The Vermilion Parish team of Anne Catherine LeBlanc, Victoria Frederick and Britney Broussard captured second place in the Great American Seafood Cook-Off, 4-H Edition on Aug. 3 in New Orleans. (Photo by Rick Bogren)

Victoria Frederick and Britney Broussard, members of the Vermilion Parish team, prepare their dish during the Great American Seafood Cook-Off, 4-H Edition on Aug. 3 in New Orleans. (Photo by Rick Bogren)

Anne Catherine LeBlanc, a member of the Vermilion Parish team, plates their dish during the Great American Seafood Cook-Off, 4-H Edition on Aug. 3 in New Orleans. (Photo by Rick Bogren)

News Release Distributed 08/07/14

NEW ORLEANS, La. – A team of young chefs from Vermilion Parish earned second place in the Great American Seafood Cook-Off, 4-H Edition on Sunday, Aug. 3.

The 4-H team of Britney Broussard, Anne Catherine LeBlanc and Victoria Frederick from Vermilion Parish presented their creation called Seafood Triathlon, featuring Louisiana shrimp, crab and crawfish.

A team from Jackson County, Oklahoma, won the competition. Third place went to a team from Tom Green County, Texas, and fourth place went to 4-H’ers from Saline County, Arkansas.

Each team was given one hour to prepare their dish during the competition. They were required to present a dish using American seafood.

The Louisiana dish included crab cakes on a bed of grilled eggplant and topped with pan-seared shrimp and garnished with roasted corn and peppers, said Britney Broussard. It was accompanied by crawfish chowder.

The three participants are members of the Junior Leaders Club in Vermilion Parish. The team was coached by Britney’s mother, Gwen Broussard.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Gwen Broussard said of the competition. “The kids chose the dishes.”

In order to qualify for the national event, the team first had to win the state competition at 4-H University on the LSU Baton Rouge campus in June.

“I’m surprised at how hard the kids have worked,” said Victoria’s father, Craig Fredericks.

“We practiced every morning at eight o’clock for two and a half weeks,” said Victoria Frederick. “We learned a lot.”

“I’ve gained confidence; I’ve gained friendships; I’ve gained leadership skills I can take into my future,” said Anne Catherine LeBlanc.

The team’s parents also learned a lot. They commented on the amount of food the 4-H’ers prepared and how much the families had eaten. They joked that they frequently had crab cakes for breakfast.

The 4-H competition is patterned after and conducted in the same venue as the Great American Seafood Cook-Off, which pits professional chefs from across the United States in competition to prepare their best dish using domestic seafood products.

The Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board holds the professional event annually in New Orleans through a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In keeping with the National 4-H Healthy Living initiative, the rules required each dish to be less than 750 calories per serving, said Quincy Cheek, who coordinated the program for Louisiana 4-H, the host organization.

In addition to cooking, each team was required to present their plates to the judges and describe the ingredients and the preparation techniques.

Judges included Fiona James, marketing manager for Piccadilly Corp.; Katherine Duca with the National 4-H Council; Griffin Gonzalez with the National 4-H Council and Joanne Zaritsky with the Gulf & South Atlantic Fisheries Foundation.

In addition to Louisiana 4-H, sponsors included the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board and Piccadilly Corp.

The winning team received a $1,000 cash award from Piccadilly, and each team was given $500 by the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board to cover expenses of participating in the competition.