Chef Thomas Reagan of the Arundel Lodge in Kennebunk, Maine, won the People’s Choice award at the 2011 Maine Lobster Chef of the Year competition, held on Friday in conjunction with the annual Harvest on the Harbor event in Portland, Maine.
Reagan’s winning dish, Slow Poached Maine Lobster Tail Nipponese, beat out two other dishes — Maine Lobster Ménage a Trois from Ryan Campbell of the Lake Parlin Lodge & Cabins near Jackman, Maine, and Trio of Maine Lobster Rolls from Kristian Burrin of The Seasons of Stonington Inn & Lobster Deck in Stonington, Maine.
Reagan’s dish consisted of a Maine lobster tail poached in a lemon butter sauce and served on top of a black and white sesame seed-coated rice cake with an orange miso coleslaw garnish.
Reagan will square off against three other chefs in Portland, Maine, in August 2012 to compete in the final round of the Lobster Chef of the Year competition.
The first round took place at the Asian Seafood Exposition in Hong Kong early last month. The winner was Patrick Goubier, executive chef of Chez Patrick in Hong Kong. (In the first round, the chefs were required to use Raw Whole Shucked Maine Lobster, consisting of raw claw, knuckle and tail meat extracted from a 1 1/4-pound Maine lobster using high pressure processing.) The second and third rounds will take place at the International Boston Seafood Show in March and the European Seafood Exposition in April.
Friday’s competition was presented by the Maine Lobster Promotion Council in partnership with the Great Portland Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Click here to view more photos from the Maine Lobster Chef of the Year competition on the SeafoodSource Facebook page. And don’t forget to “like” us if you haven’t already.
