Turn in boxes....

I have been designated the official garnish farker as i usual am since i spend 3 hours on our boxes and are more into it than anyone..

but while at dover and making my normal runs with the boxes i noticed some very strange boxes and i now people who finished pretty good with nasty boxes..

my question is... and i always do this..

but dont you have to make sure everything is in the box and nothing is hanging out?!? i saw people with lettuce laying out of the cracks and showing..

i also wipe down every single box to make sure they 100 percent perfectly clean and white..

i saw guys with sauce and crud all over their boxes turning them in..

i am wondering if i am being way to crazy about it or what..

i am going to post some boxes in a few so you can see what i do and let me know what you think on the garnish..

not the meat just the garnish. lol

thanks

i do it like this..

this is what i do for the garnish.. maybe i am crazy. but think it looks nice. lol

Sledneck said:

needs more greens

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sorry but the produce store was completelou out of stock.. and i could jam pack anything else in there. lol

and ps.. i did flip the parsley on the top left over so no stems where showing..

U2CANQUE said:

I take pride in the way that the boxes appear, both inside, and out, and it reflects.....because if it looks like I didnt care when I put it together, I evidently didnt care when I put inside either.......first eatting with the eyes.....

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That's all nice and good, and you may not win if you don't pay attention to these little obsessions today, but respectfully, the logic that you may not care what you put into the box if you don't take care of how it was put together is well, and I am not sure you meant this, just too general to be the case.

Every team these days needs a man like you on it though, that cares for those little details that are so blown out of proportion these days, and that could put you on top. Especially with the plethora of the inexperienced judges that are trained but not knowledgeable about BBQ. We need those detail oriented guys like you that take our Q, that incidentally WE obsessed over by tending a fire for anywhere from 7 to 18 hours (pellet an stoker, guru fans to a lesser degree), that obsessed about its preparation, and obsessed about its level of doneness to give a guy like you, who invariably I would let sleep, watch TV and play video games until the moment he was needed because "appearance scores are so slanted) just so he was well rested as I hand off my BBQ and collapse from drunkenness or exhaustion.

Actually, I am so hot tempered the whole process of Parsley Balance or whether there is a piece handing out of the box, is so far detached from anything to do with BBQ, that I'd be the one that would THROW my box at the judges out of frustration. LOL, Maybe even with some bullets...no I wouldn't shoot anyone, just open a box of 45 shells and throw them hard into the judges booth if i saw someone that just got their KCBS judge cert a few hours ago.

I posted this in another post earlier but here's a picture that has no box or garnish just randomly placed Q that is STILL appealing to the eyes.

Not to mention I think it's INSANE to think that I could do my job, and you could do your job, walk it in to turn in and the turn in guy (who see's you) could shake the box (accidentally or otherwise) and **** up everything you worked on for a day and half.

I think you should do everything you can to make your entry the best it can be. Why go to all of the trouble and expense of competing but then take shortcuts on your box? How hard is it to tuck the greens in and wipe down the box? We've been bumped from places by margins as low as .004 so every detail counts. One thing I know for certain is that good looking, tight garnish and a well balanced layout in a clean box will not ever hurt your scores.

And Funk, your meat looks okay but it could look a lot more appealing regardless of the environment you're serving it in. It might work in a restaurant or other high volume operation, but it doesn't work for a low volume important cook like a contest. If a cook doesn't pay attention to detail when serving his dish, I'm going to assume the same lack of discipline was applied when prepping and cooking it.

The Pickled Pig said:

I think you should do everything you can to make your entry the best it can be. Why go to all of the trouble and expense of competing but then take shortcuts on your box? How hard is it to tuck the greens in and wipe down the box? We've been bumped from places by margins as low as .004 so every detail counts. One thing I know for certain is that good looking, tight garnish and a well balanced layout in a clean box will not ever hurt your scores.

And Funk, your meat looks okay but it could look a lot more appealing regardless of the environment you're serving it in. It might work in a restaurant or other high volume operation, but it doesn't work for a low volume important cook like a contest. If a cook doesn't pay attention to detail when serving his dish, I'm going to assume the same lack of discipline was applied when prepping and cooking it.

