The Alabama Seafood Cook-Off is just around the corner, and Alabama Gulf Seafood announced today, April 23, who will compete for the ninth-annual Alabama Seafood Cook-Off May 6 at The Wharf in Orange Beach. 

Two of the four chefs competing will have the home-turf advantage once again. Chef Laurence Agnew of Villaggio Grille in Orange Beach and Emilio Urban of CoastAL Orange Beach will join Chef Robbie Nicolaisen of The Hound in Auburn and Kyle Ogden of Odette in Florence to compete for the title, bragging rights, $2,500 and a spot to compete at the 21^st-annual Great American Seafood Cook-Off (GASCO) in New Orleans this summer.

Residents are encouraged to come out and support the local chefs as they fight to keep the title on the coast. In 2023, Perdido Beach Resort Executive Chef Brody Olive clinched the Alabama title and went on to take the crown in New Orleans. 

The Alabama Seafood Cook-Off (ASCO) has grown every year, and this year is no different.

“This year we saw the highest number of entries submitted in ASCO history from the Gulf region of the state, which is why we have two competing chefs from that region. We were excited about all recipe entries this year and were blown away by the creativity our state chefs exhibited,” Olive said. “We cannot wait to see our four finalists’ creations that highlight Alabama Gulf Seafood in such unique ways.”

The selection process required chefs from across the state to submit a recipe highlighting Alabama seafood. A panel of judges reviewed each recipe and selected their top four based on creativity, composition, harmony of ingredients and more. The chefs’ names were removed from the recipe to allow for blind judging. The competing chefs were selected based on location; one was selected from the north, central and Gulf regions and one was chosen as a wild card.

The winning recipes are:

• Laurence Agnew — “King Billy Whelkomes You”: Charcoal Alabama croaker “On the half shell,” Gulf whelk and Admiral Oyster stew with blue crab fat croutons, fennel, celery and purple deadnettle Italian salsa verde;
• Emilio Urban — “Fruits of the Gulf”: Spiced Gulf shrimp, pickled cucumbers, hibiscus fumet foam, roasted yellow pepper beurre blanc, garnished with black bean crunch and Spanish mackerel floss, mackerel chicharron;
• Robbie Nicolaisen — Charcoal'd triggerfish, blue crab and Conecuh sausage spoon bread, dressed sea beans, burnt lemon and "she crab" beurre blanc; and
• Kyle Ogden — “Spring Tide”: Featuring pompano filet, crab and shrimp mousse, focaccia stuffing, arugula pesto, gai lan agrodolce and Fresno chili emulsion and more.

The four will spend two days on the Gulf Coast networking with industry professionals, touring the Claude Peteet Mariculture Center and, of course, cooking.

The ASCO is a fun event for those in attendance but a pressure cooker for the competitors. Each chef and one assistant have one hour to cook and plate six dishes all while judges and guests watch. Each dish is scored on presentation, creativity, composition, preparation and flavor.

This year’s judges are Chef Jim Smith, owner and executive chef of The Hummingbird Way in Mobile, board chairman of the Alabama Seafood Marketing Commission (ASMC) and 2011 winner of both the ASCO and GASCO; Chef Brody Olive, executive chef at Voyagers in Orange Beach’s Perdido Beach Resort and 2023 ASCO and GASCO winner; Chef Arwen Rice, executive chef at Red or White in Mobile and 2024 James Beard Awards semifinalist for Best Chef-South; and Bob Carlton, veteran food writer at AL.com.

The ASCO has had two locations on the Alabama Gulf Coast. Zeke’s Restaurant in Orange Beach hosted the 2023 event, and The Lodge at Gulf State Park hosted in 2022 and 2021. The change to The Wharf this year was made in hopes of attracting more spectators. This year’s competition will be held in Marlin Circle at The Wharf, May 6, at 6 p.m. The Alabama Seafood Cook-Off is open to the public and free to attend.

For more information, visit www.atalabamaseafood.com.