Grillers win AWF state cook-off

By Tiffiny Woo

Published: August 28, 2008

The River City Grillers enjoy a little friendly competition, but that’s not what made them want to enter the Alabama Wildlife Federation Wild Game Cook-off.
River City Grill owner, Bill Burr said that when their team entered the competition, they entered it to win—and that’s exactly what they did.
The AWF cook-off’s state competition first place trophy now sits proudly on the bar at River City Grill.
It started last October at the Barbour County cook-off at Spring Hill Plantation.
The event was festive, with dancing, fun and entertainment to compliment some of the county’s finest wild-game chefs competing in three categories-poultry, wild game and seafood.
The Grillers took home five awards that day including the overall best award for Barbour County. Their Red Snapper in Papiollot won first place in the seafood division and their Three-course quail took first place in poultry. They earned second place in wild game for their Cajun meatloaf as well as second place for presentation.
Nearly a year later, the team prepared to take on 15 other county champ teams from around the state.
With the same competitive spirit, Burr and his teammates—Marc Schormann, Sarah Burr and Ricky Ryland—prepared to dominate the state competition. The event was held at the AWF headquarters in Millbrook at the Lanark Nature Center on Aug. 9.
The team presented a Four-course Quail for the competition that included a quail tureen, a mixed green salad dressed in a blackberry vinaigrette and toped with a smoked quail breast, a Quail Wild Rice Soup and Champagne Quail—both adaptations of River City Grills popular dishes, Chicken Wild Rice Soup and Champagne Chicken.
Preparing the Four-course Quail on site involved a great deal of technical difficulty. While many competitors had completed many of their preparations before the competition, the Grillers chose to prepare things on-site right before it was plated to be judged.
Their passion and hard work paid off when they were declared the winners and received the first place trophy and check for $1,000. They also won first place for presentation.
This was the Grillers’ first time competing in the event, but it probably won’t be their last.
The next county-wide cook-off is set for Oct. 30 and Burr hopes to see many competitors enter.
“Last year, there were a lot of strong challengers who weren’t able to make the event,” he said. “We had some good competition there, but I would have liked to compete against some of the others who’ve won the event regularly.”