NEW ORLEANS — The 20th Annual Great American Seafood Cook-Off kicked off on Friday and the Queen of American Seafood was crowned on Saturday.
Chef Erin Miller of Urban Hearth Restaurant in Cambridge, MA, was crowned as the winner by Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board.
"The dish I did today was not very complicated, but all components in the dish were really thoughtful and meant to represent the diversity and the interconnectedness of the aquatic ecosystems in Massachusetts," Miller said in a release.
Chef Miller prepared a cape cod dish with black bass and lobster. She called the dish a "love letter to coastal Massachusetts."
The event brought the best chefs in the nation under one roof.
The opening reception began on Friday where chefs drew for their cooking order. Then they went head to head in a cook-off at the Morial Convention Center on Saturday.
Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser said it was a great competition.
"I love seeing the chefs work down the clock to the last seconds and put the finishing touches on their dishes," Nungesser said. "We've got a great winner who will represent the seafood industry across this country and the world for the next year; so, we're excited."
It's the second time Miller won the cook-off. She was the Queen of American Seafood in 2022.
In second place was Erika Lipe from SoLa Restaurant in Oxford, MS, with a dish called Snapper Pascagoula.
In third place was Chef Rob Dumas from the School of Food and Agriculture at the University of Maine in Orono, ME. Their dish was called Lobster Galette.
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