Pork Turn In Box - I'm open to feedback *PRON

Congrats!

I'm not a comp guy, so no advice, looks good to me.

KC

Looks pretty good. I may have had a little less bark showing on the left side. More balance perhaps.

Looks good to me.

Posted a similair thread not too long ago...GTR suggested that I should post it in the Competition section of the Phorum for more Pheedback.

I don't do comps, but the box looks pretty good to me. I suspect that if you were 3rd place, it was probably nitpicking. Then again, I don't do comps so take my comment with a grain of salt.

I DO comps and am a CBJ in addition to being a fellow competitor. The pic is a little dark (lighting), but:

a) the garnish is getting a bit much, to the point of being distracting. The closer to a putting green you can get, the better. Think of it as "background framing"... Set the meat actually on top of it vs. what appears to almost be "in" it.

b) personally, I LOVE that the meat looks like meat! However, sometimes I'm in a minority where this is concerned. There is allllmost an expectation that it'll have sliced Money Muscle nowadays. Me, you're getting either an 8 or 9 on presentation/appearance, depending on actually how dark the bark is/was. The pic looks very dark, but in actuality it was probably a bit lighter...

I looked at it for about 10 seconds (rough amount of time a CBJ gets to see a turnin box to judge) and here are my thoughts...

Garnish is not very enticing. I know you aren't supposed to be judged on garnish but I do believe that it effects the overall appearance of the meat. Be careful to make sure all of the parley is the same type of leaf. Also make sure it is all uniform is size, shape and height in the box.

Consider large pieces of meat. I find that pulled or chopped meats cool quickly and thus lose taste. Additionally, larger pieces are easier to shape into a more uniform size which ultimately is more pleasing to the eye.

I would score this box probably at a 7 or 8 overall appearance. Not bad at all. Good work and keep it up.

wouldn't you want less black on it for a comp? just seems like it should have been shielded from the smoke abit, im sure it tastes deadly its just not as purdy as it could be

like that?

Grant, I like that box. Though I don't love the leafy lettuce garnish, but that is just my opinion. The sliced money muscle could be neater but overall, a fantastic box. Probably a 9.

sigpi906 said:

I wanted to cut the money muscle and provide slices, but as it turns out, a competition is not the place to learn how to do that. I'd never done it before and was unprepared for how tender it was. It just fell apart under my knife. Who knew cutting pork that had been cooked to 200* would prove so difficult. I'm going to start working on this.

When you say that you're in a minority in liking that the meat looks like meat... what do you mean? What are people doing that makes it not look like meat?

Click to expand...

I have seen a couple threads on here with people doing their pulled pork for competition. The pieces were very manicured, same size, etc that when I saw the picture, I thought I was looking at a pile of wet playdoh pieces of meat as opposed to real meat.

Looks good enough to eat :thumb:

Hi.
I am KCBS CBJ. Your box looks great.A little too much garnish but then again
its all about the meat and NOT about the garnish =).
Little too heavy bark on left side of your box.
All in all I would say 8.
If that box was in front of me, I would not be able to wait to try some of it.
It looks FANTASTIC.
Hope this helps.

CBJ as well, it looks very good but not perfect a solid 8 IMO on a feeling good day I might give a 9. maybe a bit too saucy hard to really tell if it's just drizzled on some pieces or is slathered on all pieces

You might also want to post in on BBQ Critic.com for some more reviews

As a CBJ, I agree with most of what the others have said:
1. Too much garnish. The parsley looks like it's swallowing the meat. I'm not judging the garnish, per se, but in this case, it does detract from the overall look of the meat.

2. That said, the meat looks awesome. As a cook, I always try to get those thumb-sized chunks. Money muscle might have helped, but only if it was really well done. I think you made the right choice by keeping it out if it didn't slice well.

From me, a solid 8. Get the meat unburied from the garnish and it goes to 9.

sigpi906 said:

I wanted to cut the money muscle and provide slices, but as it turns out, a competition is not the place to learn how to do that. I'd never done it before and was unprepared for how tender it was. It just fell apart under my knife. Who knew cutting pork that had been cooked to 200* would prove so difficult. I'm going to start working on this.

When you say that you're in a minority in liking that the meat looks like meat... what do you mean? What are people doing that makes it not look like meat?

Click to expand...

aawa explained it pretty good, and sorry to be confusing in my writing. I think you can over-sculpt it so that it no longer looks like meat, and worse, could bring in imagery of something really nasty. For example, some chicken entries look like christmas balls; no longer looking like something edible. I've seen 2 entries, I swear, you couldnt tell that they weren't baked potatoes... Some money muscle entries are sliced and cooked in such a way that they look like dog feces. I've seen other pork entries that look like cat food. Again, imagery that doesn't say "Hey, just just gotta eat this" to me... Others, apparently they dont see the images, or they really want to eat dog ****. I dont know...

Yours, to me, looked liked pulled pork that I wanted to eat. Was a little dark on the bark, but otherwise very nice.

What I was saying about the MM; some have come to expect it, like burnt ends in brisket. They shouldn't, but they do... However, from me, I'd say that 30% of the MM's are undercooked and a tad tough or overly fatty, another 30% are overcooked and mushy. In these cases they take away from the other pork (and have in my scoring). But, when it's done just right, and presented so that it doesnt look like a turd, it helps.

Grant's box had the pinkish red of the smoke ring on the pork, which was missing from the OP's box. My first reaction to the OP's box was "where is the pink?"

Yes, judge's aren't supposed to judge smoke ring, but color could also come from sauce. The OP's box was a little monochromatic for me.