|
Severn Sailing
Association 7th Annual Chowder Competition
They said it couldn’t be done. No way would
a vegetarian chowder ever claim the top prize. But at the 7th
Annual Chowder Throwdown, held recently at the Severn Sailing
Association in Annapolis, Charlotte Shearin proved them wrong.
Shearin, who lives in southern Maryland and
is earning a master’s degree in marine estuary environmental
science, won first place in the innovative category with her
pale golden Curried Succotash Chowder--chock full of corn,
potatoes and edamame beens but not a mollusk in sight. By sheer
coincidence, her boyfriend, Darden Pickall, a marina manager,
won in the classic category for a rich and wholesome Rockfish
Head Chowder.
Luckiest of all? Me. I was one of the
judges. This is the second year I was asked to participate in
the competition (actually the word ‘throwdown’ was my
embellishment). I landed this assignment after I wrote an
article for the Washington Post about
chowder, a topic that, I learned, provokes much debate.
Shortly after the piece ran I was contacted by one Sean Smith, a
member of the SSA and the event’s organizer.
Smith is a fluvial geomorphologist for state
of Maryland by profession (he studies rivers) but, thanks to his
New England roots, his passion is chowder, and so every year he
organizes the competition, hires a jazz band, and makes a grand
evening of it. The informal contest is held at the association’s
clubhouse, a comfortable room with a large hearth and
floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the harbor. It’s become
more popular every year since it started--last year there were
15 entries; this year, 17. And the competition is fierce.
Contestants arrive armed with slow cookers brimming with
chowder. The pots are arranged on several long tables pushed
together buffet-style. Entrants try to set their offering apart
from the competition with visual displays--placards with
mouthwatering descriptions of their chowder, bowls of garnishes,
even shots of rum (an attempt at bribery, perhaps?) to accompany
the tasting. Pickall brought along a rockfish head, which he
placed on a makeshift pedastal, a rib of celery, um, tastefully
wedged between its teeth.
My fellow judges were Fenton Galway, owner
of Galway Bay Irish Pub, in Annapolis; and Debbie Yates, a third
grade teacher, food lover, and wife of David Yates, a reitired
chef who caters events and dinners at the SSA (Yates himself has
judged in the past but was busy with a catering event this
year).
There were lots of contenders, including a
curried seafood chowder that came thisclose to winning in the
innovative category; a coconut conch chowder; and a clever
deconstructed Oysters Rockefeller chowder with fennel, spinach,
and a hit of absinthe. But I guess it finally came down to
ingredients. Pickall made his classic chowder with freshly
caught rockfish from the Chesapeake Bay, and you could taste it.
I learned later that he used milk, cream, and butter from
Trickling Springs Creamery, just over the border in
Pennsylvania. Oh--it also didn’t hurt that he had a bowl of
homemade saltylicious cracklings for sprinkling on top of the
chowder.
What bowled us over (so to speak) about
Shearin’s chowder was how much chowder-y flavor it carried, even
though it was vegetarian. It was almost like the seafood was
implied. Turns out she, too, used milk from Trickling Springs
Creamery, which no doubt accounted for the rich, sweet
undertones.
Can’t wait to see what the pair come up with
next year.
Click Here to see Past Recipes
|
