1st Place Ribs
2005 Guitarbecue, Asbury Park, NJ
Photo courtesy Richard Dore

The Purple Turtle Catering Company consists of Nancee Gell and Greg Hunter. We have always loved cooking and have long enjoyed coming up with exciting ideas to bring to parties, pot-luck dinners and the like. We have catered parties both large and small, for clubs, alumni groups, businesses, etc. as well as small drop-off events.

Knowing of our love of grilling (several kettles and a gas grill were among the clues), friends gave us our first smoker, which their family no longer used. That was a Coleman propane model, which resembled a Brinkman ECB or a WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker). After using that for a while-with the neighbors constantly checking out what that smoke was pouring out of the backyard-the unit began to rust out.

Thankfully, the internet was around, and we went online to find replacement parts. While we never did find the parts we needed, we did find The New England Barbecue Society (NEBS), an organization dedicated to the art of true Southern style barbeque in New England. They were offering a cooking course shortly thereafter, which we attended and learned quite a bit. A couple of weeks later, they were holding their first contest of the year-the Spring Fling, which was held in February in southern New Hampshire, one town over from where the Hunter family had long had a vacation cabin. It was too close not to go.

While Nancee wanted to jump right in and compete, we finally decided to just attend as spectators and see exactly what was involved. At the contest, we met some competitors who had also attended the cooking school, and others with whom we had exchanged e-mails. One of those was Garry Howard, creator of The Smoke Ring which is probably the best place to start for almost anything barbeque related. Garry was cooking by himself, and had to run to the store for some last minute supplies, which put him slightly behind time-wise. Since we were there, we figured hands-on was better than watching and offered to help, which Garry graciously accepted.

We wound up cooking with Garry for three years, first as Liquid Smoke then as The Smoke Ring. During that time we won many Grand Championships, including the Maryland State Championship, and Reserve Grand Championships. We were also the 2000 NEBS Team of the Year, having the best five scores over the season in NEBS contests. We went to the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue twice, placing second in chicken and eleventh overall in 2000 and fourth place brisket and fifth overall in 2002. We also attended the American Royal in Kansas City, MO, also an invitational contest.

After that season, we all decided that we had learned all we could from Garry and that we were more than ready to "fly on our own". We bounced around a bunch of names, ultimately arriving at "The Purple Turtle Catering Company". We continued our success, winning several Grand Championships, including the 2004 Connecticut State Championship, and Reserve Championships. We were back at Jack Daniels in 2004, where we took first place in chicken (apparently the first time a New England team took a first place at the contest) and fourth place in Jack Daniels Sauce. That year, we also participated at the American Royal, entering all thirteen categories over the two days, on borrowed equipment.

In 2005, the team expanded to include Larry and Celia LeBlanc and David and Sandy Warren, all from New Hampshire. At some contests, we are helped by Glenn Middendorf and Joe Whittel. We also made a move from the three WSMs we had been cooking on, purchasing a trailer-mounted Backwoods Competitor late in the season. We look forward to another strong competition season this year.

As we had learned much at the hands of Garry and others, we continue that tradition by participating in the NEBS mentoring program. This program pairs people interested in learning about cooking barbeque, whether for competition or just in their backyard, with teams interested in teaching. Several of the people we have mentored have formed their own teams, and come back and beaten us-Lost Nation Smoke Company, Smokin Mainiacs and Good to the Bone Bar-B-Que. We also help at the NEBS cooking and judging classes, usually held each spring. Please contact us or NEBS if you are interested.