PIGGING OUT
Annual Troy Pig Out draws large crowd to Riverfront Park
The serious chefs competing in Troy’s 12th Annual Pig Out Saturday had been up for hours when the day’s first visitors began arriving at Riverfront Park shortly after 10 a.m.
For many of the visitors, it was hard to ignore the enticingly sweet aroma that filled the smoky air coming from all the slow cooking pork and poultry products.
The July 13 Pig Out with its competitive cooking, free musical entertainment, craft vendors, kids zone, eating competitions, food vendors, and fireworks is another way to get people to visit downtown Troy. On Saturday it was the definition of success.
It was just past 11 a.m. when the first of two hot dog eating contests were held in front of the riverfront stage. After a bit of coaxing, three contestants stepped forward to join contestant Grady Ingram, who was already putting on his bib.
With large trays of steaming hot dogs in front of them, the four men were told they had three minutes to see how many they could eat. Within the first 90 seconds, it became apparent that Mark Keeling, of Guilderland, would be the winner as he began separating hot dog and bun, dunking the buns in water, and devouring the buns and dogs one after the other. He finished having eaten 13 of them.
“I ate the first one like a normal hot dog and said this isn’t going to work, so I started to dunk the buns like the pros do in the July 4th contest and it went down pretty easy,” he said. “I don’t normally volunteer for things like this, but I said why not and
my family coaxed me on to do it. How often do you get to do something spontaneous?”
As the morning got longer and the sun higher in a light blue sky filled with cotton ball clouds, the aroma of cooked meat became more powerful. At the food stand for the Corner Grill BBQ, Chef Robert Santorelli and assistant chef Dominick Gemmiti were hard at work cutting up smoked ribs.
The Corner Grill BBQ is based at the Altamont Fairgrounds and is a side business for a group of electricians. The large mobile food stand does about eight similar events each summer.
“I started the smoker around 8 p.m. last night, and we were back here at 5 a.m. this morning to load it up again,” Santorelli said. “It’s all about cooking them slow. You really have to be crazy to do this.”
A few yards away Jason Bernard Scanlon of Bernie’s Blue Line Barbecue was watching his smoker closely after taking out a brisket so it could cool. Scanlon was all alone and was at the event for the competition. He was not selling food items like the Corner Grill or many of the other vendors.
“I’ve got chicken, pork ribs, pulled pork, and brisket for the competition,” he said. “At 3 p.m. they’ll sell tickets (for $1 each) and the public gets to sample and vote on who’s the best. I’m trying to win the Mayor’s Choice award, and the People’s Choice Pork Ribs award. You get points for both and whoever gets the most points wins the Grand Champion award. It’s my first year here, so we’ll see.”
Scanlon arrived at the riverfront site at 5 p.m. Thursday night and put his brisket in at 10 p.m. He said he came to the Pig Out because it’s a local event, and he wanted to win a trophy. His reasoning was the same as that given by the crew from Yanni’s Restaurant.
Not far from Scanlon’s smoker, Marc Yanni, had his smoker going with his restaurant’s competitive meats and chicken inside. Close by was the smoker for daytime sales.
Marc Yanni and his restaurant have been a presence at the Troy Pig Out since it started 12 years ago. Yanni has been called the Michael Jordan of barbecue by some in the area.
“We prepped 500 racks of ribs,” said his nephew James Yanni. “The chef started preparing for this a couple days ago.”
Asked what was the booth’s biggest seller James Yanni said it was Yanni’s Famous BBQ Sundae, a twist on the more familiar ice cream sundae.
“It has mashed potatoes that are topped with pulled pork or beef brisket, cheddar cheese, bacon, and a grape tomato,” he said. “The tomato takes the place of the cherry on the ice cream sundae.”
Other food available from vendors at the event included deep-fried Mac ‘N Cheese Bombs, bacon wrapped pierogies, cheesesteaks, sausage and peppers, pulled pork sandwiches, kettle corn, maple cotton candy, vegan and vegetarian dishes, fried potato ribbons, poutine (French fries, cheese curds, and gravy), lemonade, fruit smoothies, and old-fashioned draught soda pop.
That last item, from Wild Bill’s Olde Fashioned Soda Pop Company, uses vintage soda recipes with highquality cane sugar. Purchase a mug and one can refill it all day with different flavors from the taps.
Company owner Kurt Bauerschmidt lamented the event no longer draws the number of professional barbecue competitors it once did.
“The Pig Out is a very good event, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not the same without them,” he said. “These were people who really took what they did seriously. They were here for the competition. It was a bigger event with them here. They’re missed.”