The 2022 Great American Seafood Cook-Off took place on Saturday, August 6, 2022 in New Orleans. The 18th annual event was held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in conjunction with the Louisiana Restaurant Association Showcase.

You’ll remember from last week’s newsletter that Chef Al Massa of Brotula’s Seafood House & Steamer was representing Florida in the competition. 

• He came in 2nd Place with his Pan Seared Florida Lionfish with black forbidden rice, melting zucchini ribbons with a chardonnay shellfish butter. 

This is the same dish that won the 2022 Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Restaurant Week.

The winner was Massachusetts Chef Erin Miller, who prepared a Cape Ann Tide Pool complemented by a consommé consisting of lobster tails and dune rose pits representing the incoming sea in the tide pool.

• The dish included a scallop custard with corn and a sauté of all the flavors in the dish – sweet margarine, corn, mussels, and scallops.
• The dish was finished with a butter-poached lobster tail and scallops with sea beans foraged from the Cape Ann region of Massachusetts.

Judging the dishes for the 2022 Great American Seafood Cook-Off were Louisiana Celebrity Chef John Folse, California Chef Shirley Chung, Two-time Chopped Champion and Florida Chef James Briscione, and Kentucky-based Sri Lankan-American Chef Sam Fore.

The Great American Seafood Cook-Off, which is dedicated to promoting sustainable and domestic fisheries, has been held every year in New Orleans since 2004.

Congrats Chef Massa!