“Pully” as a Food Descriptor

Welcome to A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Jerome. I’m calling from Fort Worth, Texas.

Hey, Jerome. Welcome to the show. What can we do for you?

Hey there. So, I had an interesting experience. I had taken my kid to Waffle House, and he had said on the drive over there, I was like, oh, I really hope they don’t make the bacon crispy. It’s like, okay, we can ask for it. And so when I was ordering our meal, I asked for the pulley bacon. And the cook had no idea what I meant. I said, oh, well, you know, like soft and chewy. And at first I thought it was just the, just the, the waiter that didn’t understand it. I asked the cooks, they’d never heard that phrase before. So then I turned to the next best thing and posted on a Texas Reddit to see if they’ve heard this phrase before.

What’s the phrase?

Holy bacon.

How are you spelling that?

You know, I have never seen it spelled. So I can only best guess P-U-A-L-L-E-Y, or maybe just the Y at the end. So P as in Paul, U as in universe, L as in llama, llama, Y as in yellow, pulley. Yeah, or maybe there’s an E-Y. Again, I’ve never seen it spelled.

Okay. And yeah, so I turned to Reddit and got a very resounding, nope, never heard of that. It’s not a Southern thing, or at least not a Texas thing. But I recall hearing my grandmother call it that. I grew up in like northern Mississippi, western Tennessee area. And so I’m just trying to hound this down. I know you all will be the people to talk to. Do you know it, Martha? Have you heard it before?

I have never heard pulley bacon. Never, ever.

Well, it’s not pulley bacon as a compound that I’m thinking about. I’m thinking about pulley as an adjective to describe food.

Like you pull.

Yeah.

Yeah. Because this is where the action is, Jerome. This is where we get excitement. You know, this is the car chase of this little movie we’re making here. Because that’s an adjective that people do use to describe food. So you were right to use pulley to describe bacon if you meant certain things about that bacon.

Yeah. The way it’s cooked, you know, soft, chewy. And so I was shocked that it took out my surprise. Let me give you some examples of where I found it. For example, in the 1990 cookbook by Bill Neal called Biscuits, Spoon Bread, and Sweet Potato Pie, he talks about sweet potato biscuits. And he talks about just this fantastic result you get if you make them correctly. And he says the results are rich, rather chewy, pulley biscuits and rolls. And he’s talking about that texture you get when you pull the two halves of the biscuits apart so that you can put butter or toppings in the middle.

And on the Eater website, George German of Al Forno Pizza Restaurant talks about the pizza crust at their Providence, Rhode Island restaurant. And he says that when their crust explodes, the inside is pulley and chewy. He says there’s a real magic pulley and chewy crust. And as a matter of fact, monkey bread, are you familiar with monkey bread?

Oh, very much. I do love it.

Monkey bread is often called pulley bread. It has another name for it. Because you pull it apart and it has this characteristic that it separates beautifully. And this kind of physical characteristic of separating the pieces to eat is one of the joys of this tactile feeling. All of these things together that I just read to you, these are all about, I think, related to what you were trying to get across by using that adjective pulley to describe bacon.

So, Jerome, is that how you eat the bacon? Do you put it between your teeth and then tug on it or what?

There’s no other way.

Right, because it’s a little rubbery, but in a good way.

Yeah, that’s just how I’ve heard my grandmother talk about it. And so I couldn’t tell from there, like, is it a regional thing? Is it more of a rural thing? Is it a family thing? I couldn’t, you know, narrow it so I knew all people. So I’m glad to know I’m not too far off.

No, this is how I would write the definition for this particular pulley is an adjective. Having a soft, yielding texture characterized by noticeable stretch or, quote, pull when handled or eaten.

That sounds great.

Let’s put in the next edition of Merriam-Webster.

I’ve never worked for Merriam, but I will email my colleagues there and ask if they’ll include it. How about that?

Perfect.

So, Jerome, you are legit. That’s a legit word. And I hereby prescribed, what do you say, Martha, more bacon?

I would prescribe going back to Reddit and telling those people that you were right and they were wrong.

I did mention it in a little update to my post. After 30-something replies, I said, you know what? This sounds like a dog for A Way with Words. And we got some good comments there. So I will have to give them the update, and I got the stamp of approval.

Well, you take care of yourself, and give us an update anytime somebody doubts your linguistic heritage, all right?

Absolutely.

Thank you so much. And, yeah, more bacon, just not crispy. More pulley bread, too.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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