THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 27, 1994 TAG: 9407260121
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER
STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Long : 127 lines
GEORGE PULLEY IS an Isle of Wight hog farmer who has helped put his county on the map in another field.
As it turns out, Pulley is a prize-winning cook.
In fact, he and his culinary team won two first places in a national cooking contest, beating the chef who cooked President Bill Clinton's Inauguration dinner.
``There ain't too much that we can't cook on a cooker,'' Pulley said about his team's recent wins at the second annual National Capital Barbecue Battle, held June 25 at Washington Harbor.
``We can put a hurtin' on some pork tenderloins. We run 'em on the grill and then we cover 'em with the sauce,'' he said.
Gwaltney of Smithfield Ltd. hauled a truckload of ribs, whole hogs, and shoulders up to the cooks who were waiting to grill, smoke and barbecue the meat with just the right spices for the competition.
Pulley and his team, ``The Three P's,'' took firsts in the sauce and pork rib competition. For their efforts, they took home $1,100 in prize money. More than $10,000 was given out to cooks.
Other members of ``The Three P's'' include Bob Ballinger, a nuclear inspector with Newport News Shipbuilding; Milton Kemp, a teacher at Windsor Elementary School, and Henry Pulley, a senior at Christopher Newport University and Pulley's son.
The men are only a sample of the kind of people who enter the competition - generations of chefs in all sorts of occupations.
The first time out, The Three P's only claimed one trophy, sixth place for the pork rib competition.
``We done it all,'' Pulley said. ``The whole hog, shoulders, ribs . . . But we were just greenhorns last year. We got educated.
``We got our heads straight. We didn't change our recipe. We improved it,'' Pulley said with a smile.
But how Pulley improved his recipe, he wouldn't say.
Pulley said last year, when they came to the competition, his outfit had no idea that the teams were expected to set a table for the judges, where they could sit and sample the food.
``Last year, we didn't know nothing,'' he said. ``But people help you get started. We were given some things to use for our table setting. You have to serve them just like you would in a restaurant,'' he said.
But Pulley said once it's time to cook and present the food to the judges, the helping is over with.
``You're on your own,'' he said.
Pulley said cooks are judged on appearance and cleanliness and their entries on doneness, tenderness, flavor and overall impression.
The tasters are not paid. And cooks have 15 minutes to convince each judge that they've just died and gone to heaven because the food is so good.
Pulley said three judges come to each table to taste food. A tray of food is also sent to a ``blind'' set of judges - judges who don't know which contestants are which.
At the end of the tasting, all the scores are pooled and a winner in each category is determined.
``When we won the first in the sauce contest, we were happy,'' Pulley said. ``We had one trophy. We were tickled. When we won the second one . . . Well, nobody else won two firsts up there this year.''
In fact, The Three P's came only eight-tenths of a point from winning the grand championship trophy at the competition.
They lost that trophy to the Smokey Mountain Barbecuers of Carolina.
Pulley said some cooks at the competition set their table using crystal and sterling silver - they pull out all the stops, he said. One man even wore a tuxedo this year - but he didn't win, Pulley recalled.
``This year, when I presented it to them, I said, `This is what we like in ribs.' I took a rib and shook it. The bone came right out. It was really tender. It had cooked nine hours on a grill,'' he said.
And although Pulley might tell a judge what he uses in his barbecue recipe, he never tells how much he uses of each ingredient.
``If I tell people what's in it, then they'll go out and make it,'' he said.
But Pulley will say this. His recipe starts with a mustard base. And yes, there's also a little bit of brown sugar - to give it that sweet taste. And yeah, there are a few spices - maybe more than a few.
Pulley really wouldn't say.
But it did take some time for Pulley and his son Henry to perfect, about two weeks - right before last year's competition, he said.
Pulley said the reason he enjoys cooking so much is because all his cooking is done in the open air.
``I ain't in the kitchen,'' Pulley said. ``There ain't no kitchen. And I use paper products - the nonwashable kind,'' he said.
As a result of their recent wins, the Three P's will compete again at the ``Memphis In May,'' a cookoff where 200 teams from all over the United States converge for a cookout.
``We're not going to do anything different,'' Pulley said. ``Why change? We're going to improve our cooking facilities, but we don't plan to change our cooking style.''
But good food isn't the only benefit of this competition.
Last year, Pulley said he met a Redskins fan at the competition who loved watermelon.
By the end of the competition, Pulley had traded a watermelon for five Redskins' tickets to the Oct. 2 Dallas/Washington game.
``A country boy can survive,'' he said. ``And it all started from a watermelon.'' ILLUSTRATION: THE BEST BARBECUE
[Cover]
[Color Photo]
Celebrating their win in the second annual National Capital Barbecue
Battle in Washington are, from left: George Pulley, Bob Ballenger,
Milton Kemp and Henry Pulley.
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
George Pulley and his team, ``The Three P's,'' hook up their cooker
at the Isle of Wight Ruritan Club. All the cooking is done in the
open air, not in a kitchen.
George Pulley closely guards his recipe for barbecue sauce, but he
does allow that it has a mustard base and a touch of brown sugar.
Bob Ballinger, a member of ``The Three P's,'' is a nuclear inspector
with Newport News Shipbuilding. He places a mascot on the grill's
chimney.
Henry Pulley, a senior at Christopher Newport University and
Pulley's son, is also a member of ``The Three P's.''
by CNB