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PAGE 6A August 2025
Blackened Bass Dish Wins State Finals
By DAVID RAINER Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
When consumers consider their choices for fish on the dinner menu, many opt for grouper, a delicious species found in Gulf waters. When one of the participants at the 2025 Alabama Wildlife Federation (AWF) Wild Game Cook-Off State Finals had a choice of which fish to prepare, he ruled out the grouper in favor of a ubiquitous Alabama freshwater species – largemouth bass. When the judging was finished at AWF’s Lanark headquarters, Robert Adair’s preparation of Bass and Grits with Crawfish Cream Sauce was crowned champion among the 13 teams from around the state competing for the title. “It’s just regular largemouth pond bass,” said Adair, who has a food trailer (The Smoke Wagon) that he hauls around the Snowdoun area south of Montgomery. “I bought some grouper and tried it, and I liked the pond bass better.” Adair said his recipe will work with just about any freshwater or saltwater species, but he went with the one that almost everybody in Alabama has access to with the state’s abundant freshwater fisheries, from rivers and lakes to the numerous farm ponds that dot the landscape. Bass and Grits with Crawfish Cream Sauce 6 bass fillets Blackening seasoning 2 tablespoons oil Dust fillets liberally with blackening seasoning and place on hot griddle until fish is flaky. Crawfish Cream Sauce: 1 whole green pepper, chopped 1 whole onion, chopped ¼ cup oil Cajun seasoning to taste 2 cups heavy cream ½ cup white wine 1 pound crawfish tails 1 bundle green onions, chopped 4 sprigs parsley, chopped Add chopped peppers and onions to oil on medium high heat and cook until they start to brown. Deglaze with white wine. Simmer until reduced and add heavy cream. Add crawfish tails and simmer until the desired consistency is reached. Garnish with chopped green onions and parsley after the sauce is poured over the fish. Fried grits cakes • ½ pound old-fashioned grits Combine salt and water and bring to boil. Whisk in grits and reduce heat to low. Stir grits occasionally to keep from sticking. When done, remove from heat and place in elongated container to cool. When cool pop in the freezer to be ready to pan fry. Slice grits cakes into 1-inch-thick portions. Dip grits cakes in milk and egg mixture before coating in all-purpose flour. If you want it crispier, re-dip and add Panko. Pan fry until golden brown and use as base for the dish. Top with blackened fish fillet, and cover with crawfish cream sauce. Winner, winner, bass dinner. Tommy Tidwell, AWF’s Wild Game Cook-Off Coordinator, said the State Finals are not judged in the game, fish and fowl categories like the regional competitions. “The State Finals is an overall competition without categories,” he said. “However, our top three winners were from each of the categories.” In second place, the Tainted Rub team of Elkmont used ground venison to prepare Crispy Venison Egg Rolls with a cucumber noodle salad for a side dish. Crispy Venison Egg Rolls with Cucumber Noodle Salad • ½ teaspoon salt • 2 ½ cups water • 2 cups whole milk • 2 eggs • 1 cup all-purpose flour • 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs if desired • 1 cup oil
Submitted Photo
The Bass and Grits with Crawfish Cream Sauce dish was crowned champion at the AWF Cook-Off State Finals.
Cucumber Noodle Salad
• 6 ounces bean thread glass noodles • 6 tablespoons rice vinegar • 4 teaspoons sugar • 2 teaspoons soy sauce • 1 teaspoon salt • 1 medium cucumber, chilled • 1 ½ teaspoons sesame seeds
Cook noodles until done. Rinse, strain and return to bowl. Mix vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and salt and pour over noodles. Stir well. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator until cold. Peel and seed cucumber. Cut into sticks before mixing with the noodles. Just before serving, sprinkle with sesame seeds. The third-place winner, Alabama Ag Credit of Tuscaloosa, covered the fowl territory with an Asian-inspired quail creation. This was a smoked Cranberry Quail Roll by Jesse Crane. He didn’t have an exact recipe, but he shared how he and his team made the dish. “We took cleaned quail and brined them in cranberry juice for 24 hours,” Crane said. “We smoked the quail on low heat until done. We made sushi rice with vinegar. We sliced daikon radishes into strips. We sliced sweet potatoes into strips and fried them. We sliced zucchini. We made candied bacon and a cranberry teriyaki sauce.” Crane took his sushi mat and laid down a sheet of nori that he covered with rice. He added shredded smoked quail, radish, sweet potato, zucchini, cream cheese and rolled tightly. The roll was served with the teriyaki sauce, yum yum sauce and fried crispy onions on top. Best Presentation awards went to two teams from Selma. The best presentation trophy went to Hancock’s Country BBQ, which qualified for the finals by winning the Demopolis regional. Emily Hancock Small prepared a Harvest Hand Pie for the competition. The team added interesting decorations to their booth, which included a display featuring Selma native Tim Wood, who is a member of the Alabama Conservation Advisory Board and served as AWF President for the past year. Small said the Harvest Hand Pie is a turkey and deer empanada, which combines ground turkey, ground venison, black beans, whole kernel corn, taco seasoning, queso and salsa. A 6-inch flour tortilla is filled with a dollop of the mixture and put into an empanada press and then deep-fried in 350-degree oil. The empanada is topped with an avocado cream sauce.
