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Fauquier guy and his pie among finalists in national competition
Driven by a desire to fund some household projects and emboldened by years of compliments on his cooking, Powers entered his “Uncle Mike’s Berry, Apple, Strawberry, Rhubarb Pie” in the competition in March and was astonished to learn that he was a finalist.
“I was dumbstruck. I was like ‘get out of here.’ It’s just so cool. This is the first time they’ve done the contest and I’m one of the first finalists. If I can pull a blue ribbon on Saturday, that’d be awesome,” said Powers, a U.S. Marine Corp veteran.
A life-long chef with a varied repertoire, Powers had never before entered a cooking or recipe contest.
“Everybody has always said that I should open a restaurant or a bed and breakfast. This year, I wanted to get the house painted and do some other things so I decided to look into these contests,” Powers said. When he found out about the pie contest, Powers said, “I thought I’d throw it in there and see what happens.”
Though he couldn't know what to expect, Powers was pretty confident in this particular pie.
“I was tied to my mother’s apron strings,” he said. “I have always cooked, always loved to cook. I’ve always been able to break different tastes down.”
But, that gift has also been a curse in some ways. For instance, his sister’s family all loved his pies. The problem was that they all loved different pies.
“It got to a point where they’d all say, ‘are you baking my pie?’” when the families got together for summer picnics, Powers said. “I’d end up baking five pies.”
So, Powers decided he’d reduce his work load and put all of their favorites together. Strawberries and rhubarb were added for his brother-in-law, John Swift, and blackberries went in for his nephew, Ted. Niece Jacquelyn is responsible for the apple addition while his sister, Margaretta, loves blackberries and raspberries. Putting the fruit together in a deep dish pie pan, Powers’ creation is a “perfect balance” of sweetness from the berries and tartness from the rhubarb and apples, he said.
“They tried it and it was just an instant hit. Now I end up baking five of those, so I didn’t really save myself any time,” he laughed.
The one hiccup with Power’s pie recipe has been the availability ? or lack thereof ? of fresh fruit. He typically makes the pie during the summer when fresh berries and fruit are easily accessible, using blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and rhubarb grown on his property. He also harvests apples and peaches from his own trees.
Unfortunately, none of his fruit is ripe, though he does have some flash frozen strawberries that are tasty. For help, he turned to Wegman’s in Gainesville.
“They’ve been getting fresh rhubarb from California and they give me first dibs,” he said, noting that the store’s produce department has also been helpful in hooking him up with blueberries and blackberries.
In researching contests, Powers was inspired to make some additional entries. To date, he has entered five other contests this year. His homemade clam chowder recipe will compete in a comfort food contest worth $5,000 and a steak dish is up for the $50,000 prize in another competition. Powers is also entered in the Build-A-Better-Burger competition, where the winner will take home $75,000, and has a pair of entries in the $1 million Pillsbury contest.
While those contests are on the horizon, Powers is focused right now on making his best pie this weekend. He is well prepared for the trip, having baked that pie to perfection countless times.
Recently, Powers learned that he'll be using an electric oven in the competition. He's accustomed to baking with gas. So, to get a feel for the difference, he took a trip to his sister's home in West Virginia to test in her electric oven.
Having done all he can to prepare, Powers has two hours today (April 24) to bake his pie. Finalists from the first round will compete again Saturday, followed by the presentation of the $2,500 prize money. “Today Show” weatherman Al Roker is slated to be a celebrity judge for the event.
Here's to hoping Roker likes Uncle Mike's pie the best. We'll let you know.
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