Mobile Forest Products Wins Best Overall at 10th Southwest Alabama Wild Game Cookoff in Grove Hill

GROVE HILL, Ala. — A team from Mobile Forest Products will carry southwest Alabama’s colors to the state finals next August after its Dauphin Island special took best overall honors at the 10th Southwest Alabama Wild Game Cookoff, an event that pulled more than 1,000 visitors into the Clarke County seat earlier this month.

Thirty-two teams fired up their cookers for the anniversary edition, competing for prizes across fish, fowl and game categories, along with a handful of special awards for showmanship and crowd appeal. For many of the businesses, churches and civic groups that took part, the day was as much about community pride as it was about bragging rights.

Top Prize Goes to a Seafood Dish

Mobile Forest Products had a strong day overall. Besides taking first place in the fish division, the company’s team earned the event’s top honor, best overall, for a dish it called the Dauphin Island special. That win comes with the right to represent the southwest Alabama region when the statewide Alabama Wild Game Cookoff holds its finals, set for August.

Regional cook-offs like the one in Grove Hill serve as qualifiers for the state contest, so the best overall title carries weight well beyond the trophy. The team now has several months to refine its recipe before facing other regional champions.

Full List of Category Winners

Judges placed teams in three main food divisions. Several organizations finished in the top three more than once.

Fish

• 1st: Mobile Forest Products
• 2nd: Outlaw Road Crew
• 3rd: Canfor

Fowl

• 1st: South Land Company
• 2nd: 100 Proof Outlaws
• 3rd: Canfor

Game

• 1st: Palomar Insurance
• 2nd: Clarke Air Company
• 3rd: 100 Proof Outlaws

Canfor picked up two third-place finishes, in fish and in fowl, while 100 Proof Outlaws placed in both the fowl and game divisions.

Special Awards

• Best overall: Mobile Forest Products, for its Dauphin Island special
• Best presentation: Clarke-Washington EMC
• Best presentation runner-up: Grove Hill City Hall
• People’s Choice: Tompkins Baptist Church

The People’s Choice award is decided by the people who come out to sample the food, which makes it a favorite among teams that put effort into winning over the crowd as well as the judges.

A Decade of Growth

Reaching a 10th year is a milestone for any community event, and this year’s attendance of more than 1,000 people shows how firmly the cook-off has become part of the fall calendar in Clarke County. For a town the size of Grove Hill, a crowd of that size fills the grounds and brings steady traffic to local businesses.

The 32 competing teams reflected the makeup of the region’s economy and community life. Timber and forest products companies, utilities, insurance agencies, aviation businesses, local government offices and churches all fielded entries. That mix is fitting in a part of the state where the forest industry is a major employer and where hunting and fishing are woven into everyday life.

Music, Shopping and a Silent Auction

The cook-off offered more than food. Visitors heard live music from the band Gringo Fife, and EZN Outfitters set up a pop-up shop on site.

A silent auction gave guests a chance to bid on a wide range of items, including:

• Cornhole boards, including custom sets
• A chainsaw
• Hunting gear
• Grills
• Gun cases
• Assorted other outdoor and household items

Local Businesses Stepped Up

The auction was made possible by donations from a group of area businesses. Contributors included:

• Tucker ATV
• Grove Hill Ace Hardware
• Pine City Outdoors
• Jackson Ace Hardware
• Baldwin Express Pipeline
• Slayton Brothers II Inc.

A local couple also built and donated custom cornhole boards for the auction. Donated items like these help organizers cover event costs and support the cook-off’s mission, and they give attendees a reason to linger after the tasting is done.

Grove Hill’s Place in Hunting Country

Grove Hill is the seat of Clarke County, a largely rural county in southwest Alabama that sits between two major rivers, the Tombigbee to the west and the Alabama to the east. Much of the county is covered in pine and hardwood forest, and timber has long been central to the local economy. Those same woods, creeks and river bottoms support abundant wildlife, which is why hunting and fishing are such a deep part of life for many families in the area.

