Hats off to the volunteers, staff and board members of the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce for the success of its 30th annual Gumbo Championship Cookoff. Unless you’ve been part of a major event, the number of details that have to be met with perfection for a successful event are too many to detail. One area alone has more involved than the average festival-goer might realize. A visit with Walter Voorhies, an excellent chef and food entrepreneur as well as multi-cookoff judges coordinator, revealed just how much goes into the decision making before trophies are awarded. Sunday after the judging was complete, he filled in the details.

How many judges did you have this year?

We had 94 gumbos to be judged, we had 94 judges. That’s two professional categories and three amateur. We seat six people at a table and they will taste from six to eight gumbos. Rebecca Fremin was my assistant to help with volunteers.

How many entries in each category?

In chicken and sausage we went from 40 to 20 to eight, three rounds. The melange category we went from 28 or 29 to 8 then first second and third. The seafood melange always has less because of the expense in making seafood. That was one seating. In the professional categories we had one seating for each category. We had 12 judges doing professional. We had only one tie and had six seated judges to break that and decide on third. The largest field is always chicken and sausage.

What is the melange category?

That’s anything but chicken and sausage or seafood. If its turkey and sausage, it is melange. Mixing anything with seafood, like duck and oyster, would be melange or wild game, like pheasant, quail, deer, stuff like that.

Did you find anything unusual this year?

No, not particularly, except that when you get to the third round of judging, you find that the one you liked at the beginning, is still a favorite. It’s easy to tell. There was one unique. I’m not sure if it took first or second, but it had a pork meatball in it. Instead of the casing for the sausage, they made meat balls out of the sausage. It was seasoned, very tender, odd looking in the gumbo but very good. The gumbo itself was good. First and second was unanimous by all judges. Third was all over the place so went to the one with the best score.

Are there outside responsibilities when working with the teams?

For anyone traveling from out of state, the chamber refers them to me. They can be ill-prepared once they get here and realize they need something special. I have my kitchen so I allow them to prep and hold their food in our refrigerators over night.

What areas outside of Louisiana were the teams from this year?

We had a team from Seattle, San Diego and New Jersey, fresh, first time teams. We had teams from Mississippi, Florida and Texas that were repeat. We try to get them introduced to other local teams to help get them grounded in the competition. A lot of hospitality from all the local teams.

Do you see any trends from year to year?

Historically we’ve found the amateur gumbos are better than the professional. We take professionals to do the final round judging, and they all said the same thing, the amateurs were better than their own.

Final comments?

All in all, it was a successful cookoff and I think everyone enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we don’t get out to see the crowds. Like always, some people go home with a lot of gumbo, some don’t go home with any. It’s obvious a lot of the cooks that we’ve had in the past have evolved out of it and have turned it over to younger cooks. They’re still involved, supervising, but after 30 years, they’ve turned it over. The teams are the same, but the people cooking are different.

A full list of winners was published in The Daily Iberian Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019.

BIG 325 GALLON GUMBO

Serves 3,500 plus

12 gallons roux

100 pounds chicken

200 pounds fryer-gizzards

100 pounds smoked sausage

600 dozen oysters

300 pounds onions

75 pounds bell pepper

300 bunches celery

60 heads garlic

3 pounds ground red pepper

1/2 gallon Tabasco

1 pound black pepper

8 pounds salt

50 bunches parsley

100 bunches green onions

Instructions on the 1969 Biggy Gumbo page in The Daily Iberian Cajun Creole Cookbook were simple, if you know the basics for cooking gumbo. This custom built pot for the gumbo was made by one of the chefs especially for the event which was 20 years before the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce Championship Gumbo Cookoff began.

When serving 3,500 plus people, the equipment needs are special as well as the amazing quantity of ingredients. Four 120,000-BTU burners were set at angles under the 7-foot top diameter kettle. Water is added to roux and onions, bell peppers, celery and garlic.

Chicken, gizzards, sausage are added while the stirring continues. Giant spoons were especially made. When the gumbo is almost ready, add 7,200 oysters.

Tommy Sanders and Big Mac McJimsey