• 1 pound ground venison • 1 tablespoon sesame oil • ½ onion, diced • 1 tablespoon ginger, minced • 2 cloves garlic, minced • 1 bag coleslaw mix • ¼ bag of matchstick carrots • 4 tablespoons soy sauce • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar •
1 tablespoon sriracha (optional)
• 12 egg roll wrappers Brown venison and drain. Set aside. In large frying pan, add sesame oil to cook onions until translucent. Add ginger and garlic and stir to combine. Add venison to the pan. Add coleslaw and carrots and cook until softened. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar and sriracha if desired. Stir to combine but do not overcook. Refrigerate for a few minutes. Add two tablespoons of mixture to center of egg roll wrapper and wrap. Drop in 375-degree oil in deep fryer and cook until golden brown. Cool on racks before serving with your favorite duck sauce. Second place in best presentation went to TW’s Dream Team, which prepared Quesadeerllas for the finals. The team placed venison backstraps in a slow cooker with birria sauce. The venison was cooked low and slow for 12 hours, cooled and shredded. Flour tortillas were dipped in the birria sauce, covered with venison as well as Mexican blend cheese and cilantro, folded, and placed on the griddle until the tortillas started to brown. The Quesadeerllas were cut in half and served with a choice of birria sauce, sour cream, queso or salsa. President Trump to add Ballroom to White House
For 150 years, Presidents, Administrations, and White House Staff have longed for a large event space on the White House complex that can hold substantially more guests than currently allowed. President Donald J. Trump has expressed his commitment to solving this problem on behalf of future Administrations and the American people. The White House is one of the most beautiful and historic buildings in the world, yet the White House is currently unable to host major functions honoring world leaders and other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building entrance. The White House State Ballroom will be a much-needed and exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of innately designed and carefully crafted space, with a seated capacity of 650 people — a significant increase from the 200-person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House. President Trump has held several meetings with members of the White House Staff, the National Park Service, the White House Military Office, and the US Secret Service to discuss design features and planning. President Trump has chosen McCrery Architects as lead architect, which is well-known for their classical architectural design and based in our nation’s capital. CEO Jim McCrery said: “Presidents in the modern era have faced challenges hosting major events at the White House because it has been untouched since President Harry Truman. I am honored that President Trump has entrusted me to help bring this beautiful and necessary renovation to The People’s House, while preserving the elegance of its classical design and historical importance.” The construction team will be headed by Clark Construction, and the engineering team will be led by AECOM.
Courtesy of White House
Architectural rendering of the new White House Ballroom.
The project will begin in September 2025, and it is expected to be completed long before the end of President Trump’s term. President Trump, and other patriot donors, have generously committed to donating the funds necessary to build this approximately $200 million dollar structure. The United States Secret Service will provide the necessary security enhancements and modifications. The White House Ballroom will be substantially separated from the main building of the White House, but at the same time, it’s theme and architectural heritage will be almost identical. The site of the new ballroom will be where
the small, heavily changed, and reconstructed East Wing currently sits. The East Wing was constructed in 1902 and has been renovated and changed many times, with a second story added in 1942. The White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said the following: “President Trump is a builder at heart and has an extraordinary eye for detail. The President and the Trump White House are fully committed to working with the appropriate organizations to preserving the special history of the White House while building a beautiful ballroom that can be enjoyed by future Administrations and generations of Americans to come.”
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