That outdoor heritage shows up clearly at an event like this one. Many of the teams are made up of people who hunt and fish on their own time, and a wild game cook-off gives them a chance to show off what they can do with the deer, birds and fish that fill their freezers each season. It also gives newcomers and visitors a taste of dishes they might never try otherwise.

What Goes Into a Wild Game Cook-Off

Wild game cook-offs have become popular across Alabama and the wider South as a way to celebrate hunting and fishing traditions and to show how venison, wild hog, duck, dove, turkey, freshwater fish and other harvested foods can be turned into restaurant-quality dishes. Teams typically prepare samples for judges and for the public, and the categories reward both flavor and creativity.

Preparing wild game well takes some know-how. Game meats are usually much leaner than farm-raised beef or pork, so cooks often rely on marinades, brines, slow cooking or added fat to keep the meat tender and moist. Fish and fowl dishes, meanwhile, demand careful timing so they do not dry out.

For home cooks inspired by the competition, federal food safety guidelines offer some basic targets for safe internal temperatures:

• Ground meats, including ground venison and wild hog: 160 degrees Fahrenheit
• Whole cuts such as steaks and roasts: 145 degrees Fahrenheit, followed by a three-minute rest
• Poultry and wild birds, including duck, dove and turkey: 165 degrees Fahrenheit
• Fish: 145 degrees Fahrenheit, or until the flesh is opaque and flakes easily with a fork

Good results start long before the food reaches the grill. Hunters and anglers generally get the best flavor by cooling harvested game and fish as quickly as possible, keeping meat clean and dry during processing, and trimming away fat, silver skin and damaged tissue that can give game a strong taste. Freezing meat in airtight, labeled packages helps prevent freezer burn and makes it easier to keep track of what is on hand.

Wild hog in particular should always be cooked thoroughly, since feral swine can carry diseases. Using a reliable meat thermometer is the simplest way to be sure.

Food Safety When Cooking for a Crowd

Anyone planning to cook outdoors for a large group, whether at a church supper, a tailgate or a cook-off of their own, can borrow a few habits from experienced competition teams. Federal food safety guidance recommends keeping hot foods at 140 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer and cold foods at 40 degrees or colder. Perishable food should not sit out at room temperature for more than two hours, and that window shrinks to one hour when the air temperature is above 90 degrees.

Other simple steps help too: keep raw meat, fish and poultry separate from ready-to-eat foods, use clean utensils and cutting boards for each, wash hands often, and bring plenty of ice and coolers. With those basics covered, cooks can focus on seasoning and presentation rather than worrying about whether their samples are safe.

Why Events Like This Matter

Small-town festivals and cook-offs do a lot of quiet work for the communities that host them. They bring visitors who buy fuel, meals and supplies from local merchants. They give businesses a friendly way to connect with customers outside the office or the mill. And they create a reason for neighbors from across a spread-out rural county to gather in one place for an afternoon.

The variety of teams at this year’s cook-off, from industrial employers to a rural church congregation to the staff at city hall, is a good illustration of that. Each group brought its own recipes and its own fans, and the People’s Choice and presentation awards gave teams a chance to be recognized for creativity and hospitality as well as cooking skill.

Looking Ahead to the State Finals

With the regional title settled, attention now shifts to August and the state finals, where Mobile Forest Products will compete as southwest Alabama’s representative. The state contest brings together winners from regional events around Alabama, giving the Grove Hill champion a chance to measure its Dauphin Island special against the best teams from other parts of the state.

Back home, the strong turnout for the 10th edition sets a high bar for the cook-off’s next chapter. Organizers, sponsors and the dozens of volunteers and team members who make the day possible can point to a crowd of more than 1,000, a full slate of 32 teams and a long list of local donors as signs that the event remains one of Clarke County’s signature fall gatherings.

Quick Facts

• Event: Southwest Alabama Wild Game Cookoff, 10th edition
• Location: Grove Hill, Clarke County
• Attendance: more than 1,000 people
• Teams: 32
• Categories: fish, fowl and game, plus presentation and People’s Choice awards
• Best overall: Mobile Forest Products
• Next stop: the state finals in August