■ Creativity reigned at the Fifth Annual Hawaii Seafood Festival competition held on June 22 at the Ilikai Hotel Nikko Waikiki. Forty-four professional chefs from 0’ahu, Maui, Hawai‘i and Kaua’i prepared their tantalizing entries for judging in four categories: appetizers, soups, salads and entrees. Their recipes were judged on originality, practicality (for restaurant use), presentation (including eye appeal) and taste using aku, ‘ahi, tombo, shutome, hebi, ono, opah, monchong, hapu’upu’u, uku, ehu, lehi and gindai.
As you’d expect from Hawaii‘s chefs, their creativity coupled with the culinary skills they used to highlight Hawai‘i seafood made the judges’ work extremely difficult. The chefs’ creativity was evident before the judges even taste-tested the entries; recipe titles like Chili Crusted “Shutome in Painted Desert” With Grilled Scallops and Shrimp Relish piqued their interest…
