Pontotoc 4-H’ers place first in prestigious cook-off

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Noah Parmer and Brooklyn Kilpatrick cannot believe they brought home the first-place trophy from the 4-H edition of the Great American Seafood Cook-Off held on Aug. 3.

Both are members of the Mississippi State University Extension Service 4-H youth development program in Pontotoc County.

“We were shocked,” said Parmer, explaining that awards were given in descending order with the first-place team announced last. “We kept thinking they were going to call our name next, but when they got to second place and it wasn’t us, we knew we had won first place.

“I just couldn’t believe it. None of us could,” he said. “It was really exciting.”

The Great American Seafood Cook-Off: 4-H Edition is a regional competition held each year in New Orleans in conjunction with the annual professional contest by the same name. The entire event is sponsored by the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board and the Louisiana Restaurant Association. Both competitions require contestants to use American-raised seafood.

Parmer and Kilpatrick earned one of six spots in the New Orleans cook-off by winning this summer’s Mississippi 4-H Club Congress cooking contest. At the cook-off, they competed against two teams from Texas, two from Louisiana and one from Georgia.

“We were the only team with two contestants,” said Laura Reed, MSU Extension 4-H Agent in Pontotoc County. “All the other teams had three to four members. Even though we’d spent two and a half months practicing and getting ready, it’s still a lot of pressure for a team of two.”

Parmer and Kilpatrick had one hour to prepare, cook and plate three dishes for the judges. Their dishes -- Mississippi Catfish Bread, Creole Garden Salad and Fresh Fruit Salad -- showcased ingredients local to Pontotoc and surrounding counties.

The main dish featured Mississippi farm-raised catfish and is a well-loved Kilpatrick family recipe. The cheeses they used were sourced from two local dairies -- one of them where both Parmer’s and Kilpatrick’s families’ dairy cows are milked. Their dishes also included vegetables from several Pontotoc gardens, peaches from a local orchard and honey from the hives at the MSU Extension office.

Their dishes were even plated on McCarty Pottery, courtesy of Kilpatrick’s mom.

“The focus on local ingredients was something the judges praised them for during the awards ceremony,” Reed said. “They talked about how much they loved the personal ties to the dish.”

Each team’s dishes were judged by a panel of five. Three judges were professional chefs. The fourth was from 4-H National Headquarters, and the fifth was a former 4-H’er. Contestants presented their dishes to the judges and gave a two-to-five-minute speech about their dishes, along with other information, including food safety.

Parmer and Kilpatrick said competition day jitters disappeared quickly.

“When we first got there, I was really nervous,” Parmer said. “But once we got set up, I started to relax.”

All six 4-H teams had met earlier during the week and spent a little time getting to know one another, which took a little pressure off, Kilpatrick said.

“The way they had the event set up was great,” she said. “The first day we were there, they had a social event scheduled so that we could meet each other. That helped everyone to be more relaxed when the actual competition came around.”

Reed, who has been a 4-H agent for six years and serving Pontotoc County for one year, said she’d never had 4-H’ers compete in the New Orleans cook-off.

“It was a learning curve for me, too,” she said. “But we just went with it. They did so well, and I am so proud of them -- the amount of thought that went into the dishes they were going to make and the practice they put in to get ready.

“I think we’re all still processing it, but I am extremely proud of them. And the love they have gotten from our community has been overwhelming,” Reed said.