Chef Jim Smith Takes Top Honors at Great American Seafood Cook-Off
With the look of an elaborate, state-of-the-art television studio — complete with tiered audience seating, television cameras, giant television monitors at every angle, TV stars, live music and singers and an excited crowd — the 8th Annual Great American Seafood Cook-Off on Saturday, August 6, reflected the rapid growth in popularity of the public’s interest in outstanding food and today’s celebrity status of chefs. The Cook-Off is held each year in New Orleans.
Jim Smith of Alabama kisses his trophy after winning the Great American Seafood Cook-Off with his assistant Heather Hannah.
Alabama chef Jim Smith — whose job is to prepare daily meals for Alabama Governor Robert Bently and his family at the Governor’s mansion in Montgomery — walked away with top honors at the Cook-Off with a dish called, “Late Summery Alabama Bounty,” featuring seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. He was assisted by Heather Hannah in preparing sous vide shrimp and marinated crab with garam masala-scented yellow squash puree, farmers’s market lady peas, bacon-peach relish and spinach basil oil.
A total of 14 chefs from across America competed, representing states from Alaska, Illinois and Kentucky to Louisiana, Maine and Oregon. Each chef hoped to catch the attention of judges with special dishes centered around seafood of their respective regions.
Scott Anderson of New Jersey prepares his dish for judges at the Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans.
With cooking start times staggered by 10 minutes, the chefs were given precisely one hour to create a dish that would then be quickly presented before the judges — top chefs themselves — to sample.
Second-place honors went to Scott Anderson, chef and owner of Elements restaurant in Princeton, N.J. Assisted by Mike Ryan, Anderson prepared New Jersey fluke with squash, garlic scapes and smokes potatoes.
The judges gave third place to Chef Bud Gruniger, executive chef at Basnights Lone Cedar Cafe on the Outer Banks Island of Nags Head, N.C. Gruniger focuses on using local seafood and produce in all of his dishes. For the Cook-Off, he prepared fresh red drum, jumbo lump crabmeat, a veggie cup, smoked tomato butter, sweet corn sauce and a micro-green salad.
Together with the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board, primary sponsors of the annual Great America Seafood Cook-Off include NOAA, Whole Foods, Tabasco, Southwest Cargo and Budweiser.
Category: News
