chicken judging photo and question

Sadly, if the contest is unsanctioned, you have no guarantees about what is "proper judging". There will be neither guidelines in place for how the food should be sampled, nor a pool of trained judges to draw from -- and you know most of the public has been brainwashed by bonesless, skinless breast for decades. Fat is EVIL!!! So why are they judging barbeque???

Yes, the product is supposed to be judged "as presented".

However, just because a CBJ is coaching the table, the photo is indisputable proof that they can't MAKE laymen judge by KCBS standards.

KCBS standards state that if the chicken is turned in with skin on it should at least be sampled. The standard is not specific as to how the judge accomplishes this. Keith

SmokinGuitarPlayer said:

Am I wrong to assume that by KCBS guidelines, if the skin is there, it is supposed to be "bitten" ...correct?

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Straight from the KCBS Judge Certification handbook:
"Chicken: Chicken may be presented with or without the skin. It may also be presented with a combination of dark and white meat or all one or the other. The type presented should not in any way affect the way it is scored. Properly smoked chicken will be moist and have a nice texture and any juice present should be clear. Smoked chicken has a tendency to produce a red coloring around the bone areas, especially in the thigh and leg meat. To some it gives the impression that it was undercooked. Always check the juices and if they are clear you will find the chicken is properly cooked. There may be, at times, a pink appearance to the breast meat if it has been smoked for some time. However, we do not judge chicken on its color as some cooks prepare their chicken in such a way the breast meat will remain white."

Additionally, at the judges meeting prior to each event, the direction is given that if skin is on the piece of chicken it must be "tasted". I have NEVER heard the direction that it must be "bitten" to determine "bite-through"; however, that is one of the "usual/understood" criteria for judging chicken with skin on.

I know for a fact some judges take the piece apart before eating it. They want to make sure it's cooked. They should take a piece of skin with the meat but that doesn't test bite thru. That's all part of judging and you take the good with the bad.

A good judge will take the peice presented and take a bite before doing anything else. After all if it's not done and you see blood you can spit it out and should be OK.

Fred, seems you did pretty good there in Chicken...

I cant tell from those pix weather or not they bit then pealed the skin back or pealed then bit.

I can say if they don't take a bit of mine its not going to be a balanced taste.

Its all part of the game...

P.S. Where did you get the pix? got any others?

Thanks, Eric

That was great for Psychedelic Smoke, I didn't get to talk to them much, but that was a awesome job.

Sorry to hear about the Ribs that does stink... looks like that could have really mattered as it was in tenderness.

SmokinGuitarPlayer said:

Eric ... yes, I guess we both had a pretty good weekend. I really think we have the chicken thing "together" but if they don't taste the whole thing in one bite, they are missing the flavor profile and the bite through skin ... both of which take a ton of work to get right.

Did you see my buddies in Psychedelic Smoke took reserve ..first time out!

Also, After the contest I found an error on the score sheet (on my ribs entry , judge 6, no number entered for tenderness... they forgot to enter the score).The error seriously affected my teams placement overall and on ribs and my team guys were quite upset but **** happens...everybody involved in running that contest did a great job.

FB/SGP

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There are a few hundred reasons why to participate only in a sanctioned contest, and then only in a very seasoned reputable sanctioning body.

Lake Dogs said:

There are a few hundred reasons why to participate only in a sanctioned contest, and then only in a very seasoned reputable sanctioning body.

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i couldn't agree more.....:becky:

I know judges who will take a bite through the skin and then peel back the skin to taste the meat to see how much flavor it has vs. all the flavor coming from the rub/sauce on the outside. They want to taste some flavor/smoke in the meat in addition to whatever is put on top.

I don't think you can tell from the one pic what is going on there.

I agree with the statements about sanctioned contests. Non-sanctioned events are a wild-west affair!

What sanctioning body was it?

Let's clear all this up right now.

This was not a sanctioned event operated under MABA rules. The Mid Atlantic BBQ Association was asked to come in on short notice and assist in the administration of this event. This event does not count towards MABA ToY, The MABA Brisket Chase or act as a qualifier. We operated under the rules that the organizer provided.

The scoring mistake on Fred's ribs was unfortunate. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what happened as there is a null field test and it didn't trip. Regardless, I'm the one that entered the scores so the responsibility is mine. Fred pointed it out after the results were handed out and it was corrected on the spot. It moved Fred's team up in the standings a bit but it did not affect any calls or prizes. If it had they also would have been corrected on the spot. My sincerest apologies went to Fred on Sunday and again now.

3. As for the chicken photo, there has been a lot of guess work and speculation as what might have happened, but no one here actually knows or can discern anything concrete from that photo.

There is at least one entry at every contest where the first bite won't go through the skin and you either pull the bite without skin or the skin all comes off with it.
If the skin is not biteworthy then my second bite is usually after I have removed the skin.
I can't say I have ever seen anyone removing skin for their first bite though.
Ed