Competition Pulled Pork

We used a Carolina Mustard sauce in our first comp. The pork was tender, moist, had a great bark and was very flavorful. Scored 7s and 8s on taste.

Didn't get any comment cards, but I did talk to a few judges after the comp and asked them about it.

Pretty much every answer I got was some form of "don't do that." There's apparantly a particular flavor profile most judges expect and if they don't get it, they judge down. KCBS seems to look mainly for a sweet (overly sweet to me) tomato-based sauce.

Of course every judge is different and I'm sure some of our CBJs will chime in, but that was my experience.

The problem with a mustard sauce, IMHO, is very few people really care for it, even
when it's a great sauce. First, on sauces in general, remember the contest is a meat
contest. Use as little sauce as you can. Dont mask the flavor. Hopefully the sauce
will compliment the flavor. If not, go without sauce. Then, using a little sauce, try
as best you can not to offend anyone. Not too hot (spicy), not too sweet, and not
too salty. Something that compliments the meat and doesn't turn folks off.

Unfortunately I've never seen a meat with a mustard sauce do very well.

It usually bombs on appearance scores...

The only time I have cooked in NC was in Kings Mountain. Didn't use any sauce on my pork and took a 1st. It is a meat contest and, being from Lexington, NC, I'll only use sauce for personal cuisine and will NEVER ever try that stinking SC style mustard sauce. :crazy:

Didn't use sauce in KCBS contests until this year when my wife exercised her authority and said use the damn sauce and I seem to be doing better in the pork catagory.

I would enjoy a good mustard based sauce, but that's just me. The main thing is that it is a meat contest and the sauce should only compliment the meat, not cover it up.

I was given a good piece of advice from the Brethren before my first contest.
Don't piss of 2 of the judges.
Even though I make a kick-butt mustard sauce and 75% of the folks who try it love it.. the rest don't like the mustard/vinegar taste...
You get that same ratio in a group of judges, and yer done.

I didn't listen and tried it on my pork in my first contest... the appearance and taste scores varied from a 9 to a 5... got killed...

Mustard does tend to look a little brown and dull after it sits for awhile.

I was told that since the majority of the judges are usually local, if you do a contest... say on the Georgia/South Carolina border where mustard sauce is popular, you might do well.... but then a gain, that one Ohio idiot judge who's taking a little BBQ vacation will probably hate it.

Bottom line is... if it's a KCBS, better to use a Kansas City type sauce I believe.