whats the deal with chicken?

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BBQ John

Guest
does everybody do the old muffin pan chicken trick or do these judges actually want to taste something different? shouldn't originality be scored well? i'm not a judge and have no clue how there trained, just looking for some insight here.
 
no muffin pan chicken here. i've turned in both legs and thighs, never breast or wings.
 
sweet savory jucy parts. How can you best turm that in?

I "can" cook great chicken on the grill. But if I want to repoduce consistant chicken ... I use pans and butter.
 
thats my point though, shouldn't BBQing be judged on BBqing? not mass produced butter and pan style cooking methods?
 
BBQ John said:
thats my point though, shouldn't BBQing be judged on BBqing? not mass produced butter and pan style cooking methods?
Click to expand...

Wait just one minute...

Putting 10 to 12 pieces of chicken on a smoker grate or a grill is just as "mass produced" as chicken placed in a muffin tin and then put in a smoker.

It's called a technique and just because it's in a muffin tin doesn't mean it's not BBQ. I don't cook chicken in a muffin tin nor do I compete on a regular basis, but I know lots and lots of people who do and they are talented individuals (and teams) and calling their entries mass produced, no matter how they cook it, is disrespectful.

If it's cooked according to the rules, it's good enough for the sanctioning body. Then it's good enough...
 
whoa man, i never tried to come off as disrespectful. all i'm saying is if theres 40 teams, and 40 teams are doing the same style of chicken, theres something wrong with that. just seems to me that there should be more of a variety because it seems this is the one category there is none of that in.
in no way was i disrespecting or trying to disrespect anyone. i think you took it the wrong way my friend.
 
No tins here but thought of trying it for fun... I agree, it is more about the taste of the chicken... You get 1 maybe 2 bites to wow them...
 
Believe me 40 teams are not doing chicken the same way. You might want to practice some ideas or methods that work for you. Go to a judge class or help with some contests. You'll have a better idea of what's being turned in. Steve.
 
There are no judging instructions concerning chicken appearance other than the infamous "red next to the bone use a napkin to see if its blood" thing. Muffin tins and some trimming methods (e.g. lollipop style) can create a more uniform appearance (every piece in the box looks the same). During appearance judging, uniformity can be important (no judge wants a bad looking piece) but so is appetizing coloration, artistic arrangement, appetizing looking greenage, etc.

If you look at the score weighting you'll see most of the score is attributable to flavor, though, not picture-perfection.

As a judge I look at the chicken and think: "Does this look like something I'd really like to dive into?" The appearance is an attraction, not the whole game :rolleyes:
 
Even if a majority of teams do something similar it all comes down to the detils and that is what gets a call....attention to detail. I'll spemd an extra 30 min on chicken to get looking perfect vs just saying it looks good enough.
 
BBQ John said:
does everybody do the old muffin pan chicken trick or do these judges actually want to taste something different? shouldn't originality be scored well? i'm not a judge and have no clue how there trained, just looking for some insight here.
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter if it's muffin pans, lollipops or just plain drumsticks. If you're good at chicken, you're good at it. I do believe you right when it comes to originality and creativity. But most of those who walk do something great with the flavor. Don't worry, someone will come up with something everyone else will try to copy...like chicken smoked inside Jack Daniel whiskey barrels. LOL:idea:
 
We grill our chicken like the normal folk does at home on a weber and have done very well in our chicken turn in. Do whatever works for yourself.
 
The chicken should be hot, moist, and tender, and not chewy or rubbery. That's
pretty much it for chicken as far as training. Unique flavor I'm sure will be appreciated,
but if it's dry, say g'nite gracy, regardless of how it's cooked, pan or not. Uniqueness
is great, but unique skunky is still skunky...
 
I judged a comp last summer where a team turned in muffin-pan thighs. They totally burned the tops. They were the only muffin-pan that I saw. It's incorrect to assume that everyone is doing this. Do what you think will get you a call. That means it needs to be tender and taste good, and it needs to look good so that it makes me want to eat some. If you use a muffin pan, a rotisserie, a baking sheet, it does not matter. It simply needs to be good.
 
I am not much for competition BBQ in terms of competing, but, I have to say there are regional characteristics that can come into play, especially when you are talking local judges and new judges. Many of the techniques you see, such as panning, muffin cups, margarine etc...are being used to create a consistent, repeatable product while reducing the variables. Consistent size of meat, amount of fat, thickness of skin, location of bone etc...are all about making each piece cook like it's neighbor on the grill.

In terms of flavor, last year as I trolled through peoples comp sites looking for samples, I found one guy who scored abysmally whose chicken was outstanding. It was chickeny, smoky, salty everything I would ascribe to bbq chicken. But, it was not spicy/sweet and the flavor was too much different, the skin was crispy and pulled, not bite through, it was too far afield.
 
I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, friend, but "originality" is usually scored DOWN at KCBS competitions. Believe me, as both a judge and a cook I'd love to see stuff like Korean flavors, Chimichurri and chutneys at a contest, but the truth is if you vary more than a few points off "standard American BBQ" your scores are going to be terrible.

Unlike an Iron Chef competition where originality is rewarded, competition BBQ judges are conditioned to look for a pretty narrow range of flavor profiles at the judging table and to punish any entry that falls outside of that range. While the KCBS rules don't specify this, it's the reality of what you will face when cooking competitively. Many a time I have heard a fellow judge say how they gave a low score to an entry that didn't include a sweet, tomato based sauce with a comment like "It was good, but it's not what I call BBQ".

Probably the biggest single hurdle for most cooks starting out is getting their head around the idea that it doesn't matter what you or your family and friends like, to win contests you have to give the judges what they expect.
 
Probably the biggest single hurdle for most cooks starting out is getting their head around the idea that it doesn't matter what you or your family and friends like, to win contests you have to give the judges what they expect.

I,ve been competing for 6 years and i will never cook for a judge- how can you, do you know what every judge's taste is i don't, and who's going to eat the other 12 peices that you didn't turn in.
 
butt head said:
I,ve been competing for 6 years and i will never cook for a judge- how can you, do you know what every judge's taste is i don't, and who's going to eat the other 12 peices that you didn't turn in.
Click to expand...


You don't cook for a judge, you cook for the judges. It's a group-think thing. If you've been competing for that long you should know what I mean by now. Unless you're either lucky enough to have the same taste as the KCBS standard or you don't worry about your scores.

Example: I sampled a terrific tequila/lime drumstick at a contest last season that was cooked perfectly. I scored it 9-9-9. No other judge gave it a score above 7, because "It just isn't BBQ". Nuff said.
 
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