Crowd, weather stir up a cook-off success

From 5,000 to 6,000 people attended the 30th annual World Championship Crawfish Etouffee Cook-off, estimated Kelly Pitre, Eunice Chamber of Commerce presidnet.
“I think it was a raging success,” Pitre said. “We had more people than we did last year. The vendors were very successful. Everyone ran out of etouffee and it went off without a hitch.”
There was one problem — parking, she said.
“That’s really not a bad problem to have,” she said. “It means an exceptional turnout, right?”
Pitre said the weather may have been among the best for the cook-off. “This year we could not have asked for any better.”
Two visitors from Nova Scotia, Sean Virgin and Laurie Dalton, said the weather was nice, but maybe a little hot. They were in the shade of a tree finishing off etouffee.
“We saw it online,” Dalton said of the cook-off.
Virgin said they wanted a “local experience ... we came to experience Louisiana.”
They left snow in Nova Scotia for their Louisiana trip.
There is no etouffee in Nova Scotia, Dalton said. “We don’t get crawfish. We have lobster.”
The couple started out Sunday morning at the cook-off. “My husband wanted to try every stand. We’ve only done five. He’s pretty full,” she said.
Dalton described the etouffee as “Some quite sweet. Some spicy.”
Dalton said they are from Grand-Pré and noted Nova Scotia is “where the Acadians started.”
Pitre said there were 37 cooking booths and 35 arts and crafts vendors at the cook-off held at the Northwest Pavilion on Samuel Drive.
Music started at 10 a.m. with Le Plaquemine Brulee following by Horace Trahan & The Ossun Express and Steve Riley & High Performance.
“Everything went as planned and I think everyone was happy at the end of the day,” Pitre said.
The chamber appreciates the efforts of everyone who made the cook-off a success, she said.
“It was truly a coming together as a community,” she said.
The stars of the day though were the cooks and their helpers serving up etouffee.
And, there are definite opinions on what makes a great etouffee.
Donald Richard, chairman of the first-place winning Rotary Club booth, said the key is “Butter, onions. You can’t put too many onions and you can’t put too much crawfish.”
Richard added, “And we wash our celery.”
On the other hand, Broch Leger, part of the first-place winning chef team that included Kelli Carrier and Cameron Derouen, said they don’t use celery and never have.
“Scratch,” is the key to great etouffee, Leger said. “Everything from scratch. No cans.”
The LAS cooks were all about homemade, he said.
“It is spicy, but not too spicy. It is just the right kick.”
At Double Action Outdoors and Sports, first-place winner in the amateur category, Lauren Dubroc cooks an etouffee with a rich brown color.
“I start mine with onion and bell peppers and garlic and lots of butter,” she said. “I cook it down to make you a little roux and plenty of Cajun seasoning.”
Dubroc uses about equal amounts of red and black pepper and salt, she said.
“We actually have our own Double Action Cajun recipes that we sell, so I use that,” she said.
“It has a unique taste,” she said. “It kind of has a sweet flavor from the amount of butter that use and a good kick.”
The cook-off was a new experience for Kate O’Connor of Virginia who was on her way to a job interview in Texas.
“I saw this sight-seeing booklet and it mentioned this festival, so it was kind of on the way, just a half-hour out of the way, so I figured we would stop and try crawfish and stuff,” she said.
“I love it,” O’Connor said. “The food is great. I think I like the crawfish better than lobster. I’m originally from New England ... I’ve had lobster in my day and this is better.”
O’Connor praised the etouffee. “I wanted to try the food in Louisiana and check out the whole Cajun thing.”
Her traveling companion, Romeo, a maltese, had tried everything too, she said. “He loved the boudin balls, but not the crawfish.”
The visitors included U.S. Sen. David Vitter who declared the Vitter for Governor etouffee as the best at the cook-off and the first permanent campaign cooking team.