Red Bud pair wins title of World Seafood Champion

<span>For Terry Reinhardt and his cooking partner, Donna Dungan, the events of the past several weeks have been - in their words - hard to describe.</span>

<span>After entering the World Food Championships' Super Regional, which was held at 17th Street Bar and Grill in Murphysboro Sept. 19 and 20, "on a whim," the pair - both Red Bud residents - never thought the road would lead to a place neither of them had ever been.</span>

<span>Las Vegas.</span>

<span>"I don't have words to describe it," Dungan said. "Terry has a barbeque team (TR's Up In Smoke) and he competes in barbeque competitions and after the barbeque competition in Murphysboro, we decided to enter the seafood competition.</span>

<span>"We won third place and automatically got a spot in Vegas."</span>

<span>In Murphysboro, cooks in three categories - bacon, sandwich and seafood - had one hour to prepare their best dishes for the judges. Reinhardt's Risotto and Scallops dish received an overall score of 94.125.</span>

<span>Tina Porritt won the category, and $1,000, with a Seafood Wonton dish that scored 98.375.</span>

<span>"It was intense during the Super Regional in Murphysboro and, of course, 10 times as big in Vegas," Reinhardt said.</span>

<span>Once in Las Vegas, the pair found themselves up against 400 competitors in nine categories - bacon, burger, barbeque, pasta, seafood, open chili, sandwich, dessert and recipe. They were one of only six teams without any formal culinary training.</span>

<span>"Most of them owned restaurants or were culinary institute people," Reinhardt said. "I don't know how to put it into words, it was intense."</span>

<span>After two rounds of competition, Reinhardt and Dungan won the title of World Seafood Champions on Nov. 16 and a prize of $10,000. Better yet, the pair were guaranteed a spot at the Final Table against the other category winners for a chance at $100,000.</span>

<span>To make it to the Final Table round, the pair submitted three recipes - a signature seafood dish, fish tacos and a seafood dish infused with beer.</span>

<span>"Everybody (in the seafood category) was required to make fish tacos," Dungan said. "We got a 95 on the fish tacos and that was several points higher than the next competitor.</span>

<span>"Beer was a requirement also. We placed first in that and that got us to the final table."</span>

<span>At the final table, each competitor cooked in their own category. Dungan said the pair stuck with what got them there.</span>

<span>"In the final round, we made the same dish we won the seafood category with and looking back, we think that wasn't the right thing to do," she said. "I don't think we'll do that again."</span>

<span>Ricardo Heredia (San Diego, Calif.), the World Bacon Champion, took home the top prize and title of World Food Champion on Nov. 18. Reinhardt and Dungan placed fifth.</span>

<span>By making it to the final table, the pair earned a spot in next year's World Food Championships, scheduled for Nov. 1-8 in Kissimmee, Fla. They will compete in the seafood category once again.</span>

<span>"One thing we've learned is we're against very high-caliber chefs," Reinhardt said. "We'll try and improve our presentation for next year and have more dishes in our arsenal.</span>

<span>"We didn't ever dream we would make it to the final table."</span>

<span>Between now and then, the pair plan to return to their barbeque roots. Dungan said she is considering getting involved in the dessert competition.</span>

<span>"We haven't come off of Cloud 9 yet," Reinhardt said. "I met a lot of good people at the event and met the CEO of Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (Kevin Adams) and am supposed to give him a call."</span>

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