It was fitting that a seafood dish would come out on top in the Alabama Wildlife Federation (AWF) Gulf Coast Wild Game Cook-Off, in the area where the wild game cook-off tradition originated.

The AWF Cook-Off phenomenon started in 1996 in Mobile, and it has spread statewide with cook-offs in every region of the state with a state final at the AWF headquarters at Lanark near Millbrook. The Gulf Coast event was held at the AWF Delta & Bay Conservation Center at Five Rivers in Spanish Fort.

Choosing a winner among the multitude of excellent wild game dishes was a difficult task for the judges, which included Ben Stimpson Jr., commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR).

“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,” said Stimpson, who served as AWF president in 2011-2012. “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. 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.

“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.”

Playing off last year’s winning dish of Shrimp and Crab Bisque, The Pigfish Seafood Cook Team demonstrated one of the best ways I’ve tasted to use leftover shrimp from a shrimp boil. The Pigfish team’s Cajun Shrimp Soup was crowned champion in the Fish Division and was selected as the overall winner.

Selena and Matthew Rowe had shrimp, corn and potato leftovers and transformed them into the winning dish. When it comes to traditional recipes, most of the cook teams just go with the flow and their taste buds.

“These were the leftovers from a seafood boil,” Selena 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. I took the stock, white pepper and a stick of (salted) butter. You get most of your spices from the seafood boil, your crab boil. 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 make a big pot to serve a crowd of 8-10, she takes about five pounds of boiled shrimp, about eight ears of corn and eight medium-sized potatoes.

In case you missed it, the Pigfish team, which has locations in the Piggly Wiggly stores in Mobile, won the Fish Division at last year’s Gulf Coast Cook-Off with a Shrimp and Crab Bisque, which was made with their in-house crawfish seasoning. Matthew said the dish uses a half gallon of half-and-half, sweet cream corn, local shrimp and local crab meat, both lump and claw meat. The Rowes add two cups of water to the half-and-half and stir the mixture constantly to keep it from sticking. The corn and crawfish seasoning are added and simmered until the mixture starts to thicken. Two pounds of peeled shrimp and one pound of crab meat are added and simmered for about 10 minutes before serving.

In the Game Division, Tom’s Coon Crew took ground elk and made an unconventional kabob preparation that was deemed the winning dish, called Larry Sheffield’s Bareback Elk Kabobs. The team participated in the AWF Cook-Off as a tribute to their 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 how the team used elk meat for the winning preparation.

“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 also makes a final topping by blending cilantro, sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic, salt, pepper and a jalapeno.

In the Fowl Division, the Wild Turkey Fajitas dish prepared by the Redd Pest Solutions team prevailed. As Tamara Maddox prepared another round of fajitas for the overflow crowd, she said the wild turkey was first smoked for 3.5 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, Maddox and the team combined butter and oil and sautéed onion, garlic and red and green peppers with salt and pepper. The turkey and sautéed vegetables were tossed together with more fajita sauce and placed on top of flour tortillas being heated on a flat-top grill. After a couple of minutes on the grill, they were ready to serve.

Griffin’s Special Sauce made with Grand Bay honey was added to the fajitas at the end. Griffin Norwood said the sauce is made in a blender with chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, garlic cloves, lime juice, sour cream, mayonnaise and Grand Bay honey.

Second place in the Fish Division went to Fairhope Fish House for its Lionfish Boudin with Pepper Jack, followed by Taylor Sudden Service with an Eastern Shore Jubilee dish.

In the Fowl Division, the Elaine Rowe Memorial Kids Day Out Cook Team took second place with Quail Dumplings. Mystic Fowl Intentions won third with its Duck Around and Find Out Gumbo.

Taylor Sudden Service scored again, this time in the Game Division, with a second-place finish for its Velvet Hog dish, followed by PSC Thunder Chicken Kitchen with Deer Nuggets with Backstrap.

Visit www.alabamawildlife.org for a schedule of upcoming Cook-Offs around the state. Plan to attend an event in your area. You’ll be amazed by the tasty game, fowl and fish dishes.