Dodt victorious in the great pikelet rivalry of 2019

'Secret' ingredient secures Gympie Show culinary crown, prompts talk of early retirement.

NO ONE 'BATTER': Mal Dodt 's pikelets have been crowned Gympie Show's best for the second year running. Picture: Troy Jegers

THE world may not yet know who sits on the Iron Throne but Gympie's pikelet king has been crowned for another year.

Businessman and region historian Mal Dodt has taken out the top prize for best pikelets at the Gympie Show for the second consecutive year, a win he credits to an award-winning "secret ingredient”.

He refused to divulge what it was - but food aficionados had a chance to figure it out.

"Everybody that's tried it can pick it pretty quickly,” he said.

And like the Thrones series, this year there were challengers aplenty for the culinary crown in a "fierce competition”.

Mal Dodt with his pikelets. Picture: Troy Jegers

"There was six or seven competitors this year, where there's usually two or three,” Mr Dodt said.

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His nemesis - dairy farmer Bradley Blackwood - did not fight for the pikelet prize this year, instead vying for the top spot in the damper competition. Mr Dodt said it was actually Mr Blackwood who began his batter-y reign.

"(He) entered me in a competition I didn't even know about,” he said.

Mal Dodt and Brad Blackwood.

He had no plans to take his secret to world food domination, though, unlike a fast-food chicken chain with its own secret recipe.

His unbeaten run could lead to an early show retirement, he said but first The Ekka was in his sights. And he had turned his thoughts to ways to step up his repertoire.

"I was actually considering doing a deconstructed pikelet,” he said.