COLLEGE STATION, Texas—For someone whose recipes often border on the exotic—think crawfish croquettes—Cindy Jarrott’s culinary career had a simple start.

“The first thing I ever baked was oatmeal cookies,” said Jarrott, a College Station resident. “It was my grandma’s recipe, and I was 7 years old. And I still use the same recipe.”

Those cookie skills are still being used: Jarrott, 39, recently taught members of the A&M United Methodist Church Youth Fellowship how to bake cookies that will be sold as a fundraiser.

Jarrott’s early culinary training came from Jewel Suseberry, “who raised my mom, uncle, me and my sister,” Jarrott said. “We’d help her do everything. When she’d do the ironing, I had my little toy iron right beside her. She taught us how to decorate cakes.”

Jarrott’s energies, outside of raising a family and working full-time as a bookkeeper for the Texas Criminal Justice System, are focused on recipe competitions.

She has made the finals of two Food Network contests: Emeril Live Football Recipe Contest and the Ultimate Recipe Showdown. She got a trip to New York for the first and a trip to Hollywood for the second, both paid for by the network. She appeared on television for the finals of each contest.

Jarrott’s success, she said, depends on coming up with something different. “I like to go on the edge.”

She learned that lesson early. “I cooked in 4-H, and my first ribbon came for fruit pizza. I won a yardstick of spices from Adams Extract.”

That initial prize-winning recipe starts with sugar-cookie dough baked as a big, round pizza crust. “Then I spread it with cream cheese and arranged kiwi, peaches, bananas and oranges in a pattern. It’s beautiful and delicious.”

Not everything works out easily, though.

One of her current projects is coming up with an entry in a grilling contest with a first prize of tailgating with Food Network stars Rachael Ray and Mario Batali at a NASCAR race Nov. 2 at Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas. The winner gets to ride in the pace car.

“My husband is a huge NASCAR fan, and he’s really wanting to win that one.”

Jarrott is trying to make catfish burgers. “When I put them on the grill, they disintegrate. I know people make salmon burgers, so there must be a way to make catfish burgers.”

Jarrott tinkers with her contest entries on weekends, which means her family has eaten a lot of Saturday night burgers lately. “My husband begs, ’Please, can we have some ribs?’ But there’s the National Chicken Challenge coming up, so well have chicken for awhile.”

The Emeril Live Football Recipe Contest and Food Network’s Ultimate Recipe Showdown were the first ones Jarrott had entered since 4-H Club competitions. Jarrott is making up for lost time.

“Presently, in addition to entries in Season 2 Ultimate Recipe Showdown and Build A Better Burger, I am working on recipes for six contests that end this month alone. And another dozen that will end by July. So that’s about 18 that I’m working on right now,” she said.

Daughter Kristy Putz, 16, said the family members are “guinea pigs.”

“We don’t mind, though. We help her come up with ideas. I think she should be a cooking teacher,” Putz said.

“(My husband) Billy likes to cook, too,” Jarrott said. “He has the personality. If he could do the TV part and I do the cooking, that would be perfect.”

Billy Jarrott and Kristy wanted to put cilantro and chipotle in a burger, Jarrott said. “But you couldn’t taste it. So I put it in the sauce. I entered what I called a Bandera Burger with grilled avocados and creamy chipotle onion jam in the 2008 Sutter Home Build A Better Burger Competition.”

Daughter Lacee Putz, 21, continues the family cooking tradition, too.

“Lacee worked at the Farm Patch (a produce market in Bryan),” Jarrott said, “and when Asians would come in and buy ingredients, Lacee would ask how they were going to cook them. She came home with a lot of Asian recipes,” Jarrott said.

Jarrott said one benefit of reaching the finals of the contests was meeting the other competitors.

“I’ve learned a lot from other contestants. We keep in touch and trade recipes all the time. They told me about Cooking Contest Central. For $25 a year, they send you alerts for all the contests. And you don’t have to have a lot of experience. One girl had only been cooking for a year, and she made the finals with a pastrami burger.”

Deciding which contests to enter is a matter of prioritizng, Jarrott said in an e-mail.

“I prioritize first by sticking with categories within my comfort zone. I’m familiar with Southern cooking, Mexican food, grilling and barbecuing, and baking. I steer clear of Asian cuisine and other types where I’m not nearly as knowledgeable. Then (I prioritize) by prize money and deadline for entries” such as entering the contests with the biggest purses and closest deadlines first.

“With that, there are usually plenty of contests to enter,” Jarrott said.

Jarrott said she believes ingredients are crucial to success.

“I only use the highest quality for contests. Sometimes store brands are the best. ... I use natural Angus beef because it has the best flavor. And I buy my pecans fresh...”