Sixteen-year-old Natalie Frances Benthin will start cooking her Sicilian beef short ribs at 8:15 a.m. today.

She'll heat a stockpot to searing temperature and brown the meat on all sides.

Remember to pour off the drippings, Grandma would say.

Then it's salt, pepper, and back to the stockpot for healthy doses of onion and garlic, and a dousing of Benthin's elixir of beef broth, grape juice, ketchup, Worcestershire and soy sauces. On goes the lid and so begins the waiting.

Watch your timing, Grandma would nudge.

Natalie Benthin will make egg noodles steeped in tomatoes and thyme to accompany her protein, finishing it all with a reduction sauce made from the beef's cooking liquid.

A touch of parsley and she's done.

Grandma would be so proud.

Frances Benthin, 83, won't be able to make the trip from Oregon to be with her only granddaughter when the Grass Valley teen competes against four others in the "Teens Cooking with Beef" competition at the 2009 National Beef Cook-Off in Sonoma.

A champion of multiple cooking contests, Frances Benthin did her best to ready her granddaughter for the prestigious culinary battle. She armed the girl with tips, encouragement and a wearable timer.

Perhaps best of all, Grandma gave the contestant the beloved family recipe for short ribs.

A succulent secret weapon.

"I hope she does well," Frances Benthin said.

She urged her granddaughter to enter the recipe contest. The competition calls for the teenagers to cook a family favorite.

"Me and my Dad and my Grandma have made the recipe for short ribs since I was really little," Natalie Benthin said. "I love her cooking."

So do a lot of other people.

Frances Benthin, who lived in Nevada City before moving to Scio, Ore., is a bit of an expert in the cooking-contest realm. Google her name and you'll get an array of winning recipes and honorable mentions.

She started entering recipe contests in 1984 and now enters about six contests each month. She's a three-time finalist of the National Beef Cook-Off and won third place one year for her Mexican-inspired steak salad. She was the 1989 California Beef Cook-Off champion.

She's nabbed handfuls of titles since then, most recently first place in both the Great American Spam Championship and the Dairy Farmers of Oregon's Cheese Recipe Challenge, both at the Oregon State Fair this summer.

She gets her recipe ideas from culinary magazines and food fads.

"I kind of see what the trends are and go from there," said Frances Benthin. "One year it was sun-dried tomatoes. Another year it was roasted red peppers. This year it's hot paprika. I try to use something that people are interested in."

She has won money, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a trip to Paris, tickets to the Super Bowl.

One of her favorite awards was for winning the grand prize in the 2005 Sargento Shredded Cheese Challenge. She received a trip to the Napa-area wine country, including dinner with acclaimed chef Michael Chiarello in his St. Helena home.

The two made her winning recipe for Cheesy Cajun Shrimp Boats, and Chiarello made a tomato bread salad.

Sargento spokeswoman Barbara Gannon said the dinner was almost as wonderful as Frances Benthin, who has become a recognized name in the contest circuit.

"She's a sweet, sincere person who just enjoys cooking," Gannon said.

Natalie Benthin hopes some of her grandmother's magic will rub off.

About 2,600 people submitted recipes to the Sonoma contest, which is second only in prestige to the Pillsbury Bake-off. More than $70,000 in cash prizes are at stake.

Of those who entered, 120 were teenagers. Each finalist receives an all-expense-paid trip to Sonoma.

The caliber of the teen entries is "impressive," said Sherry Hill, the cook-off's program manager.

"It's very evident that they enjoy cooking, and it's exciting to see that in this day and age," Hill said.

Although Natalie Benthin used her grandmother's short rib recipe as a foundation, the Nevada Union High School junior opted to replace wine with grape juice. "It kind of makes it sweeter," she said.

She's made the dish about every two weeks in preparation. Her family has yet to tire of it.

She also spent quality time in the kitchen this summer with her grandmother, readying for the event.

Benthin is nervous and excited but plans to focus on her cooking today, inspired by one person above all – the person for whom her middle name was given in tribute.

"My Grandma," she said.

Call The Bee's Niesha Lofing at (916) 321-1270. Lofing will be a judge in the 2009 National Beef Cook-Off in Sonoma, although not Benthin's category.