New Roads chefs compete in NOLA national seafood cook-off

This Saturday, see and sample the handiwork of 16 chefs from across the country all cooking in the Great American Seafood Cook-Off (GASCO) in New Orleans. Held at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center (Map it!) and hosted by the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board, the event convenes top cooks for a seafood face-off using ingredients from each of their backyards.

Chef Cody Carroll of Hot Tails Restaurant in New Roads will represent Louisiana. Carroll, with assistance from wife and business partner Chef Samantha Carroll, was crowned Louisiana Seafood King during the Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans in May. Their menu included Louisiana Speckled Trout Perdu and crawfish etouffée served with sweet corn & blue crab calas, whipped Creole potato salad, house-pickled banana pepper, charred green onion and sassafras, and Tabasco sabayon.

The GASCO is part of the Louisiana Restaurant Association’s 60th annual Louisiana Foodservice & Hospitality Expo, held Aug. 3-5 in New Orleans, which is expected to draw about 11,000 industry professionals. While the expo is open only to registered industry professionals, anyone can attend the GASCO.

This year’s emcees will be Cory Bahr, executive chef of Restaurant Cotton in Monroe and winner of the 2011 GASCO; Martie Duncan, chef and Food Network Star finalist and host of Martie Knows Parties; and Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board Executive Director Ewell Smith.

GASCO tickets are $10 at the door or $5 in advance at Whole Foods Baton Rouge (Map it!) and New Orleans’ two Whole Foods locations. Opening ceremonies begin at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The winner is announced at 4:30 p.m. —Maggie Heyn Richardson