Shrimp Boil Leftovers Become Champion Soup as Pigfish Wins AWF Gulf Coast Wild Game Cook-Off

SPANISH FORT, Ala. — A pot of soup made from the leftovers of a backyard shrimp boil took top honors at the AWF Gulf Coast Wild Game Cook-Off, hosted by the Alabama Wildlife Federation, where the Pigfish Seafood Cook Team’s Cajun Shrimp Soup won the Fish Division and was named the overall winner. The victory came at the AWF Delta & Bay Conservation Center at Five Rivers in Spanish Fort, in the same corner of the state where the cook-off tradition began three decades ago.

More than 30 cook teams prepared fish, game and fowl dishes for an overflow crowd, and the judges, who included Alabama Conservation Commissioner Ben Stimpson Jr., faced a long line of dishes to taste before naming winners in three divisions.

Where the cook-off tradition started, and a judge’s view

The AWF Cook-Off began in Mobile in 1996. It has since spread across Alabama, with cook-offs held in every region of the state and a state final at the federation’s headquarters at Lanark, near Millbrook in Elmore County. That made it fitting, organizers noted, that a seafood dish took the crown at the Gulf Coast event.

The Alabama Wildlife Federation is a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to the conservation of Alabama’s wildlife and natural resources and to conservation education. Its cook-offs serve as fundraisers and community gatherings that showcase how wild game, fish and seafood harvested in Alabama can be prepared.

Stimpson, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and a past AWF president who led the federation in 2011-2012, said the cook-offs are the best argument for anyone skeptical of wild game.

“Those who might be a little hesitant about trying wild game need to attend one of the AWF Cook-Offs, and I’m pretty sure they will quickly change their minds,” Stimpson said. “Being able to take protein that was harvested in the wild or caught in the Gulf or our many lakes and reservoirs shows how blessed Alabama is with our abundant natural resources.”

He said choosing winners was difficult.

“As a judge, there were so many delicious dishes, it was difficult to choose the winners. I mean, I sometimes love something simple like fried backstrap, but these cook teams take wild game and fish dishes to a level that most people have never experienced,” he said.

“It was also great to see the overflow crowd that attended and the 30-plus teams that prepared the dishes. The AWF Cook-Offs are great times to spend with friends and family and sample the delicious ways that wild game and seafood can be prepared. And the cook teams are highly competitive and dedicated to serving the best dishes possible because being an AWF Cook-Off winner comes with bragging rights.” — Ben Stimpson Jr.

Pigfish turns leftovers into a champion

The Pigfish Seafood Cook Team, which has locations in Piggly Wiggly stores in Mobile, came in as defending Fish Division champion after winning last year with a Shrimp and Crab Bisque. This year, Selena and Matthew Rowe built their winning soup from what was left over after a seafood boil: shrimp, corn and potatoes. Like most cook teams, the Rowes said they tend to cook by taste rather than by a written recipe.

“These were the leftovers from a seafood boil,” Selena Rowe said. “I took my corn and cut the kernels off the cob, peeled and diced the potatoes. I peeled the shrimp and used the hulls to make a stock. I boiled the shells out for the stock.”

From there, she said, the soup comes together with the stock, white pepper and a stick of salted butter. Most of the seasoning comes from the boil itself.

“You get most of your spices from the seafood boil, your crab boil,” she said. “Then I add the corn and potatoes and let it simmer. I had chopped the shrimp and added them at the end because they’re already cooked. Then I add a little mozzarella and smoked gouda cheese and heavy cream.”

To serve a crowd of eight to 10 people, she uses about:

• 5 pounds of boiled shrimp
• 8 ears of corn
• 8 medium potatoes
• Stock made from the shrimp shells, white pepper and a stick of salted butter
• Mozzarella, smoked gouda and heavy cream to finish

Last year’s winning bisque

Matthew Rowe also shared how the team made last year’s Shrimp and Crab Bisque, which used the team’s in-house crawfish seasoning. The bisque starts with a half gallon of half-and-half mixed with two cups of water, stirred constantly so it does not stick. Sweet cream corn and the crawfish seasoning go in next, and the mixture simmers until it begins to thicken. Then the Rowes add two pounds of peeled local shrimp and a pound of local crab meat, both lump and claw, and simmer it for about 10 minutes before serving.

Elk kabobs win the Game Division in tribute to a friend

In the Game Division, Tom’s Coon Crew won with Larry Sheffield’s Bareback Elk Kabobs, an unconventional preparation built from ground elk. The team competed as a tribute to its friend Tom Leatherbury Jr., who suffered a heart attack and died after harvesting a deer during last fall’s season.

Taylor Douglas of Tom’s Coon Crew explained the layered approach.

“You take a stack of (flour) tortillas and cut them into squares, and we take a mix of the ground elk meat seasoned with pepper, garlic, salt, diced onion, green and red peppers,” Douglas said. “Then we take each square tortilla and spread a thin layer of the ground elk on each layer and do that for eight to 10 layers. Then we quarter them and skewer them and put them on a charcoal grill until done.”

Douglas tops the kabobs with a sauce blended from cilantro, sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic, salt, pepper and a jalapeño.

Smoked wild turkey fajitas take the Fowl Division

The Fowl Division went to the Redd Pest Solutions team for its Wild Turkey Fajitas. As she cooked another round for the crowd, Tamara Maddox explained that the wild turkey was smoked for three and a half hours and then shredded.

“I tossed the shredded turkey in and let it get happy with the fajita sauce in a Dutch oven overnight,” Maddox said.

In a separate pot, the team sautéed onion, garlic and red and green peppers in butter and oil with salt and pepper. The turkey and vegetables were tossed together with more fajita sauce and spooned onto flour tortillas warming on a flat-top grill. After a couple of minutes, they were ready to serve, finished with Griffin’s Special Sauce. Griffin Norwood said he makes the sauce in a blender with chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, garlic cloves, lime juice, sour cream, mayonnaise and honey from Grand Bay.

Complete list of division winners

Fish Division

• First (and overall winner): Pigfish Seafood Cook Team, Cajun Shrimp Soup
• Second: Fairhope Fish House, Lionfish Boudin with Pepper Jack
• Third: Taylor Sudden Service, Eastern Shore Jubilee

Game Division

• First: Tom’s Coon Crew, Larry Sheffield’s Bareback Elk Kabobs
• Second: Taylor Sudden Service, Velvet Hog
• Third: PSC Thunder Chicken Kitchen, Deer Nuggets with Backstrap

Fowl Division

• First: Redd Pest Solutions, Wild Turkey Fajitas
• Second: Elaine Rowe Memorial Kids Day Out Cook Team, Quail Dumplings
• Third: Mystic Fowl Intentions, Duck Around and Find Out Gumbo

Fairhope Fish House’s runner-up dish put lionfish on the menu. The species is invasive in the Gulf, where it competes with native reef fish, and wildlife officials have long encouraged divers to harvest it and diners to eat it. The “jubilee” in Taylor Sudden Service’s dish name nods to the Eastern Shore phenomenon in which fish, crabs and shrimp crowd the shallows of Mobile Bay, usually on summer nights.

How to attend an AWF Cook-Off

With cook-offs held in every region of Alabama, there is likely an event within driving distance for most residents. Organizers encourage anyone curious about wild game to attend one and see for themselves how the cook teams prepare game, fowl and fish.

• Events typically feature dozens of cook teams serving samples to the crowd, so arriving hungry is wise.
• Regional winners advance toward the state final at the federation’s Lanark headquarters near Millbrook.
• Schedules, locations and ticket information for upcoming cook-offs are posted by the Alabama Wildlife Federation.