Judges Scoring Question

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Not complaining here just curious about some scores we received this weekend. How common is it when you receive a score from say Judge 2 of a 999 in pork and Judge 3 gives you a 865. I don't get it. Are judges judging food based on their tastes and preferences? Like I said Im not tore up about it just makes me scratch my head :doh:
 
Unfortunately, it's fairly common.

Judges are not supposed to judge based on their tastes and preferences, but they are human, and those are hard things to ignore.
 
Appearance and taste scores are very subjective, so they can be all over the place. KCBS has "guidelines" for tenderness, but they don't always seem to be followed.
 
I know what you mean, I had 999, 999, 988, 898, 766, 766. Almost makes the person entering scores was in a hurry and accidentally entered the low score twice.
 
Or Judge 2 may have gotten a better sample than Judge 3. Not uncommon with pork if you include heavily barked pieces as some judges will perceive them as tough and dry.
 
Mine was in chicken, but I seen someone else's score sheet where the was all over the place, some like a couple 888 and then 764, they asked me about it and I haven't seen anything like it, also I turned I'm exact brisket taste tenderness and appearance, I have pictures and three people's opinion on it from last week 176 down to 154. Don't get me wrong, I loved the contest, but some things make you scratch your head and be like WTF...
 
Thanks for the input. Then I look at Warren County Pork Choppers who consistently win and do well throughout the nation. So that makes me think dude, you really did suck. :laugh:
 
I am convinced that there are some people who can taste certain flavors and others who simply can not. Get a group of people, make it anonymous, have them test some similar meat and analyze the feed back.

There are about 5 things you can do BBQ that will make me wretch. However, a lot of people will be moaning eating the same stuff right next to me.
 
Hawg Father of Seoul said:
I am convinced that there are some people who can taste certain flavors and others who simply can not. Get a group of people, make it anonymous, have them test some similar meat and analyze the feed back.

There are about 5 things you can do BBQ that will make me wretch. However, a lot of people will be moaning eating the same stuff right next to me.
Click to expand...

Everyone has different taste buds (literally). Add in then those that use deadening or taste masking things like cigarette smoking, etc. and we're all over the chart.

http://supertastertest.com/


I'm definitely at the high end of the supertaster testing, and I dont smoke, etc. A good friend of mine is the complete opposite. He has average taste buds and smokes frequently. Where he likes a little food with his salt, I prefer only the tiniest hint of salt, if at all.

My point is this: careful what you put in there. We try to take our personal preferences out, but if it tastes (to me) like a salt lick, expect that I'll slam you and my friend wont notice it at all.
 
I dont know how many of you saw the Kingsford Invitational. But as you listen to the judges comments one judge thought an entry was their favorite and one thought it was the worst. So it even happens with knowledable people/judges.

Also if you listen, two judges cut up one burnt end entry called it a train wreck. You can argue weather the teams were the "best of the best" as they were billed but I dont think you can argue the teams know what to put in a box and what to leave out.
 
Some very good comments above, now you know why you hear folks say some luck is involved. We are all trying to find the perfect balance to appeal to several different pallets.....the teams at the top do it more often than not.
 
Ron_L said:
Judges are not supposed to judge based on their tastes and preferences,
Click to expand...

I disagree with this statement. Taste is totally subjective and is by definition based on the judges own tastes. You are taught to not judge on expectations or based what is not in the box, but I have never heard that the taste score should be anything other than how appealing the sample tastes to you.

While sometimes you just have to chalk this up to luck of the draw, I think you will see more variation in your scores if you venture further from 'neutral' flavors. A highly smoked rib might get 9's from a couple of judges who love smoke flavor and 6's from those who don't. The same applies for heat and unique flavors you might be using. What makes one judge say 'wow' might have the next judge spitting it out.

Tenderness does have a standard and should be more consistent but that is not always the case. You often see taste and tenderness scores correlating fairly closely.
 
It's too bad you didn't get comment cards to explain the lower scores. If I give someone a 6 or less I feel it's my obligation to complete a comment card. When I table captain I ask/remind the judges to do the same. Cheers, and good luck in your next comp!!!
 
I know the feeling here, in brisket this weekend, I had one judge give me a 999 and the next was 655. The rest were 7's and 8's, so there were two really odd scores. I sliced the brisket in 6 consecutive slices, and put burnt ends also. I don't think I deserved the 9's, but the 5's were pretty strange.
 
mobow said:
There is also a tendency for a cook to think the 999 score comes from a better/more accurate judge than the 865 score judge. This is not always the case. Keith
Click to expand...

And I was one of those last year after a contest until it was pointed out to me, here on the brethren, that maybe my high scores were the ones wrong and the low scores were more accurate. Didnt sink in right away though so at next comp I thought i am going to do everything close to the same as I can and got hammered. From there i adjusted and did a bit better or at least got more consistent scores.

If i would not have been sure that the low scores were wrong instead of right I may have adjusted stuff sooner.

But for the record I am willing to bet the next time my scores vary I will still think the low ones are wrong.:becky:
 
We served brisket 3 years ago, first time I tried Weygu. When it rested it got so soft. I didnt thik it was worst every but not happy. We got 3 -9's for tenderness and also then got two notes from judges with 5's I believe. I figured it was a 7 so I guess it worked out, I just can't imagine at a judging table how it goes down- one guy going back for seconds the other guy thinking he would like to spit this out in his hand. Same meat.
 
If it was chicken, then maybe one piece had the skin come off. If a lot of flavor was on the skin then maybe that would explain flavor.
 
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