A friendly rivalry that has been brewing for months ended at lunchtime Saturday when judges who sipped, slurped (and god forbid, salted) several iterations of Portuguese Soup handed a trophy, and bragging rights, to a Westport firefighter whose take on the southern New England staple was deemed the tastiest.

Fire fighter Tony Ward came out on top of the contest, which pitted two police officers against two fire fighters in a friendly contest to prove once and for all whose soup was the best. His wife’s family recipe was deemed better than batches made by officer Fernando Goncalves (second), police detective Michelle Donovan (third) and fire fighter Weston Thurston (fourth place).

When asked after the contest whether he now plans to retire from the fire department, Ward laughed.

“Yes, yes I do.”

The contest was a fund-raiser with proceeds going to the American Legion post, and pitted each department’s union against the other.

Heading in, Goncalves talked a good game following his win several months ago in a similar contest held by the police department shortly after chief Christopher Dunn was sworn in. He won that contest handily, and prior to Saturday Dunn said he expected his officers to prevail.

“I predict a sweep, one and two,” the chief said.

But a panel of three judges, who used the World Food Championships’ “E.A.T. (execution/appearance/taste) methodology to grade the entries, disagreed. The soups were scored on their performance in each category, with Ward receiving 25 points — just enough to edge Goncalves (23.5 points). Donovan earned 22 and Thurston, 17.5.

Following the nearly photo finish, Goncalves said that while the recipe taught to him by his mother is second to none, he made a mistake that he hadn’t made when he won the police department showdown.

“It was pretty much the same. The only mistake that I made was when I went to Seabra, the pasta, it was very small and when it's cooked, it actually expands and takes more space and then, you have to add more water because you want to make a soup, not a stew, and that affects the taste." 

— With reports by Julie Furtado