Heated competition

Published 1:21 pm Thursday, August 18, 2011

Four Iberia Parish 4-H Club members had the opportunity to show off

their culinary skills at a regional seafood cookoff. It wasn’t part

of the Iron Chef Cookoff television series, but the competition and

guidelines were almost as tough. 

Competing as the Iberia Parish Seafood Royalty team, members Trent

Broussard, Abby Songne, Stewart Lockett and Chanay George battled

for top honors against two other Louisiana teams, as well as teams

from South Carolina, Mississippi and Arkansas, all seeking the

title of 4-H Kings and Queens in the Southern Regional Great

American Seafood Cookoff: 4-H Edition” held at the Ernest N. Morial

Convention Center in New Orleans August 8.

The group was hoping their Shrimp Corn Chowder, served with a

Cucumber Spring Salad topped with an orange vinaigrette dressing

and pita chips would garner top scores from the judges.

Although the Iberia Parish team did not take top honors, Iberia

Parish 4-H Youth Development assistant extension agent Mindy

Chiasson said local team members are still considered winners.

“It is an honor just to be selected to compete in this regional

cookoff. After hearing comments from the judges, it seems there was

very little difference in points separating the competing teams,”

she said.

Broussard, who served as team captain, said one of the main

requirements of the competition was to use locally harvested

seafood. Each team was required to use at least one pound of

seafood in the dish. 

To

advance to the regional event, each team had to win their

preliminary state competitions.

First place went to the Mississippi team who served Sautéed Jumbo

Lump Crabmeat with Cheddar Biscuits, Poached Eggs and Grilled

Asparagus. Second place went to Vermilion Parish with their

Sensational Seafood Medley and capturing third place was a Pike

County Arkansas team with their Spicy Shrimp Spectacular dish.

The cooking challenge was filmed for the Saturday morning series of

“This Week in Louisiana Agriculture” and for a 30-minute segment on

YouTube.

“It was a lot of fun, but there were too many cameras for my

liking. With all the cameras and filming of the segment, it was a

little distracting to prepare the dish,” said Trent Broussard, the

team captain.

“I

feel we were successful in preparing our dish for the competition.

It really tasted good, but the judges considered more than the

taste.”

The competition was based on a presentation on the seafood

knowledge of the product used in the dish. Judges took into

consideration food preparation and safety, food appearance, quality

and taste, presentation skills and the knowledge of nutritional

value provided in a serving. 

“I

thought our shrimp chowder was the best we had ever prepared. The

competition was tough, but this gave us an opportunity to gain

confidence in ourselves and our cooking,” said Songne. 

Broussard said their recipe featured Louisiana shrimp and fresh

homegrown potatoes and bell peppers that he had grown from his

backyard garden.

“The competition provided a real, true chef cooking experience,”

said Broussard, who plans to attend culinary school at Nicholls

University and become a professional chef. 

George said the team had taken several recipes and combined and

tweaked them to get a chowder that appealed to their own taste.

“I

liked the fact that we could cook whatever we wanted in the

competition as long as we used seafood. We had one hour to prepare

the meal,” said Lockett.

The six teams each had 10 minutes to deliver a presentation to the

judges as the dish was being sampled.

Mandy Armentor, Iberia/Vermilion Parish LSU AgCenter associate

extension agent who served as superintendent of the state 4-H Food

Star Cookoff, said the first state cookoff was held last year with

a vision of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion Board and Louisiana 4-H

Foundation as a means of promoting Louisiana seafood and the impact

it had on the state’s economy.

The state competition, which was open to any Louisiana 4-H member

between the ages of 14 and 20 years old, was so successful, it was

taken to a regional level to allow any 4-H team from the southern

region to compete.

Armentor said there are plans to open the competition to 4-H

members on a national level next year.