Mississippi Seafood Marketing Program is thrilled to announce Chef David Crews as this year’s “King of American Seafood.” Named the winner of the 4th Annual Mississippi Seafood Cook-Off in June, Crew advanced to represent the great state of Mississippi at the 10th Annual Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans on August 3, 2013.
The Great American Seafood Cook-Off brings together the nation’s best chefs and recognized culinary greats from around the United States to challenge one another, each tasked with the goal of creating the most delicious, creative dish using domestic seafood native to their state. This year’s competition drew more than a dozen chefs from Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Texas. Contestants competed in front of a crowd of locals, family members, and attendees at the Louisiana Restaurant Association’s 60th Annual Food Service Expo.
Crews, Executive Chef of Six Shooter Land and Timber in Drew, Mississippi, was joined at the cooking station under the Mississippi flag by Jeffrey Ferrell, Chef de Cuisine at City Grocery in Oxford, Mississippi. The pair crafted a signature Southern Nicoise Salad that included potato-crusted lump crab and tuna loin crusted with pork rinds, heirloom cherry tomatoes, puffed pork skins, Tabasco-cured bacon and poached eggs.
“It’s amazing,” Crews said of his win. “I liked my dish. It was me. I didn’t do it for anything or anyone other than me.”
Also representing Mississippi was the St. Martin Culinary Team competing in the 4H division. Although they did not place, the team gave it their all with a Citrus Poached Mississippi Gulf Red Snapper over Mississippi Caviar Ratatouille.
This year’s judges included Izabela Wojcik, director of programming for the James Beard Foundation; Scott Hocker, editor-in-chief of Tasting Table; Joshua Lawler, executive chef at The Farm & Fisherman in Philadelphia; Katie Ayoub, managing editor of Flavor & The Menu; Derrick Davenport, CECP enlisted aid to the chairman of the U.S. Military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Eric Gabrynowicz, executive chef of Restaurant North in Armonk, N.Y.
The 10th Annual Great American Seafood Cook-Off celebrated the country’s top chefs and flavorful, native seafood. The event was sponsored by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board who helped make this culinary competition a success and domestic seafood an all-around winner.
