Kathy Casey Dishes on the 2009 Great American Seafood Cook-Off
A couple days after getting home from a week in New Orleans at Tales of the Cocktail I turned right around and headed straight back to the Big Easy to judge the Great American Seafood Cook-Off! Another day of flying, running to my room at the Royal Sonesta (which by the way is a fantastic hotel located on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter--check out the concierge level for the ultimate royal treatment), then jumping in a cab to go dine some more! The dine-around that the Cook-Off organizers planned started with a parade (or “second line” as they call it in the Crescent City) down the street with a dancing chef on stilts, horns playing good old New Orleans jazz, and glittery gals dressed up in crawfish and crab suits.
First, we marched to Cochon, where we snacked on boudin balls and fried oysters that were superb! Then we hopped a bus to our remaining destinations; chefs, judges, and sponsors were all aboard, including celebrity judge Sig Hansen from the Deadliest Catch. Our bus emcee was Ewell Smith, who entertained us and started the “state singing competition”--he challenged each participating state to sing, karaoke-style. Oddly enough there was no entrant from Washington State. California, Oregon and Alaska represented the west coast. (Kind of embarrassing that we had no Washington State chef in the competition!) And by the way, the entire dine-around trip was escorted by New Orleans’ finest police bike brigade! Hey, where else in America will the cops let you pose on their bikes with them? Then back on the bus, where I was bullied and peer-pressured to sing for Washington State. So out popped the song that longtime associate Ann Manly and I wrote years ago for an “oyster fashion show,” “In Your Oyster Bonnet”--it’s even been published! Okay, I sang on the microphone and, I am sure, made a total fool of myself--but it’s called the Big Easy, right?
The big Cook-Off finals were the next day, with glitterati judges such as chef Michel Richard and Chicago Tribune food editor Carol Haddix. Thirteen chefs from 13 different states were setting up; the tension was mounting as they competed for the bragging rights to be Great American Seafood Cook-Off winner. For the next few hours, we tasted and nibbled a new dish every 10 minutes!! I tried to just take tiny bites of each--but it was hard to do! New Orleans PBS was there filming our every move, bite and comment...so look for the special on your local PBS station over the next few months.
So, after hours of eating, the scores were tallied and the big moment had arrived! First place went to Louisiana--Tory McPhail from Commander’s Palace was crowned King of American Seafood. (He grew up in Washington State, so we have a little NW connection to the winner!) Second place went to New Jersey--Peter Fischbach, from New Jersey Institute of Technology; and third place to Alaska--Patrick Hoogerhyde from WildFin Seagrill. Congrats to all!
Here is the Tory’s winning recipe:
Tory’s Creole Seafood Mixed Grill
Ingredients:
1 pound sheepshead fish fillets, boneless and skinless
1 pound (10 -15 count) head-on shrimp, peeled and deveined with heads and tails left intact
1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked free of shells
4 ounces Champagne or white wine
1 tablespoon hickory
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons bacon fat, warmed
1 shallot, minced
1 jalapeño, seeds discarded, minced
1 ounce celery, minced
2 cups fresh-cut com kernels, use a variety if available
1 cup whole milk
1 cup tomato concasse, diced small
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, picked and chopped
Salt and white pepper to taste
1 ounce basil oil
1 cup mixed herbs, or herb sprouts for garnish (optional)
Directions:
1. Prepare a grill to medium heat. Season the fish and shrimp on all sides and reserve.
Heat a medium sauté pan on the stove over medium flame. Next place vegetable oil and bacon fat in the sauté pan and swirl. Add shallots, jalapeño, and celery and sauté for 1 minute. Add the com and continue to sauté for 30 seconds. Add the milk and bring to a simmer. Next place 25% of the com mixture into a blender and purée for 20 seconds. Add the pureed com back to the pan and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes or until com is cooked through, and at sauce consistency. Finish with fresh tomatoes and thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside and reserve.
2. To cook the seafood, place the crab meat and Champagne in a small sauce pot and place on the hottest part of the grill. Heat the crabmeat for 3-5 minutes before placing the sheep’s head and shrimp on the grill around the pot. Cook the fish and shrimp for approximately 3 minutes per side, until cooked. Make sure the crab meat comes to a simmer also and swirl to make sure its hot all the way through.
3. To finish: Spoon the com into the middle of 4 hot entree plates. Place the sheepshead fillets down next and add 2-3 shrimp to the top of that. Spoon the warm crabmeat over the shrimp and into the com sauce. Drizzle remaining com sauce around the plate and garnish with basil oil and fresh herbs. Enjoy !
Recipe by Tory McPhail from Commander’s Palace
Introduction to recipe © 2009 by Kathy Casey
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DrGaellon on August 04, 2009 at 02:09 PM
"1 tablespoon hickory"??? Hickory what? Sawdust? Chips? Flavoring?
jumping stilts on May 28, 2010 at 11:11 PM
American Seafoods Company was created in 1987 by Kjell Inge Røkke, a Norwegian fisherman who had quit school at 16 to go to sea. During the next four years Røkke invested in a number of old boats which he modified into very advanced factory trawlers at Norwegian shipyards. In 1994, he established Norway Seafoods (now Aker Seafoods) as a holding company to coordinate the activities of the company.
http://www.bestjumpingstilts.com/