A seafood showdown in the Big Easy
By David Holloway, Mobile Register (Alabama)

Americans, Southern Americans in particular, love two things almost to the exclusion of everything else: food and a contest worthy of placing a wager on.

When these two particular passions are combined in one delicious package, it's almost more fun that we can stand. Like this weekend in the Big Easy, when top chefs from all over the country will come together for a cook-off like no other.

It's call the Great American Seafood Cook-Off, a full-on, battle royale, loser-leave-town culinary slugfest between some of the finest cooks in the world. You might say it's the culinary equivalent of big-time wrestling meets the "Iron Chef."

It's so big, they got Chef John Besh of Restaurant August in New Orleans to serve as the moderator/referee for this free-for-all. Besh won the first competition back in 2003.

I ask you, is there a higher honor than to be crowned the king or queen of American seafood? I didn't think so.

Alabama's entry into the fray this year is a relative newcomer to the area, but no stranger to the high-stakes realm of haute cuisine. Chef Charles Mereday of the Trellis Room at the Battle House hotel has a resume as rich as a bowl of gumbo and twice as meaty, and he has come up with a dish that uses one of my personal favorite briny offerings, the gray triggerfish. The odd-looking triggerfish, so-named because of the trigger-like appendage sticking straight up out of the top of its head, is a fine, non-oily white fish that even folks who don't like fish will eat.

But that's just the beginning.

Mereday's concoction incorporates many of the excellent offerings from area waters as accents and counterpoints. Oysters, royal red shrimp, white shrimp and jumbo lump crab are featured, along with baby squash blossoms and smoked tomatoes.

Mereday said the contrasting elements make this dish something special. "I'm excited. I think we're going to be competitive with this dish. We've put together a nice plate that is loaded with seafood, oysters, crabs; we tried to utilize as much local seafood as possible," he said

He said he chose trigger as the centerpiece because of it's unique flavor, but also because it's something different. "Trigger is one of those things that you don't see everyday, especially in restaurants. I figured everybody else would be using red snapper and grouper, so I tried to come up with something different," Mereday said.

Folks this ain't no fish sandwich from the drive thru.

Your working boy has attended two of these events in the name of good journalism, both times Pre-K (before Hurricane Katrina). They'll line up all the contestants on this huge podium where they'll work their magic before an audience.

The heady perfume of sauteing garlic will fill the air of the New Orleans Convention Center, drawing onlookers like Pavlov's dogs. (The cook-off is part of the Louisiana Food Service Expo, so these folks generally know good food when they smell it.)

Seriously, the cook-off is a lot of fun, but it is also important because it points to the larger issue of making sure we know where our food comes from. The whole idea is to promote wild seafood and to help local fishermen and processors.

The first year, our own Point Clear author, raconteur and amateur cook Winston Groom cooked up his special conception for (what else?) Shrimp Creole.

The second time around Lucy Buffett, owner of Lulu's Homeport Marina in Gulf Shores prepared an especially piquant dish called Screaming Easy Wild Shrimp Wasabi.

It needs to be noted that the third year, last year, I didn't attend. I didn't want to go to New Orleans, and, besides, the chef representing Alabama was from Auburn.

This year, they've changed the rules somewhat to make it even more of a competitive atmosphere. For the first time, the event will take place over two days so that the public can attend.

Saturday's competition will serve as a preliminary round. The top six contestants, selected by a panel of judges from the food industry, will advance to the final round Sunday, where they will be challenged to come up with tasty seafood dishes that can be prepared by the home cook, according to Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Board which is hosting the event.

Mereday said if he makes the finals he will be preparing scampi using royal red shrimp. He also promised to provide me a recipe for this dish so we can all enjoy it at home.

Tickets for the cook-off are $25 or $40 for both days. (Note: Tickets allow you access to the cook-off area only; not the entire food service expo. )