And the Seafood Excellence Awards winners are: High Liner Foods’ Flame-Seared Guinness Barbecue Glazed Atlantic Salmon (We’ll drink to that!) and King & Prince Seafood’s Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Shrimp (Hear, Hear!). Reigning supreme respectively in the foodservice and retail categories, the winners bested eight rivals and an additional 73 entrants that did not make the final cut in the Seafood Expo North America Best New Products competition held in Boston.
Jim Papadakis (left to right), brand manager; Owen Tilley, corporate chef and culinary director; Mike Sirois, vice president of technical services; Sarah Polny, product development culinologist, and others are pleased to accept the Best New Foodservice Award for High Liner Foods’ Flame-Seared Guinness BBQ-Glazed Atlantic Salmon during the Seafood Expo North America in Boston.The awards presentation was among highlights of Day One of the annual show, which this year was a record breaker in terms of attendance. While official numbers will not be released until a full audit has been conducted, it can be said now that more than 19,000 buyers and sellers from over 100 countries walked the sprawling Boston Convention & Exhibition Center floor, where more than 1,000 exhibiting companies showed products and promoted services at 1,970 booths.
As the High Liner Foods victory was proclaimed on March 16, coinciding with the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Boston, it seemed apropos that a fish dish flavored with the world’s most popular stout beer was celebrated at the same time that so many revelers were enjoying the holiday by raising a pint or two or more of Ireland’s dark brew in local pubs.
BBQ-glazed Atlantic Salmon, accented with the distinctive flavor of Guinness stout, was a big winner at the seafood show in Boston.Panko-breaded, beer-battered, Flame-Seared Guinness Barbecue Glazed Atlantic Salmon, accented with black pepper and molasses, is one of a series of Guinness Distinctive Seafood products sold under license through High Liner’s Icelandic brand. Among other offerings are cod, tilapia and shrimp.
Jim Papadakis, brand manager, commented: “Beer has been labeled the ‘new wine’ and has become one of the top food ingredients in the industry. By developing a proprietary recipe with Guinness, High Liner Foods is able to provide its customers with a premium line of breaded, battered and flame-seared glazed seafood that carries the prestige of the Guinness brand name and delivers a truly tantalizing option for every menu application.”
High Liner Foods’ Executive Chef Owen Tilley commented on the culinary development process: “Because of the diversity of seafood and the flavors that each species holds, we were able to focus on many different flavor-enhancing aspects of Guinness stout. We’ve taken a well-known brand that has a special and widely recognized flavor identity all its own, and made it work with the delicate flavors of seafood without one flavor overpowering the others.”
Another winner in Boston, fit for and by a King & Prince, was Bacon-wrapped Stuffed Shrimp.Bacon-wrapped Stuffed Shrimp from Brunswick, Georgia-based King & Prince Seafood, promoted as ultimate party food, impressed the judges enough to be named the best new retail product. While initially targeting club stores with large pack sizes, the producer will likely introduce it to other retail channels as well.
“We take large shrimp and stuff them with cream cheese and a touch of jalapeno for just a bit of kick, and then wrap them in apple wood-smoked bacon,” said Mike Tigani, director of marketing. “Our bacon-wrapped shrimp bake up quickly in the oven, with crispy bacon on the outside and succulent shrimp with a slightly spicy, creamy center on the inside.”
The two award winning products were selected during a live judging by a panel of seafood buyers and experts from the retail and foodservice industries, who considered taste, eating experience, packaging, market potential, convenience, nutrition and originality. The judges were Chef Michael Alleva of Caesar’s Entertainment; Scott Negro, seafood category manager of Weis Markets; and Mike Seidel, national category manager, frozen and seafood, at Performance Foodservice.
