One chef from Birmingham, one from Auburn and two from the coast will compete in this year’s Alabama Seafood Cook-Off, with the winner to represent the state in the Great American Seafood Cook-Off later this summer.

“This year not only saw the highest number of entries submitted to us in ASCO history, but also the best and most solid options statewide. We were blown away by chefs’ creativity in presenting Alabama Gulf Seafood through new and interesting recipe creations,” said Chef Jim Smith, owner and executive chef at Mobile’s The Hummingbird Way, board chairman of the Alabama Seafood Marketing Commission (ASMC) and 2011 winner of both the Alabama and Great American cook-offs.

“We cannot wait to see our four finalists’ creations brought to life in June,” said Smith.

Those chefs, and their mouth-watering entries, are:

• Chef Sam Adams of small batch in Birmingham — A “Mediterranean summer meets Birmingham” concept with seared Gulf red snapper over Gulf crab salad, with boiled peanut hummus, cornmeal fried squash, fried capers, saffron beurre l’orange and herb salad.
• Chef Lawrence Agnew of Jesse’s Restaurant in Magnolia Springs — Charcoal grilled dry aged swordfish chop, magnolia glazed Bayou Cora nixtamalized hominy and local summer vegetables, blue crab stuffed heirloom tomato and bourride butter.
• Chef Brody Olive of Voyagers at Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach — A “fishing on the rocks, the jetties at Perdido Pass” concept featuring gaff-top catfish smoked over scrub oak coal, flash-fried mole crabs + gulf shrimp horseradish cream, pickled purslane and smoked paprika coral tuile.
• Chef Nicholas Song of The Depot in Auburn — Alabama jumbo lump crab cake, heirloom tomato miso dashi, Meyer lemon quick pickled cucumber & Alabama royal red shrimp salad, local corn, chili & cotija “esquites” aioli.

The Alabama Seafood Cook-Off is presented by Alabama Gulf Seafood. According to information released by that organization, “the selection process required chefs from across the state to submit a recipe including Alabama Gulf Seafood as the featured ingredient. An expert panel of judges reviewed each chef’s recipe and selected participants based off Alabama location (one participant selected from North, Central, Gulf and then a Wildcard) and factors such as creativity, composition, harmony of ingredients and more.”

The eighth annual cook-off takes place at 6 p.m. Monday, June 12, at Zeke’s Restaurant in Orange Beach. According to organizers, teams will have one hour to prepare their dishes and present them to a panel of judges. The competition is open to the public, with no cost for entry. “Guests will enjoy live music, free oyster tastings compliments of Murder Point Oysters and will enjoy a live cooking competition as the sun sets on the Alabama Gulf.”

The winning chef receives a $2,500 prize.

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