AMHERST — Debbie Dixon always was hearing that her chicken paprikash was too good to be kept at home.

Dixon has been selling her homemade recipe for a few years at Your Deli in downtown Amherst, the business Dixon and her family have owned and operated for 20 years.

A week ago, the 47-year-old South Amherst native went up against a number of other chefs in the commercial division of the annual St. Bridget’s Paprikash Cook-Off at the large Parma Catholic church.

“When we walked in, there were chefs there from a number of Cleveland restaurants who were all dressed up in their chef’s outfits,” Dixon said. “My husband said I was way out of my league.”

Judges thought otherwise, however, as she walked off with the top prize.

Within a short time, she had run out of paprikash, thanks to many in the estimated crowd of 300 who wanted a sample.

“I never knew there were so many kinds of paprikash around,” Dixon said. “We saw vegetable, seafood and mushroom, among others.”

Dixon’s first hint that the praise she received for her homemade dish was justified came in the form of an experiment when she decided to see how well the paprikash sold at her store, which looks out on a gas station and City Hall.

“People were really buying it and they told me I should be marketing it in stores,” she said.

The deli’s weekday hours of 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. limited sales somewhat, so Dixon received Ohio Department of Agriculture certification to make the paprikash for sale outside the deli where it’s on the menu every day, along with homemade sandwiches and other items.

Now she does, selling her dish in some 25 supermarkets in quart containers under the label “Your Deli Premium Chicken Paprikash.”

At last count, Dixon’s recipe can be found in Apple’s stores in Elyria, Lorain, Sheffield and Sheffield Lake, six area IGA stores including LaGrange, Grafton, Oberlin and Amherst, Wellington Village Market, and the Convenient Food Mart on Chestnut Ridge Road in Elyria.

“We hope to be adding some more stores soon,” she said.

The paprikash is produced twice a week at a nearby facility by her and two of her six employees.

The deli gets a hand from Greg Dixon, Debbie’s husband, a sales engineer who helps with invoicing and deliveries.

Their son, Zachary, 16, a student at Open Door Christian School, helps with packing and deliveries.

True to the code of chefs, Dixon guards her recipe, saying that part of the dish’s rich taste has to do with what she called “Thermal Processing,” which involves the dish’s shelf life.

Typically a hearty, stick-to-the-ribs food, the paprikash sold fairly well during the warmer summer months, but Dixon expects it will really take off as colder weather becomes the norm.

Apparently not content to rest on her paprikash laurels, Dixon is already at work on her homemade chili, which she hopes will soon be keeping her paprikash company on area store shelves.

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

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