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
• 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

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

• 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.

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.

Smoked Cranberry Quail Roll

Jesse Crane, who prepared the rolls, said 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

The 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.

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.

Courtesy of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.