EverythingWestport - Westport in Brief, February 13, 2011

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Sunday, February 13, 2011

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There's a new chowder champion in town.

There's a new chowder champion in town.

EverythingWestport.com

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Galen Snow of Little Compton wins Best of Show.

Alyssa Brousseau may only be eleven, but she knows how to cook up a winning pot of 'chowdah.' The youngster took top honors in the Chowder category, being picked as the Peoples' Choice.

"It's my first entry into this contest," said the beaming Brousseau. "It's a traditional chowder of shrimp and corn that I learned to make from my mom. Everyone in the family likes it." Apparently so as the 50 people who came by to taste and tell agreed with Brousseau's family.

However, chili won the day and all the top honors as last year's People's Choice winner, David Field of Tiverton, took home this year's People's Choice for chili, and won Overall Winner and a $50 gift certificate to Crowthers Restaurant as selected by David Lafrance, the restaurant's head chef.

Field's 'Italian sausage bean and beef' chili is "hardy, not too soupy" Field said. "I like spicy chili, but this entry is more on the mild side. It's just chili!"

But the star of the show, the grand dame of chili, was Galen Snow of Little Compton as she won the Best of Show and $100 as the Judges' Pick, with her 'southwestern turkey chili.' "I make my own chili powder," an exuberant Snow said. "It has a deeper flavor than store-bought. It's all about the secret ingredients."

The 4th Annual East Bay Amateur Chowder & Chili Cook-Off was hosted Sunday by Crowthers Restaurant. This early colonial town was the big winner as hundreds of dollars were raised for the Little Compton Community Center, an organization that is positioning itself for the future by building on over a decade of programs and activities aimed at strengthening community ties and community spirit.

"This is one of our three major fundraisers of the year," said Gina Malloy, Executive Director of the Little Compton Community Center. Malloy's husband, Liam, was a chowder entrant in this year's Cook-Off.

"We have a great partnership with Crowthers restaurant," Malloy said. "It's good working with the businesses in the area, and reaching out to the community."

Along with the annual Chowder & Chili Cook-Off, the LCCC also sponsors an annual juried art show in July for local and regional artists, and for the first time this year a photography show over memorial Day weekend has been added to their fundraising menu.

Left: Pat Pond of Little Compton sampling the six entries. Center: Liam Malloy always wanted to make a chowder, so he did and entered his inaugural 'traditional Sakonnet clam chowder' into the Cook-Off. "I saw the recipe on WGBH's Daily Dish program, and gave it a try." Right: John Case with his 'Texas-style beef & bean chili.' "It's an old family recipe. I've been cooking it for the kids for a long time. It's a conventional mixture of spices that are my own," he said.

It was all about the taste.

The panel of three judges, Lea Angell, Peter Tirpaeck, and Kane Lewis (Crowthers' manager) did a blind tasting outside of the sight and sound of the competition, and came out with their Best of Show winner, Galen Snow.

"We didn't have any criteria to judge by," said Lea Angell. "They were all so different and all so good. It came down to personal preference."

And so it was with the guests who dropped by to vote for their favorite chili and chowder. "They're all so different," said Westport realtor Lucille Chase. "It's hard to pick a winner."

Crowthers restaurant offered up corn fritters, clam fritters, stuffies, and tortilla chips to complement the tastings.

In the end it came down to personal taste.

Left: The panel of three judges, (from the left) Crowthers' manager, Kane Lewis; Peter Tirpaeck; and Lea Angell did a blind tasting outside of the sight and sounds of the competition. Right: tasting samples of the three chowders (top) and the three chilies (bottom).

Left: Last year's People's Choice winner, David Field of Tiverton, took home this year's People's Choice for his 'Italian Sausage Bean & Beef chili', and won Overall Winner and a $50 gift certificate to Crowthers Restaurant. Right: the grand dame of chili, was Galen Snow of Little Compton as she won the Best of Show and $100 as the Judges' Pick, with her 'southwestern turkey chili.'

Left: Alyssa Brousseau may only be eleven, but she knows how to cook up a winning pot of 'chowdah.' The youngster took top honors with her 'Shrimp & corn chowder,' being picked as the Peoples' Choice. Right: Molly Goulart, 10, could hardly contain herself when she won the 50/50 raffle.

Above: Roger Guillemette (right), a board member of the LCCC and a 4-time Cook-Off entrant, served up a sample of his 'clam boil stew chowder.' "It's a delicacy found nowhere else outside of Little Compton and Tiverton," he said. "It has all the ingredients of a traditional clambake/clamboil, but in a cup!"

EverythingWestport.com