Ok, I wanted to follow up on this post. The catfish cookoff was great. Melissa took a bunch of great pictures, as usual. We left the house at 7AM and fought a little traffic during the 1-1/2 hour drive to the lake. There was a cook's meeting at 10AM and the first and only turn-in was adjusted from 11AM to 11:30AM by the Mayor/FireChief/Head of Chamber of Commerce/head cook and bottle washer... honestly, I think the guy wore a lot of hats.
We turned in four different entries. (Check out the pictures and you will see the differences.) All of them tasted great. One was Blackened Catfish with Etouffe sauce. It had crab meat, seared scallops to go with the heavy creme and butter...can't forget the cayenne. That one got the 6th place. Another was blackened with a shrimp creole topping. One of my favorites but tomatoes and peppers can maybe not appeal to everyone. Another was with a emmulsified gumbo sauce. Very tasty indeed, I liked this gumbo better than what we had the last time in Terrell. Then the final was two giant filets that were breaded with some spiced bread crumbs. Based on having tasted this entry and knowing that a fried catfish won....I can't believe that someone else's entry could have tasted better. Eric marinaded the filets in buttermilk which left them with a very clean taste and nice flaky appearance. I didn't look at all the top finishers but know that 1st and 3rd where both fried filets. I also know that last year fried won too.
We also got to see the catfish weigh-ins from the anglers. That was fun too. After they weighed in the catfish they tossed them in a huge plastic stock tank. Folks lined up to get splashed by those fish. I sorta realized right then and there that we were a few miles off the beaten track.
There were about 25 entries grand prize was $1000, followed by $500, $250, $150 and $20 to round out the top five sots. The entry fee was only $20. Not sure where the prize money came from but some fortunate souls are that much happier now.
I look forward to aprticipating again next year. It was a great time and it was not as hectic as BBQ but then again, it wasn't as fun either because I didn't know all of the teams.