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so other than the stem on the upper left corner... which i fixed by the way.. what do you think?!? i think i do a pretty darn good job..

Jorge said:

Depending on what you were putting in the box, it might be sitting a little high. I'd hate to see the glaze on something you've worked so hard on get messed up when the lid is closed.

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it seems like it is sitting up really high but indeed the middle is a little lower and it get s alot lower..

thanks for that jorge.. i take pride in being the farking parsley puller!! lol

It looks fine to me. The key question is does it support your entry without distracting from it. Is the bed firm enough to hold the meat up so it pops for the judges or does the weight of the meat compress the greens? I like to pack the parsley in tight enough that glazed chicken doesn't look like a chia pet when pulled from the box.

The Pickled Pig said:

It looks fine to me. The key question is does it support your entry without distracting from it. Is the bed firm enough to hold the meat up so it pops for the judges or does the weight of the meat compress the greens? I like to pack the parsley in tight enough that glazed chicken doesn't look like a chia pet when pulled from the box.

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i wil tell you tht everything is firmly supported and i dont really have anything shrink down.. normall y requires a little bit of a base!!

The Pickled Pig said:

I think you should do everything you can to make your entry the best it can be.

As I said.. these days you have to... of course using entities that have nothing to do with the product. I agree that you can judge based on bark, or symetry, or glisten but not garnish. Its my opinion. As opinions are like assholes... and I am an asshole and thats my opinion. LOL

Why go to all of the trouble and expense of competing but then take shortcuts on your box?

I said that too... remember, I come from a time you turned in your samples in butcher paper or the like.

How hard is it to tuck the greens in and wipe down the box? We've been bumped from places by margins as low as .004 so every detail counts.

This sentence contradicts itself. apparently, with the obsessions that we have in garnish, glaze and symmetry, it is VERY HARD. Note I was saying that the poster is a guy we need on the team these days. And due to the over-importance of garnish and the like, I would want my garnish and final box prep guy to be shielded and well rested. LOL

One thing I know for certain is that good looking, tight garnish and a well balanced layout in a clean box will not ever hurt your scores.

This is true with women too. But in regards to BBQ I never said it would... its the reality today...

And Funk, your meat looks okay but it could look a lot more appealing regardless of the environment you're serving it in.

Not my meat, though I have posted my meat here before, I drew a sample from the Texan Meccas. But like I also said, there was a time, when that's how you turned in your samples. and you had to know your BBQ to judge appearance in those days. Because you were juding the meat... not the parsley.

It might work in a restaurant or other high volume operation, but it doesn't work for a low volume important cook like a contest.

Yes, I think I said that too. I full well know that if I turned in Big Bob Gibson's or Myron Mixon's BBQ in a wad of butcher paper, some guy with substaintailly less skills and a pellet cooker (where fire skills not needed) would place higher and the better BBQ would lose. All due to something that has NOTHING to do with BBQ.

If a cook doesn't pay attention to detail when serving his dish, I'm going to assume the same lack of discipline was applied when prepping and cooking it.

That logic, which I have already addressed, (which the poster said in a different way) is the prevailing unfairness we have now. So what your saying is... you let appearance ALSO affect your scores in Tenderness, texure and taste.

Now if you would like to have a nice friendly person to person competition with real wood, smoke, salt, pepper and meat... let's get together. I'll supply the beer and the laughs as you eat your words telling me that I lack in discipline cuz I hate those final presentation details.

we will leave our pellets, 110 volts, gas, injections, fancy rubs and glazes, charcoal, and lump in the front yard my friend.

You are my brother in smoke though and I love ya.

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see inside

paydabill said:

I think it is alright - I am pretty picky about our boxes. I make sure they are clean and that nothing hangs out.

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if that is alright i need to see yours.. not one thing hangs out of my box and everything is inside.. my boxes are super clean and get a farkin bath before they even get food or turned in!!

i use q-tips to clean them and keep everything inside!!

Mutha Chicken BBQ said:

I would but it is a family friendy forum. :-D Sorry I couldn't resist.

Here are our box's from Dover, They are terrible looking back at it now. But that's what Yengling at 9am get's ya.

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if you dont mind me asking what places did you get in dover!?