Date: Fri 16-Oct-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

chef-Pelillo-Cully-Awards

Full Text:

Mike Pelillo Wins Cully Award Number Two

(with photo)

BY SHANNON HICKS

Chef Mike has done it again.

Mike Pelillo, the director of support services at Cornerstone of Eagle Hill

Substance Abuse Center in Sandy Hook, won his second Cully Award last weekend.

The Cullys are the culinary equivalent of the Oscars and the Emmys in the

foodservice industry. To win one is an honor; to be a repeat winner, says Mike

Pelillo, is downright "fantastic."

Members of the Pelillo family -- Mike, his wife Marcia, and their youngest

daughter Christine -- returned to their Sandy Hook home Monday after a weekend

trip to Nashville, where the family was on hand for the 4th Annual UniPro

Cully Awards Competition Ceremony.

A banquet and the awards ceremony were held Saturday evening at the Opryland

Hotel, where the 13 grand prize winners also stayed for the weekend. One part

of each winner's grand prize package was full accommodations for two at the

hotel; the Pelillos decided to bring their daughter along this year, after she

had missed the ceremony the first time her father won the prestigious honor a

few years ago.

Additionally, each chef was awarded a cash prize and presented with a

brand-new NewChef chef's coat.

The Cully Awards recognize leading chefs and foodservice professionals from

nearly every segment of the industry. Winners represent business and industry,

restaurants, recreation and lodging. The winners are judged on their

individual creativity, and end up being found in all corners of the country.

"This award opens it up to the whole country, and anyone in the food service,"

Mike said this week. A professional chef for over 20 years, Mike takes obvious

pride in his work.

Listening to him talk about his work, it isn't hard to see that he enjoys what

he does. During some of his free time, Mike is also a member of American

Legion Post 202 in Newtown and the Shady Rest Association, where the Pelillo

family home is located.

The Cully Awards he has won have solidified what Mike's friends and family, as

well as clients and employees at Cornerstone, already know: Great food can

come out of any kitchen, whether at home, school, a hotel or substance abuse

treatment center.

"That's what I think is so wonderful, and what I really want people to know:

This is no longer `institutional cooking.' You don't have to be afraid of this

food. There are chefs out there who can mass-produce food and who deserve to

get out there and show their stuff."

There are 12 categories in the Cully Awards, a competition sponsored by

national food manufacturers. Chefs are invited to create completely new

recipes using products from one of the 12 categories. This year, Mike came up

with a recipe called New England BBQ Haddock, using Kraftî Regular Open Pit

BBQ Sauce.

The secret, he said, was adding lemon zest and butter alternative to the

already-prepared BBQ sauce, giving the sauce "a New England twist ... we're

known up here for our lemon and butter fish."

In addition to the haddock, Mike's recipe calls for four simple ingredients.

The sauce can be baked into the fish, used as a sauce on the grill, used in

the broiler, and even as a dipping sauce. Mike said the sauce works well in

steak, turkey and other fish.

"This is a very simple recipe, which is something the judges look for," Mike

said this week at his home. "This can be done quickly, and used anywhere."

For the awards ceremony, UniPro (the award sponsor) not only presented medals

and the gorgeous, monogrammed jackets to each of the chefs, but also a

collection of recipe cards with the winning recipes.

Before the awards ceremony began Saturday, each chef's recipe was prepared at

the hotel by underchefs and then set up at tasting stations. Each chef was

then able to offer tastings to the crowd of over 500 people who were

participating in the gala event.

Marcia Pelillo escorted Mike into the huge Opryland banquet room when it was

time for the formal ceremony and dinner to begin. Christine Pelillo recalled

this week the thrill of watching her parents enter the ceremony.

"They had video screens set up on each side of the walkway, so if you couldn't

see the people themselves, you could watch the screen," she said. "You should

have seen [my parents] when they came in... they were just grinning from ear

to ear."

"I'm just so proud of him," Marcia interjected. The Pelillos were home Tuesday

night, all gathered around the kitchen table. In the oven, a homemade lasagna

was bubbling away -- the family would be celebrating Christine's birthday

later that evening -- while the events of the weekend were recalled with

laughs, admiration and some well-deserved self respect.

Introduced just four years ago, the Cully Awards have grown in the industry to

represent one of cooking's top honors. Alan Plassche, chairman of the board

for UniPro Foodservice, Inc, reiterated the creativity and talent that is

essential for each individual award when he spoke during the awards ceremony

in Nashville.

"UniPro Foodservice has designed this award to single out the chef who has

spent his entire career pushing the envelope of creativity, helping the next

generation of culinarians and elevating American cuisine to world class

status.

"The program was designed to recognize the operators who ... turn [our

products] into creative, flavorful food that has helped the foodservice

industry in the USA grow to almost unthinkable levels," Mr Plassche said.

Incredibly, Mike also won an honorable mention Cully Award this year. A second

recipe he entered was for Tri-Colored Tortellini Frittata. The recipe may have

won a higher placement, but chefs can only win one grand prize per year.

Earlier this year, Mike learned his recipe for Anutter Chicken Pizza -- which

uses pulled dark chicken meat, honey, whole cranberry sauce and mozzarella

cheese as pizza toppings -- was selected for inclusion in The Taste of The

Times , a cookbook of recipes created by professionals to be published this

fall.

Last year he was a second prize winner in the General Mills Sweet Rewards

Recipe Contest with his Carrot-Raisin Brownie, a low-fat concoction of

ingredients. The Pelillos are waiting to hear the results of an Oceanspray

contest Mike entered a recipe for a few months ago.

"It's really been a banner year," the chef said this week. "You have to love

what you do, and you have to put your heart and soul into something like this.

I love doing this stuff.

"It was exciting to win the first Cully," he said with a great laugh. "We're

still riding on having that one happen four years ago, and along comes this."