Jerry Mullane Interview

Pork – If you do one thing well don’t try to overwhelm the judges with additional choices. Judges are told to score each type of meat presented separately and divide by the number of types. If you do great pulled pork and a judge gives you a 9 but then he judges your sliced a 5 you are going to end up with a 7.

Click to expand...

I have never been told this. Is this an actual rule?

I attended a KCBS judging class this past weekend. Mike Lake from KCBS was there, he said that if a cook puts multiple types of meat in the box, that cook wants you to try both, and the judge should take both into account when giving the scores for taste and tenderness. I don't remember him saying to give a score for each and divide them in those exact words (he may have though) but that is pretty much the idea I think.

My instructor - Ron Harwell - told us he gave the team the benefit of the doubt and based his score on what tasted the best, but that wasn't how we "had" to judge multiple pieces and that we could take both into account or base your score on what tasted the worst.