The BBQ BRETHREN FORUMS. - Comp Chicken/Educate Me Please

The BBQ BRETHREN FORUMS. (https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/index.php)

- Competition BBQ (https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=15)

- - Comp Chicken/Educate Me Please (https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=261265)

Quote:

Originally Posted by masque13 (Post 4019273)

i think it says exactly what one would expect it to say. the chicken recipes that everyone strives to do so well and that are so similar are middle of the road and are the most trustworthy and least offensive style to produce.

anytime you think outside the box and try things not usually the norm you always run the risk of finding some who like it alot, some who think it is pretty good and some that simply do not like it at all. thats why it is considered out the box or a risk. and that's exactly what his scores represented and thats why he says "now back to our regularly scheduled recipes"......comp BBQ is not usually the best of places to get too wild with a recipe.....little tweaks here and there can even hurt you alot. sometimes they help.....we just came back with a 4th place chicken and a 3rd place brisket and slightly modified both of our recipes. BUT both were inside the realm of what is considered "normal" on the KCBS circuit.

I have come to understand that with the money I have invested and the time and energy that it takes to do comps, that I am willing to play the game and just try to give the judges the most balanced, tasty, tender, non offensive BBQ they have ever tasted. I will leave the out of the box recipes and wild variations to my home cooking.

My final KCBS comp will be the first weekend of October and I'm going go off road, out of the box and any other term you can think of for not normal. It will probably bomb but on that rare chance that it works, I be announcing my class schedule shortly thereafter :-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pappy Q (Post 4019285)

Don't forget your old friends on this thread! Stop back and tell us about your adventure.

Look what you guys made me do.

My backyard version of comp chicken

http://i.imgur.com/Qf8jvoth.jpg

Here’s something a little interesting. I helped judge a small local non-KCBS (but KCBS rules and scoring) contest a couple of months ago when I couldn’t compete because my partners were out of town. I took a picture of the chicken entries... Observations from my recollection: you can definitely tell which 2 were entered by KCBS teams. 162 won but second was a surprise based on appearance: the thigh on the left of 162! I gave it a 7-9-9 as I half expected to taste a burnt and bitter skin but was pleasantly surprised by a nice grilled and mildly sweet taste with crisp skin that was actually bite through! The other judges thought so too (4 were KCBS judges with 1 celebrity judge and me who has had a judging class and cooked in some contests). Third was the lollipop legs. I think the other better looking thigh was 4th. Sauce was a little too thick, but had a good taste. The other entries tasted like they looked... Still, just goes to show that “you never know” and that you don’t necessarily “have” to cook the butter basted chicken pillow thighs to do well (though they did win here. 9-9-9 from me). If the grilled thigh cooker can nail down a better appearance, he’d really have something I’d enter anywhere.

Wow! I'm ready to eat. That's kind of what I was longing for in my original post that kicked off this great thread. But I have come to understand that risk-taking is not rewarded in the KCBS.