Page 74 - South Mississippi Living - August, 2017

DINING prize plate
Win
PHO-SURE
Chef Dickensauge Wins Eighth Annual Mississippi Seafood Cookoff
story by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster photos by James Edward Bates
With the close of the eighth annual Mississippi Seafood Competition, sponsored by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, the new King of Mississippi Seafood was crowned. Chef David Dickensauge, American Shrimp Processors Association Chef Advocate and owner and executive chef at Corks and Cleaver restaurant, won the competition.
Chef Dickensauge competed against twelve of the top chefs from across
the state, but won with his unique Mississippi Seafood Pho. “The inspiration behind the dish was for me to pay tribute to the Coast’s Vietnamese community,” said Dickensauge. His seafood pho included large, head-on shrimp, jumbo lump crabmeat and crawfish, paired with his own kimchi, fish sauce and hoisin sauce.
According to Jamie Miller, executive director of the Department of Marine Resources, the competition aims to not only bring together some of the state’s most talented chefs but to express
the value of using wild-caught Gulf seafood, which is important to the economy and culture of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
During the event, each chef presented their signature dish featuring fresh, sustainable Mississippi Gulf seafood to a group of judges. As the winning chef,
Chef Dickensauge is all smiles with his award and prize winning Pho dish.
Dickensauge will represent Mississippi in the Great American Seafood Cook- off in New Orleans, Louisiana, and
at the World Food Championships
in Orange Beach, Alabama, in November. The 2016 winner of the state competition, Alex Eaton of The Manship Wood Fired Kitchen in Jackson, also won the national competition in New Orleans.
Chef Dickensauge has more than 23 years of experience under his belt and creates dishes that incorporate local, sustainable seafood and produce.
He credits chefs who have helped in teaching him the responsible way to use local seafood.
“Here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast we have an abundance of local seafood and products that we should pull from,” said Dickensauge. “It’s my job as a chef, as well as my integrity, that will only allow me to use products that I know where they come from.”
74 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • August 2017
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