By Donna Cornelius
Chef Tim Hughes tells a good fish story.
Spend even a few minutes with the executive chef of Snapper Grabber’s Seafood Market in Vestavia Hills, and you can learn where a certain fish was last swimming, how long it will last in your fridge and even how to cook it.
Hughes’ customers aren’t the only ones who now have access to his extensive knowledge. He recently became a national ambassador for the Seafood Nutrition Partnership, an organization focused on educating people about the positive health benefits of eating seafood twice a week.
Hughes is one of 18 SNP ambassadors and the only one from Alabama. He’s serving with other chefs and seafood nutrition advocates, including two well-known cooks, restaurateurs and TV personalities: Gina Neely, who starred in Food Network’s “Down Home with the Neelys,” and Kerry Heffernan, runner-up on season four of Bravo’s “Top Chef Masters.”
“My dad was a chef, so I grew up in kitchens,” Hughes said. “I was cutting fish when I was 7. When I wasn’t playing sports, I was in the kitchen.”
The John Carroll Catholic High School graduate played collegiate soccer in Oklahoma and professional soccer in Italy. After he suffered a devastating knee injury, well-known Birmingham orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews told him there was a high likelihood of injuring his knee again if he continued to play, he said.
“I loved playing, but walking is more important,” Hughes said. “I consulted with my dad and my mom, who’s an attorney. I decided to stick with cooking. I enjoy the creativity. If you serve people a really bad dish, they’ll remember it. But the converse is true; if you serve them something good, they’ll remember it the rest of their lives.”
Hughes joined Snapper Grabber’s about two and a half years ago after working at restaurants.
“I’ve got two small boys and thought I needed a more normal life,” he said.
He and his wife, Kristina, are the parents of Talan, who’s 8, and Odin, age 2.
Snapper Grabber’s opened 13 years ago, Hughes said. Owner Kent Scott bought the business about six years ago. It also has a food truck, Snapper Grabber’s Coastal Kitchen.
As an ambassador, Hughes will work closely with the SNP to promote the benefits of eating seafood. Linda Cornish, SNP executive director, said in a press release that Hughes was tapped for good reasons.
“Over the past year and a half, we have had the pleasure to work with Chef Hughes and the team at Snapper Grabber’s on sharing the important message of seafood nutrition, and I have been impressed by how they interact with customers, to their food truck, to the work they do sourcing the highest quality seafood products for Southern Living and other Time Inc. publications,” Cornish said. “We’re pleased Tim agreed to serve as an SNP ambassador and happy Birmingham has someone so committed to bringing healthy seafood to the people of this great city.”
SNP Birmingham has established partnerships with more than 91 businesses, groups and community organizations in the Birmingham area. During October and continuing this month, SNP is working with its Birmingham partners to promote the positive health benefits of eating seafood, share recipes, hold cooking demonstrations and distribute coupons and other free resources. For news and up-to-date event information, visit SNP Birmingham’s Facebook page.
Hughes said many of his customers buy seafood not only for the taste but for the health benefits.
“I have people who come in twice or three times a week – athletes, former athletes and people who just want to be fit and healthy,” he said. “They get tired of eating chicken, rice and broccoli. I can plan their meals for them and then cut the fish to the right portion size.”
Hughes said there’s no reason seafood can’t be both “delicious and healthy.”
“For example, we have a smoked tuna dip that is both,” he said. “It’s built like a tzatziki with a Greek yogurt base.”
He said that while a ceviche, which is fresh raw fish cured in citrus juices, is “going to be healthy regardless,” he can teach people how to make healthy versions of dishes like cream-heavy bisques.
Hughes said Snapper Grabber’s seafood is “fresh, seasonal and coming from where it’s supposed to come from.”
“There are times when we have fish from almost everywhere in the case,” he said. “I can tell you where it comes from and where it was caught.”
Cutting fish is a highly specialized skill, he said, and so is knowing enough about what you’re selling to help customers make smart choices.
“The misrepresentation of seafood is rampant,” Hughes said. “I went to Mexico Beach to a restaurant that had grouper Imperial on the menu. What I got was a fish called whiting. There’s a more than $20 per pound difference between whiting and grouper.”
Hughes said he and his team love sharing recipes for dishes that taste great and are easy to make.
“I sent one customer home with shrimp, scallops and instructions for making a mixed seafood pasta carbonara with chanterelles,” he said. “He called me the next day and said it was the most wonderful meal he and his wife ever had.”
Customers often bring in their own recipes and ask for advice on which fish to use, Hughes said.
“Someone might come in and say, ‘I have this recipe, and it calls for cod,’” he said. “Cod is a numerous family of fish. Chilean sea bass is actually a cod species called Patagonian toothfish.
Cod can be freshwater or saltwater, and it can sell for $9.99 a pound to $42.99 a pound. If you give me the recipe, I’ll match the fish to it.”
Seafood makes a yummy addition to holiday meals, Hughes said.
“I can’t believe how many oysters we sell for oyster dressing,” he said. “And people want chowders, soups and gumbo for the holidays.”
Chowders are usually made with lots of heavy whipping cream, but Hughes makes a healthier version with a basic béchamel sauce, seafood demi-glace and mirepoix, which is a mixture of chopped vegetables.
“It’s thick, creamy, but not uber-fattening,” he said.
With its seafood market, food truck and the cooking classes it offers, Snapper Grabber’s, at 521 Montgomery Highway in Vestavia, already has a full plate. But it’s about to add something new to its menu.
“We’re taking over the space next door and will have a butcher and charcuterist there,” Hughes said. “Patrick McCown is the food truck chef and works at the market, too. Twillia Glover is working on the truck now and will run the butchering side of the new addition.”
Hughes said he’s happy to help boost SNP’s promotion of seafood – and not just as a healthy option for people.
“Tuna has a part called a bloodline which people wouldn’t eat – but it’s hyper-nutritious for pets,” he said.
For more information on the Seafood Nutrition Partnership, visit seafoodnutrition.org or follow SNP on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
