Chefs Urban (CoastAl) & Agnew (Villagio) compete in Al. Seafood Cook-off

Chefs Urban (CoastAl) & Agnew (Villagio) compete in Al. Seafood Cook-off

By David Rainer
A dish prepared with one of the tasty fish species that can be reeled in from Alabama’s beautiful beaches was crowned champion of the ninth annual Alabama Seafood Cook-Off at The Wharf in Orange Beach.
Chef Kyle Ogden of Odette Restaurant in Florence prepared his “Spring Tide” dish with pompano stuffed with shrimp and crab meat, flavored with sweet and sour agrodolce sauce, plus fresh Alabama vegetables and herbs for pesto.
Local chefs Emilio Urban from CoastAL in Orange Beach and Laurence Agnew of Villagio Grille in Orange Beach were also among the finalists.
The judges, chef Jim Smith of The Hummingbird Way in Mobile, chef Brody Olive of Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach, chef Arwen Rice of Red or White in Mobile and AL.com food writer Bob Carlton, were presented a variety of seafood preparations.
CoastAL’s Urban and sous chef Chelsea Holbrook presented the judges with his “F3
uits of the Gulf” dish with jumbo shrimp sauteed in a chili-citrus infused oil with a mackerel fume and roasted bell pepper beurre blanc. To finish off the dish, chicharrónes were made from the mackerel skin.
“We try to use every aspect of the fish,” Urban said. “We want to make sure we get everything out of the fish to show respect. The mackerel skin is very nice if you fry it up real nice and add the proper spices – chili pepper and salt. It adds a nice little crunch.
“I started cooking in kitchens a long time ago,” he said. “I came to the coast when I was 18, and I just fell in love with the seafood scene down here. We are able to get fresh products down here and really showcase the talent that’s down here on the beach and the progression of our cuisine. The culinary scene has increased tenfold down here, and I’m extremely happy to live on the Alabama Gulf Coast and produce the seafood dishes we do.”
In an attempt to emulate Olive’s winning dish from last year’s competition, Villagio’s Agnew and sous chef Terrance Johnson went with a couple of far less-used species to prepare “King Billy Whelkomes You,” a play on one of the ingredients, oyster drills, which are part of the whelk family. Agnew chose butterflied croakers for the fish preparation and oysters for a stew. A fennel salad was also prepared as well as a salsa verde. The team also made a focaccia bread crouton with a crab butter spread.
“Oyster drills are known to destroy oyster beds,” Agnew said. “By using oyster drills, Gulf whelks, we could not only create an interest in eating them but also are adding a unique item to Alabama seafood production. At the same time, we can eat something delicious and help out our oyster farmers. The drills are purged, like we do crawfish, and then quickly blanched in a court-bouillon style. Then I cooled them down and sliced them razor thin to add to the oyster stew.
“I worked for a chef in New Orleans 20 years ago, and we made tripletail a fun fish to eat, and it’s delicious,” he added. “It’s all about what more can we use that’s in the Gulf and not overfish any specific species.”
Speaking of Olive’s winning dish of gafftop catfish with flash-fried mole crabs, Gulf shrimp horseradish cream, pickled purslane and smoked paprika coral tuile went on to win the Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans.
“That gafftop was a result of a bad day of fishing,” Olive said. “We cooked our bait buckets too – sand fleas and bait shrimp. We turned those into complementing sauces. It was something to have a lot of fun with and challenge ourselves.”
Olive also had fun in New Orleans with the gafftop, a fish that most anglers throw back.
“It was great to be able to shout ‘Roll Tide’ to (Louisiana) Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser,” he said. “We were right next door to Team Louisiana with all their LSU Tiger stuff. It was such an exciting event, showcasing my two loves in life – being outdoors and fishing and being able to share that experience with friends and family. My parents were there and my wife and kids, so it was an excellent win.
“I always knew I was going to use some underutilized species in the competition,” Olive said. “I really just wanted to showcase my true fishing ability, which is not great. It’s better to be lucky than good when it comes to fishing for me. I grew up freshwater fishing (Smith Lake), and catfish was always something prized in my neck of the woods.”
Ogden also gets a chance to follow Olive’s path by competing in the Great American Seafood Cook-Off this summer in New Orleans.
Pictured: Chef Emilio Urban and sous chef Chelsea Holbrook of CoastAl in Orange Beach are all smiles after completing their shrimp dish at the Alabama Seafood Cook-Off at The Wharf. (Billy Pope).