loser) of the 2nd Annual A&M Annual Smackdown

Congratulations to Merrill for winning her second A&M Holiday Smackdown with her recipe for Mulled White Wine with Pear Brandy! And Amanda may have lost, but she still gets a Q&A for being a good sport (read on below).

Winner's Q&A with Merrill

• How do you plan to celebrate your victory?
• Gleefully, with lots and lots of hot toddies.

• In what other contests do you think you could take Amanda?
• Anything revolving around butter. Or cheese.

• In which ones would she trounce you?
• Anything having to do with Meyer lemons. Also, pretty much any sort of baking contest.

• What's the best thing you've tasted recently?
• My mother made a delicious butternut squash puree for Christmas: it just had butter, maple syrup and orange juice/zest, and it was topped with some toasted pecans. Simple but perfect.

• Describe your most spectacular kitchen disaster.
• Right after I moved into my current apartment (about 4 years ago), a pot of oil I'd been heating on the stove for deep frying spontaneously combusted when I lifted the lid (NEVER heat oil with the lid on, people!) and created a column of fire. It was so hot that I couldn't get close enough to it to put it out (mistake #2: having only a mini fire extinguisher on hand), so I called 911. In the seven minutes it took the fire truck to arrive, the microwave above my stove had melted into a grotesque, Dali-like sculpture, and my kitchen cabinets had totally scorched, filling the entire apartment with a layer of dark soot. (Even the medicine cabinet in my bathroom at the other end of the apartment had a fine layer of soot inside it.) I couldn't use my kitchen for 3 months.

• What was on the menu at your last dinner party?
• It was so long ago, it's hard for me to remember. I think it was back in the fall; I made pumpkin and cheese baked pasta, Al Forno-style, and the shaved Brussels sprouts salad I wrote about right around the same time, and we had fruit and cookies for dessert.

• What's your least favorite food?
• Fishy/slimy seafood.

• Who is your culinary hero?
• Amanda! And Laurie Colwin -- I love that she cooked simple, great food -- nothing too fancy -- and she really had such a great writing voice.

Loser's Q&A with Amanda

• So, how does it feel to lose the A&M Smackdown 2 years in a row?
• I bow to the master.

• How do you plan to console yourself?
• I plan to drink loads of Merrill's hot toddies, until I can no longer remember that I lost.

• In what contests do you think you could take Merrill?
• Well, let's see. Nothing with cheese or creme fraiche. She'd school me for sure. But maybe scallops -- she doesn't like scallops! Weak spot!

• In which ones would she (continue to) trounce you?
• See above.

• What's the best thing you've tasted recently?
• Spicy minced duck salad at Kin Shop, Harold Dieterle's new restaurant in Manhattan.

• Describe your most spectacular kitchen disaster.
• This contest. Clearly!

• What was on the menu at your last dinner party?
• It was an engagement party for Merrill and (now her husband) Jonathan. Merrill's ricotta crostini. Corn soup. Slow roasted cod with romesco. Roasted potatoes. Peach tart.

• What's your least favorite food?
• Caviar

• Who is your culinary hero?
• Johnny Apple and Merrill