A dish featuring one of the delicious fish species caught off Alabama's beautiful beaches was crowned the champion out of nine dishes.^Number The annual Alabama Seafood Cook-Off is being held this week at The Wharf in Orange Beach.

Chef Kyle Ogden of Odette Restaurant in Florence, Alabama, created a pompano-focused “Spring Tide” dish that won him the award over three other finalists: Chef Emilio Urban of Coast AL in Orange Beach, Chef Justin Fridley of The Depot in Auburn, and Chef Lawrence Agnew of Villagio Grill in Orange Beach.

Ogden and sous chef Taylor Bradley stuffed the pompano with shrimp and crab meat, seasoned it with a sweet and sour agrodolce sauce, and created a pesto sauce using fresh Alabama vegetables and herbs.

“We use a lot of pompano,” Ogden says. “We wanted our food to be something you could get in a restaurant, but elevated to a competition level. It's food that really showcases the Alabama seafood that we use on a daily basis, and the local produce that we use on a daily basis. Kodachrome Gardens is a 501(c)(3) charitable garden in Florence. They donate a lot of produce to the community in addition to selling to restaurants. When we sell to us, the proceeds go towards the garden's community efforts. We also used micro greens called Mee-Mouse Greens, which are grown by one of our chef's grandmothers.

“It was a really great contest and I was a bit surprised to win. Everyone's dishes were amazing and I had a friend take pictures so I got to see the finished dish. I'm really happy to have won. Thankfully, our dishes turned out exactly like they would in a restaurant so I'm really very happy.”

Judges included Chef Jim Smith of Hummingbird Way Restaurant in Mobile, Chef Brody Olive of Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach, Chef Arwen Rice of Red and White Restaurant in Mobile, and AL.com food writer Bob Carlton, who judged a variety of seafood dishes. Dishes were awarded points in five categories: presentation, overall impression and presentation, creativity and practicality, composition and harmony of ingredients, correct preparation and craftsmanship, flavor, taste and texture. Each category was worth a maximum of 20 points for a total of 100 points.

Alabama Department of Conservation Director Chris Blankenship said the Alabama Seafood Cook-Off is a great opportunity to promote Alabama's seafood industry.

“A lot of people don't know what's on the Alabama Gulf Coast,” Blankenship said. “We had chefs from the coast, but we also had chefs from Auburn and Florence. They're cooking amazing seafood from one end of the state to the other. They're serving seafood in Birmingham, Montgomery, Florence, Huntsville, Auburn, Tuscaloosa and right here on the coast. All across Alabama, you can get fresh, delicious, locally grown produce.”

“As always, it's great to have our chefs come in using Alabama seafood. Snapper, croaker, shrimp, pompano. All four chefs used different types of fish and seafood. They combined it with good quality local Alabama produce and herbs. It's great to see them combine Alabama seafood with other great Alabama products to create dishes that are just amazing. Thank you to these chefs for using their creativity to turn it into something really special.”

Chef Urban and sous chef Chelsea Holbrook presented the judges with their “Fruits of the Gulf” dish, which featured jumbo shrimp sautéed in chili and citrus oil with hints of mackerel and a roasted pepper beurre blanc, and finished off with chicharrones made from mackerel skin.

“We try to use every aspect of the fish,” Urban says, “to pay homage to it. Mackerel skin is really tasty when fried really well and with the right spices, like chilli and salt. It adds a little crunch.”

“I've been cooking in the kitchen for a long time. I came to this coast when I was 18 and fell in love with the seafood scene here. Here we have access to fresh ingredients and we can really showcase the talent on this beach and the progress we've made in our cuisine. The culinary scene here has grown ten-fold. I'm so blessed to live on the Alabama Gulf Coast and be able to cook our seafood dishes.”

Chef Robbie Nicolaisen of Auburn's The Hounds dropped out of the competition, so Chef Fridley and sous chef Benjamin Rosen stepped in at the last minute. Fridley and Rosen prepared jerk-marinated red snapper and a grilled watermelon salad with molasses vinaigrette and goat cheese. Rosen snatched the red snapper from the oven at the last minute, and the team plated the dish just before time expired.

“We used fresh citrus, a little bit of sugar and a variety of chillies,” Fridley said. “We marinated the snapper for as long as possible so we knew it would taste great all the way through. We grilled it and finished it in the oven. In keeping with that theme, we also wanted to include fresh, seasonal ingredients. Snapper is a fantastic fish. The call came in pretty late, so we just had to work with what we had on hand. The Hound is a sister restaurant, so we had to pitch in as best we could.”

In an attempt to recreate Chef Olive's winning dish from last year's competition, Chef Agnew and Sous Chef Terrance Johnson used several underutilized fish species to create “King Billy Welcomes You,” named after one of the ingredients, the oyster drill. Chef Agnew chose butterfried croaker for the fish preparation and oysters for the stew. He also prepared a fennel salad and salsa verde. The team also created focaccia bread croutons with crab butter spread.

“Oyster borers are known to disrupt oyster beds,” Agnew says. “Using oyster borers, whelks from the Gulf of Mexico, not only creates interest in eating them, but also adds a unique item to Alabama's seafood production, making for a delicious meal and helping oyster farmers at the same time. The borers are cleaned and blanched in a court bouillon-style sauce, just like crawfish, then cooled and thinly sliced ​​and added to the oyster stew.

“I worked for a chef in New Orleans 20 years ago, and we made tripletail a fun fish to eat. It's very tasty. The key is to get more out of the fish we have in the Gulf of Mexico and not overfish certain species.”

Speaking of Chef Olive's winning dish, Gaff Top Sail Catfish (Gaff Top or Sail Cat), he also won the Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans.

“That gaff top was the result of a bad fishing day,” Olive said. “We also cooked up a bucket of bait – sand fleas and bait shrimp – and made a sauce out of that. It was a lot of fun and a challenge for us to do.”

Olive has also had fun fishing for gaff tops in New Orleans, a fish that most anglers release.

“It was awesome to yell 'Roll Tide' at (Louisiana) Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser,” he said. “We were right next to Team Louisiana, who had all their Louisiana State University Tigers merchandise. It was a really exciting event and I got to showcase two of the things I love in life – the outdoors and fishing – and share that experience with my friends and family. My parents, wife and kids were there, so it was a great win.”

“I always intended to use a species that is not often used in the sport. I just wanted to show off my true fishing ability. I'm not that good at fishing. For me, I'd rather be lucky than good when it comes to fishing. I grew up freshwater fishing (Smith Lake) and catfish have always been prized where I live.”

Chef Ogden will also have the chance to follow Olive's path when he competes in the Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans later this summer.