Coast Day Crab Cake Cook-Off entries due Aug. 10

Local cooks are invited to enter their original crab cake recipes for an opportunity to compete in the 27th Crab Cake Cook-Off to take place at Coast Day, Sunday, Oct. 7, at the University of Delaware's Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes.

The family-friendly event showcases how University of Delaware scientists and Delaware Sea Grant are serving coastal communities. Recipes should be based around the preparation of two pounds of jumbo lump blue crab meat.

If selected as one of the eight finalists, entrants will have the opportunity to compete at the final competition during Coast Day, where they will be asked to prepare their dish for an in-person judging. The panel will be ranking dishes based on originality, and balance of crab meat, taste, and texture. Blue crab meat will be provided at the final competition, but all other ingredients and cooking utensils must be provided by competitors.

First-, second- and third-place winners will be rewarded with cash prizes of $250, $150 and $100, respectively. These top three winners’ recipes also will be immortalized in the official Coast Day Crab Cake Cook Book, a recipe book containing the recipes of competition finalists dating back to the very first competition in 1990.

The recipe submission and entrant registration deadline is Friday, Aug. 10, so all aspiring chefs are encouraged to fill out the entry form found on the Coast Day website as soon as possible. Registration is limited to one entry per person. Entry forms can be emailed to dhicks@udel.edu or mailed to: Crab Cake Cook-Off, College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service, 700 Pilottown Road, Lewes, DE 19958-1298.