Score my Pork Box Please

My first thought when i looked at this is that it needs more shine. Either from sauce or a spritz of water or AJ.


I'd give it a 7 or 8. (I'm not a CBJ, just a cook)

Good entry. Better than some i started out with!
 
First glance I'd give it an 8, as it appears a bit dry. Probably looks better in person, but the photo can be deceptive. Also, the coloration is inconsistent - parts look like char, while other parts are definitely not.

Interesting "loaf". Definitely larger than the typical MM. I'm assuming that there will be a bunch of fat in the slices, but that isn't taken into account in my "Appearance" score.
 
Ok I would give a 6 or 7. Was your slicing portion tough that you needed to slice so thin. Immediately that would be a concern of mine. The coloring isn't as appetizing as it could be and that will hurt you as well. The coloring in the meat and on the meat is off to me. It looks pale and a bit washed out like there was no time to "polish" it up after foiling. Give it a spritz with something from spring water to spray of vegetable oil something to give it a shine.

Now all this could be wrong due to poor coloring from the photo.
 
I'm going 8 maybe 7 but more toward 8. It look appealing to me. I think a few more chunks on the side would make it look fuller and, as mentioned above, a bit more shine.
 
The pieces at the rear of the box are attractive, but look a tick dry. The color on the sliced muscle is uneven, and the arrangement of those slices is not attractive to me. I would score this a 6/7, and fill out a comment card.

If those forward slices were fanned out to show off the cross section, I think your appearance score would improve.
 
I would give this a 6. I don't like the arrangement of the slices or whatever you call the other pieces. sliced chunks?
 
Man you cook types are hard on a guy. I'm in for a solid 8! I'm hopin for all kinds of flavor on that crusty slice. More chunks and some moisture and I'll go 9.
Ed
 
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ModelMaker said:
Man you cook types are hard on a guy. I'm in for a solid 8! I'm hopin for all kinds of flavor on that crusty slice. More chunks and some moisture and I'll go 9.
Ed
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This is the man to listen to. He is right your fellow cooks are going to critique it like its their own cook and many are never fully satisfied with their cooks. So we will always be a point or two low. As you see Ed felt it an 8 while the low score from cooks was a 6.
 
6 leaning to 5. Thin slices indicate that it will be a good chew. There are a few pieces?? on top but what are they? There is no pulled in the box so it was a tad underdone. I eat with my eyes first and that is not that appealing to my eye.

My only thought go back to my roots in NC and it was normally said if you can slice it, it ain't done.
 
That loaf of pork is HUGE!!! I'm with Tom, I can't assess tenderness because it is just a picture, but I would fear there would be a tad too much fat in that heap of meat because it is certainly not just the MM that is sliced; you have the MM and other surrounding muscles that are all connected via fat and other stuff...could hit you on tenderness.

As for the appearance, my eye is drawn to the discoloration on the MM, and the bland appearance of the chunks. I would try to mask some of that some. I'm not a fan of the layout, but that is my personal opinion. I would give this a 7.
 
Why do you need to put so much meat in that box? The loaf looks like a full roast - appearance score from me would come from getting to peek what the middle of the slice looks like as well as the outside. With 12 slices plus the slices in the back (which are a little uneven) that's too much food, so much that it becomes unappetizing.

I'd score that box likely a 6/7.
 
Smoke'n Ice said:
6 leaning to 5. Thin slices indicate that it will be a good chew. There are a few pieces?? on top but what are they? There is no pulled in the box so it was a tad underdone. I eat with my eyes first and that is not that appealing to my eye.

My only thought go back to my roots in NC and it was normally said if you can slice it, it ain't done.
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This is one thing that is wrong with judges. you can't judge appearance on YOUR ASSUMPTIONS. You can't say that since there is no pulled in the box so its a tad bit underdone. Thats complete BS!! You are only judging on visual appearance and not ASSUMPTIONS. If you can slice it, it ain't done???? Seriously??? You can't judge something that is NOT in the box or what you assume the taste or tenderness will may or may not be. The appearance scores are for APPEARANCE only and not assumptions or expectations.:mad2:
 
I personally have never seen an intact external muscle of a pork butt that large. Based on the box size (probably the standard 8 X 8) that chunk of pork is 4 inches by 7 inches in size and sliced very thin. This is not an appealing presentation because of experience in cooking and judging. I graded it down, not because of what was not in there, but what was in there, which is not appealing to me.

Heck, being from Texas, you should know why they require the thickness of brisket slices to be the size of a number 2 pencil.
 
DR said:
This is one thing that is wrong with judges. you can't judge appearance on YOUR ASSUMPTIONS. You can't say that since there is no pulled in the box so its a tad bit underdone. Thats complete BS!! You are only judging on visual appearance and not ASSUMPTIONS. If you can slice it, it ain't done???? Seriously??? You can't judge something that is NOT in the box or what you assume the taste or tenderness will may or may not be. The appearance scores are for APPEARANCE only and not assumptions or expectations.:mad2:
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My Thoughts exactly!!! Thank you..................Oh and I would give it a solid 8 for appearance, the chunks in the back look good and moist(you can see the sheen from the light in the picture), I really don't care too much that the color on the outside of the slices are a little uneven, they look good to me and is the reason why I want to eat them!!!!
 
DR said:
This is one thing that is wrong with judges.
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I agree with MOST of your comments; HOWEVER, I would add "some" in front of "judges" in your opening sentence.
I truly believe that MOST judges "judge as presented" and do NOT take their personal preferences or opinions into consideration when they judge. That being said, there are a few judges out there that give the rest of us judges a bad reputation!
 
I agree with Bill. Looks good. The thickness of a slice should have no bearing whatsoever with an appearance score . This is part of the problem with judging right now. Expectstions. Judge what I put in the box and not what you want or expect me to put in the box. No wonder why I retired
 
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bbq.tom said:
I agree with MOST of your comments; HOWEVER, I would add "some" in front of "judges" in your opening sentence.
I truly believe that MOST judges "judge as presented" and do NOT take their personal preferences or opinions into consideration when they judge. That being said, there are a few judges out there that give the rest of us judges a bad reputation!
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I totally agree. Sorry, i should have worded that better and not have thrown all of us into the same bag. I agree that its only SOME.:thumb:
 
Thanks for all of the feedback. To address some of the comments.

The pork was taken off of the cooker at 194 degrees, it was done and very tender, and not mushy.

The reason there is no pulled in the box is this was my third KCBS comp and I haven't found a way to put pulled in a box that looks good to me.

The "loaf" was very tender, may have had some fat (I don't remember) but tasted great.

The meat on top is sliced horn muscle.

The scores I received were:

988 788 799 899 988 888 with a 1 table rank and 12th out of 32 teams

By asking here I just wanted to get other experienced cooks opinion.

I will take the comments and try to improve.

Thanks again,

Brandon
 
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