Can it be THAT different???

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Qbert60

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I had the pleasure of hosting 2 CBJ's this weekend as they were working towards their master cert. Anyway, they obviously gave me their feedback. I was hoping it was honest and they were not just appeasing me. Anyway, they said my pork was good, ribs were awesome, brisket was tender and chicken was bland. They wrote down theirs scores and we talked about it at length.

This is what the judges scored me. Finished 25th out of 35

Chicken - 888 978 787 889 899 878
Ribs - 978 977 988 987 988 989
Pork - 888 857 987 877 766 877 (I thought I killed someone. 34 out of 35)
Brisket - 977 999 888 887 877 786

Should I think about re-working flavor profiles or anything else? Do you think that. Here are pics of my turn-ins. Please let me know what you think
 

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Hey Bert, I think your boxes look pretty good. I'm interested in your chicken, and want a taste! Something I've learned about pork, at least in MI and IN, they like sauce. We upped our sauce on pork last year and it payed off. Just my .02. Will you be in Westmont? If so stop by so we can talk some more. We'll be there Friday by noon.
 
sweetracks said:
Hey Bert, I think your boxes look pretty good. I'm interested in your chicken, and want a taste! Something I've learned about pork, at least in MI and IN, they like sauce. We upped our sauce on pork last year and it payed off. Just my .02. Will you be in Westmont? If so stop by so we can talk some more. We'll be there Friday by noon.
Click to expand...

Thanks Josh. No Westmont is a little too far for me. I was thinking about it, but deciding against the 8 hour trip. This is the best my chicken has EVER looked. I was super happy with it. I was told by an Ohio native that BH sauce isn't liked. Heck, should have used SBR instead.
 
Hijack? I would have given 9s for appearance for everything but the brisket; and probably an 8 or 9 for that. Here's the hijack, on the right side, instead of a 90 degree cut, would a slightly angled, or rounded look be better?
 
How do these results compare to your previous competitions?

I wouldn't suggest changing anything drastic unless your results have been this way for 2-3 competitions in a row. There is going to be some variation from competition to competition unless you get the same judges for every competition which is unlikely.

Everything looks pretty good from here. Only thing that stands out significantly is that the front right hand chicken is much larger than the rest and appears to be touching the box. Not a huge deal, but some will mark you down for this.

Just my 2 cents
 
in my honest opinion, 7 maybe an 8 at best for any of those boxes. Maybe bad lighting during the pics.
 
^^^ +1

Dont change anything until you've had 2 or 3 or more contests, and then when you do change, test your new product side-by-side with your previous recipe. Only then will you know if you're making progress. Otherwise it's a crap-shoot.

If/when you begin making changes:

Chicken - 888 978 787 889 899 878
Ribs - 978 977 988 987 988 989
Pork - 888 857 987 877 766 877
Brisket - 977 999 888 887 877 786

I'll assume this is a KCBS system.

Chicken, presentation could be improved, tenderness not too bad, taste not too bad. Perhaps slight tweaks, but nothing major.

Ribs, you received two 7's on flavor when they gave you 9's in presentation/appearance. We tend to "eat with our eyes", so something in the taste was disappointing to these two folks... Again, not bad scores, but consider a slight tweak.

Pork, obviously work to be done here. You were fairly slammed on taste and tenderness. Was it tough, or perhaps the MM slices were really mushy? Taste; needs works.

Brisket, taste got 1 9, an 8, and then 7's and a 6. I'd focus here on your brisket.
 
I don't know how many times a year you compete? We have been competing 11 years and I think one year we did 5 competitions, many times it was 2 or 3 and they might be 3-4 months apart. Impossible to get any real data...I would say, cook the same for at least 3 contest in a row if that is possible?

You need some baseline to see was it just a table at this contest or is it truly a problem with the flavor!


Qbert60 said:
Should I think about re-working flavor profiles or anything else? Do you think that. Here are pics of my turn-ins. Please let me know what you think
Click to expand...
 
Looks like you had some people just lookin to fill their coolers, how else would you explain the 6's and 7's!!!!
 
Podge said:
in my honest opinion, 7 maybe an 8 at best for any of those boxes. Maybe bad lighting during the pics.
Click to expand...

This......

Chicken and ribs and brisket don't look appealing to me... On pork don't be afraid to fill up your box..
 
Skippy,
Like several others said, don't change flavor profiles after 1 comp, let it ride for at least 3 then subtle changes.
 
FormulatedFire said:
How do these results compare to your previous competitions?

I wouldn't suggest changing anything drastic unless your results have been this way for 2-3 competitions in a row. There is going to be some variation from competition to competition unless you get the same judges for every competition which is unlikely.

Everything looks pretty good from here. Only thing that stands out significantly is that the front right hand chicken is much larger than the rest and appears to be touching the box. Not a huge deal, but some will mark you down for this.

Just my 2 cents
Click to expand...

Thanks for your 2 cents. Much appreciated. I am a fairly new team. I know that I have a lot of learning still to do. I competed in Indiana 2 weeks prior. I used the same flavor profiles, and finished in the top 15. The overall scores here were actually lower. Just makes me think that my stuff might not be as good as I thought.
 
Where were you guys at? Glanced for you but did not see you.

We were hanging out near the funnel cake vendor.

Our chicken score seemed odd to us too:

989
978
988
997
965
966
 
Smoke&HoneyBBQ said:
Where were you guys at? Glanced for you but did not see you.

We were hanging out near the funnel cake vendor.

Our chicken score seemed odd to us too:

989
978
988
997
965
966
Click to expand...

We got lucky and were placed right by the turn in's. We were in the double EZ-ups in between the trailers. Is Ohio just full of inexperienced judges?
 
Qbert60 said:
I was told by an Ohio native that BH sauce isn't liked. Heck, should have used SBR instead.
Click to expand...

Yeah, we hear that from judges all the time. "We are so tired of Blues Hog" The thing is, it still wins. That's why people still use it. I wouldn't change it. Judges might claim to be tired of it, but until something else starts winning as consistently, people will put it in the box.
 
Did the same comp

I feel better now. We finished 26th. How do you get all 8s and 9s and a 6??? I am a CBJ as well. This was very inconsistent judging. We'll give it another try before changing too much. I've seen the big boys finish well down in the list so I'm hanging in.
 
accuseal said:
I feel better now. We finished 26th. How do you get all 8s and 9s and a 6??? I am a CBJ as well. This was very inconsistent judging. We'll give it another try before changing too much. I've seen the big boys finish well down in the list so I'm hanging in.
Click to expand...

I was privy'd to a pic of another competitors brisket. He finished lower than me. His brisket looked PHENOMENAL. Makes me not want to come back to OHIO. I hope Kettering is better.
 
kenthanson said:
Looks like you had some people just lookin to fill their coolers, how else would you explain the 6's and 7's!!!!
Click to expand...
I had a set of turn ins, and the chicken and pork both got marked down. Two comments, maybe from same judge, maybe not, I didn't see cards. Said they tasted like fish/aroma of fish. Nobody else said a thing, meats scored better than I would have expected.
 
accuseal said:
I feel better now. We finished 26th. How do you get all 8s and 9s and a 6??? I am a CBJ as well. This was very inconsistent judging. We'll give it another try before changing too much. I've seen the big boys finish well down in the list so I'm hanging in.
Click to expand...

This was our first competition and looking at our scores I am not changing a single thing as far as rubs/sauces.

Brisket placed horrible but I know exactly where I screwed up and that was purely on me.

Ribs we got 13th on and used the same rub/sauce on pulled pork and got 30th.
 
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