Pork - sliced?

NO

I see slices in about 25% of the pork boxes that I judge. It helps (IMHO) to have a variety of pork in the box (some may disagree, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) rather than just pulled, but I've seen some win without slices.

Good luck!!!

Could the answer vary from region to region as to how common it is?

My guess is that it doesn't have to include sliced.

Does it have to include sliced? No. Does it help? Probably, especially the farther you travel from the Mason / Dixon line. Does it hurt? Yes, if the money muscle isnt cooked correctly. Just my opinion though.

not sure if you have to but nothing beats a properly cooked money muscle.

SHBBQ said:

not sure if you have to but nothing beats a properly cooked money muscle.

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Tastiest piece of meat on the entire pig if you ask me.

Brother Myron has made sliced money muscle very common here in Georgia. Other than that, the only time I've seen sliced pork in a KCBS context is at judging classes, where one entry is always purely sliced butt. Never seen such a thing "in the wild" at a contest though.

Before BBQ Pitmasters Season 1, it was RARE that we'd see anything other than pulled in a box, and then when we did usually it was a mistake (ala. didnt help the team at all). As Gavin said above, Brother Myron seemed to set some wheels in motion. Now I see probably 60-80% of boxes come across the table with MM sliced. Nice difference, but not completely necessary. Tom said it helps to have a variety, and I tend to agree with him. However, a really good tender pulled-only entry can do just as well if not better than another entry with MM sliced.

However, all of this could be very regional as Todd said. Sliced chunks tend to not play well here at all.

One thing I do know is that things change. What works well for a few seasons in one area may not work well a few years later.

Me, as to what do I, as a judge, prefer? I prefer perfectly tender meat seasoned to perfection.

Golden Toad BBQ said:

I was hoping to get a few judges to chime in to see what they prefer...

Toad

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Speaking with my CBJ had on - I MUCH prefer to have a variety of meat in the pork box, and my "appearance" scores may reflect this opinion; however, you are running the risk of not ALL of the types in the box being of the same quality - thereby reducing your "taste" and "tenderness" scores because of "averaging" the different types.

I haven't noticed a big difference regionally with slices in or not in. While I've judged mostly in the southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, & Georgia), I have also judged in Arizona and Ohio. I see a few boxes with slices in just about every contest.

Out of 13 boxes I judged the past two weekends, I think only 3 or 4 did not include sliced. There were a few boxes that would have been better off leaving the slices out, as they were way over done, and there were a few that would have scored better with only slices.

To answer the OP's question...I don't think you have to include sliced, but your odds are certainly better if you do.