Early Friday morning three top Seattle seafood chefs had a copper salmon cookoff, cooking the very first copper salmon to be delivered from Alaska.

The plane landed just before 7 a.m., carrying 22,000 pounds of fresh Alaska Copper River Salmon. As soon as the plane touched down the red carpet was rolled out for the salmon to become the main course, which was carried off of the plane by the pilot.

With grills and ingredients ready, chefs John Howie- from Seastar Restaurant, Peter Levine- from Waterfront Grill and Pat Donahue from Anthony's Restaurants, had half an hour to cook the fresh 43 pound salmon.

Celebrity Judges Jay Buhner, Mike Fourtner- of Discovery Channels Deadliest Catch, Washington State University Head Football Coach Paul Wulff and Alaska Airlines President Brad Tilden sampled the three salmon dishes, all agreeing it was hard to choose a winner.

Pat Donahue, from Anthony's Home Port Restaurants was chosen as the winner of the cookoff.