Vt. BBQ Rewarded with Blue Ribbon

By Sandy Vondrasek

We’re talking quantity AND quality.

Over the past four fair seasons, Pauline "Polly" Poulin, her business and life’s partner David Langhans, and their employees have fed their slow-cooked barbecued chicken, pork, ribs, and sausage to thousands of hungry folks.

With each passing year, the Braintree couple’s "Vermont BBQ" trailer has attracted a growing number of devoted fans as they work their annual circuit of county fairs and other events throughout the state, including Randolph’s New World Festival.

Last month at Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, Vermont BBQ’s competitive barbecue team, "Smoking Fools", won its first blue ribbon, snagging the top award in the lamb category, among 36 competitors. The event was the 8th Annual Harpoon Championship of New England Barbecue, a two-day celebration of food, music, and, of course, beer.

According to Chef David Langhans, Smoking Fools’ winning entry was a "Frenched" rack of lamb that was marinated in garlic and other seasonings, rubbed with their proprietary mix of seasonings, smoked in their wood-fired smoker for an hour, and then finished on the grill.

The rack was then sliced into "lambie pops," medallions of meat on a bone. Finally, came the careful arrangement of the meat on a bed of lettuce and in the standard contest container,s because, Langhans noted, "presentation is almost 20% of the score."

Another part of their winning recipe, Langhans said, was the "Chuck wood" they burn in their smoker. That’s Chuck, as in neighbor Chuck Tilton, who provides Vermont BBQ with wood—cherry, maple, beech and apple—for the smoker.

The first-place award came with a ribbon, a trophy, and a Simon Pearce mug, Poulin said.

Team members, in addition to Poulin and Langhans, are Reggie Langhans and his wife, Deb; Shultz Langhans; and David and Cindy Spencer.

According to Poulin, most of the barbecue vendors who feed the more than 6000 visitors at Harpoon’s annual event also compete in the Kansas-City-rules-sanctioned BBQ competition. Only judges get to taste the carefully prepared and artfully presented entries in the two-day competition.

Busy Five Days

While all the judging is going on, few if any vendors feed the crowd more than Vermont BBQ.

Preparation begins days in advance. Poulin drove Vermont BBQ’s new trailer—big enough to hold a "fabulous kitchen" and their smoker—down to Harpoon three days before the July 26-27 competition.

For those five days nobody got much sleep, and on the weekend they got none, Poulin said. Their popular barbecued pork requires 20 hours of slow smoking, followed by "hours of pulling," to make the desired shredded texture. They slow-cooked chicken, ribs, sausage and brisket. Vermont BBQ, not inclined to cut corners, makes its own slaw dressing and handcuts its fries, too.

"We love what we do; you can taste the love in our food," Poulin said.

And, Poulin noted, Vermont BBQ is one of the few vendors that serves breakfast during the Harpoon competition. Grateful breakfast diners include a number of people with hangovers, she noted.

As a result of all of this, Vermont BBQ has its ardent fans, and they gave the Smoking Fools a huge cheer when the first-place win was announced at Harpoon’s closing ceremony.

"They have a special love for us, because we do take care of them," Poulin commented.

There wasn’t much sleep for Vermont BBQ at Harpoon, but there never is, during fair season.

After working last week at the Franklin County Fair, Poulin and Langhans drove their kitchen trailer Sunday night directly to New Haven, in anticipation of Addison County Field Days, August 5-9. Unfortunately, because of the rains, they promptly got trailer stuck in the mud, a tired Poulin reported Monday morning.

If all this makes the reader yearn for tasty barbecue, Vermont BBQ will be back in Central Vermont for the Glory Days of the Railroad, Sept. 6 in White River Junction, and at the Tunbridge World’s Fair, Sept. 11-14.

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