Small Leg Quarters for turn in???

Q-Dat

Q-Dat

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I've been thinking about this for a while. Suppose I got three very young chickens(I can get 2lb dressed birds)

And I cut the leg quarters and cooked them. I should be able to fit six in the box easily. They should also be pretty symetrical due to the fact that they will come from only three birds. This should make for a really nice presentation. Plus I think that leg quarters cook up juicier than thighs or drums alone.

Anybody think the judges would freak? I cant see why they would. Its the two most common chicken turn ins just together.
 
Like this? I've done it a couple time, the scores were pretty inconsistant. Appearance with this one was 8,9,8,7,7,9
113.jpg
 
My half chickens do better than my thighs, my wife keeps trying to convince me to go all "Pablo Diablo" and figure out a way to slice the breast and insert the leg, thigh and wing into something symmetrical.

I've done it for "anything but" with a different chicken recipe and it has won / worked, but I'm a bit leery about trying it for a turn in.
 
I like your leg box. Looks lots better than the last one I turned in, which didn't fare well. At least the pieces look like they came from a real animal, not like marshmallow puffs w/ sauce. On your grill marks, I would like to see some color, meaning more flavor.Also figure a way to get seasoning left in glaze to be more even. As long as the taste and texture was killer, I'd be temtped to try those again.Steve.
 
I judged a box like you're describing this past weekend in Baton Rouge. I liked the ease that it came out of the box with when I took a piece, and there wasn't all that much sauce on it, so it wasn't messy, but apparently I took a bite in just the wrong place. I was shooting for the top of the leg, right next to where it joins the thigh. I bit into it, and all this juice squirted out, all over one leg of my shorts! Needless to say, I didn't exactly keep my composure and a straight face as that hot liquid hit my skin! The judges around me got a good laugh, tho...

Lynn H.
 
gmholler said:
I judged a box like you're describing this past weekend in Baton Rouge. I liked the ease that it came out of the box with when I took a piece, and there wasn't all that much sauce on it, so it wasn't messy, but apparently I took a bite in just the wrong place. I was shooting for the top of the leg, right next to where it joins the thigh. I bit into it, and all this juice squirted out, all over one leg of my shorts! Needless to say, I didn't exactly keep my composure and a straight face as that hot liquid hit my skin! The judges around me got a good laugh, tho...

Lynn H.
Click to expand...

Please do not tell me you judged down on that did you?
 
ssbbqguy said:
I like your leg box. Looks lots better than the last one I turned in, which didn't fare well. At least the pieces look like they came from a real animal, not like marshmallow puffs w/ sauce. On your grill marks, I would like to see some color, meaning more flavor.Also figure a way to get seasoning left in glaze to be more even. As long as the taste and texture was killer, I'd be temtped to try those again.Steve.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'm not trying to hijack Q-dat's thread, I was just giving him an example of what I've tried and the kinda of apperance scores it recieved. I appreciate the commoents though! There are so many ways to bulid a chicken box with different kinds of meat and combinations. I'm struggling with it, but I've only done 3 competitions. I'm thinking I'm gonna need to take a competition class at the end of the year.
 
I think that makes for a nice presentation. Assuming your taste and tenderness are excellent, the appearance score would not suffer, in my opinion.

However, heed the advise above regarding your grill marks, etc.

But yeah - I think it would fly very nicely with the judges.
 
jrbBBQ said:
Thanks, I'm not trying to hijack Q-dat's thread, I was just giving him an example of what I've tried and the kinda of apperance scores it recieved. I appreciate the commoents though! There are so many ways to bulid a chicken box with different kinds of meat and combinations. I'm struggling with it, but I've only done 3 competitions. I'm thinking I'm gonna need to take a competition class at the end of the year.
Click to expand...


Those look really good to me. I doubt that your inconsistent scores had anything to do with them being leg quarters and not thighs alone. Probably some color preferences between judges on the sauce, and the skin.

Were those cornish or just small chickens?
 
What are these "grill marks" I hear bantered about? I've seen very few pics of the "perfect bite through skin" that has a grill mark.

I see a geometrically un-natural shape, typcially with a slathered in honey golden brown hue. But these "beautiful" boxes typcially don't have a grill mark.
 
Just Pulin' Pork said:
Please do not tell me you judged down on that did you?
Click to expand...
Of course not. I picked the wrong area to take a bite from; that's *my* problem - the cooker couldn't have forseen that. Any "normal" person would've most likely tried the thigh, anyway...

Lynn H.
 
While each box stands alone, I find natural looking meat to be a more appealing presentation.
when I've cooked just legs they look like the pants shrank, so I'd watch out for that
 
Those were cornish game hens and the skin was bite through. I thought about the idea and executed it like I wanted. Like I said judging scores were all over the place at both comps I did it at, 19 out 33 at one and 20 out of 43 at the other.
 
The grill marks or indentations are usually hidden That's the reason they are hard to see. But if they're visable, then they will look more inviting with darker color, indicating char or flavor. Actually we are now testing cast iron grates to see how much of a benefit it really is and worth the cost. Steve.
 
Turned in this last weekend. The judges were a mix of experienced, new and basics in the am training. Got apperance scores of 8,9,8,8,8,9006.jpg

The box did close :shock:
 
I like your creativity and know that experienced judges won't "freak". Give it a go!

One of the best chicken entries at a contest I judged recently was shreded thigh meat (pretty unusual). The cook took a lot of time to get uniform cuts and the flavor was tops and the arrangement neat. I'll never know, of course, but I hope he or she got a walk from it.

The good ol' standby -- thighs -- can be great, but the constant barrage of them can be boring.
 
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