Outnumbered
is One Chatty Farker
Just took my CBJ certification class tonight and wanted to weigh in on what I observed and what I thought. Keep in mind that much of this is my opinion, but I will try to be objective in my observations.
Overall impressions:
About 30 people in the class and about half were cooks who were more there to learn about what goes into judging, rather than judging themselves. It did indeed meet that criteria, IMO, and it shows how different things can be from the judges seat...though I'm sure it's even more of a contrast when you're actually judging a real contest.
The education:
These classes take a lot of work for the organizers and the teachers, and I truly appreciate the work that, by my guess, about 15 volunteer cooks and mock table captains put into the event. I have to say Bunny Tuttle did a great job of explaining (and repeating often) the work that teams put into a contest. Not sure it took with everyone, but she did a very good job of trying to ensure the judges can pick up on that.
That said, some of the cooks in the class were probably the harshest of the judges on their scoring. And when asked about why people scored that way, it was typically along the lines of I just didn't like it. I even found myself saying that a few times and had to keep reminding myself the fact that you have to have a good reason why you didn't like it, but it's hard, particularly on appearance. Some of it I just didn't like, but that constant reminder of having a reason is good to keep in mind. I hope judges actually do that when they're judging.
The annoyances
When you see some scores from judges who you swear don't know what they're doing, you're probably right. We had one guy who asked on a pictures of ribs if those were spares or baby backs. If you're going to judge a contest and decide who should win, you should know that.
Then someone asked what a smokering is. Again, c'mon, man!!!! As Bunny said more than once, make sure you're there to help out. "If you're just there to eat, go to Denny's."
The Reps
I guess I knew this, but I didn't really realize to what extent, how much the KCBS reps are there to help out the cooks. Most of them are cooks, too, and they want to make sure things are judged fairly. For example, she said if the table scores 8s and 9s in a category, but one judge scores a 3, she'll go to that judge and tell them they better have a good reason for giving that score.
Judging Differences
In my case, what I like is way different than what a 75 year old woman will typically like. You gotta find that balance between spicy and bland. On our pork butt, I got a pulled sample and a sliced sample. I liked the pulled sample that was injected, I believe. The sliced sample was not, but had great texture and a wonderful flavor that tasted like real pork. The injected sample didn't IMO. However, nearly everyone went for the pulled sample saying that the sliced sample was too bland. That 75 year old woman thought that sliced was too fat. Maybe her piece was, but if you know BBQ, you're going to get some fat on a pork butt slice.
Anyway, those are my thoughts and opinions on it. I could probably go on and on about the individual categories, and if you want that I'll do that, but suffice it to say that this judging thing is as subjective as you probably believe it to be.
Overall impressions:
About 30 people in the class and about half were cooks who were more there to learn about what goes into judging, rather than judging themselves. It did indeed meet that criteria, IMO, and it shows how different things can be from the judges seat...though I'm sure it's even more of a contrast when you're actually judging a real contest.
The education:
These classes take a lot of work for the organizers and the teachers, and I truly appreciate the work that, by my guess, about 15 volunteer cooks and mock table captains put into the event. I have to say Bunny Tuttle did a great job of explaining (and repeating often) the work that teams put into a contest. Not sure it took with everyone, but she did a very good job of trying to ensure the judges can pick up on that.
That said, some of the cooks in the class were probably the harshest of the judges on their scoring. And when asked about why people scored that way, it was typically along the lines of I just didn't like it. I even found myself saying that a few times and had to keep reminding myself the fact that you have to have a good reason why you didn't like it, but it's hard, particularly on appearance. Some of it I just didn't like, but that constant reminder of having a reason is good to keep in mind. I hope judges actually do that when they're judging.
The annoyances
When you see some scores from judges who you swear don't know what they're doing, you're probably right. We had one guy who asked on a pictures of ribs if those were spares or baby backs. If you're going to judge a contest and decide who should win, you should know that.
Then someone asked what a smokering is. Again, c'mon, man!!!! As Bunny said more than once, make sure you're there to help out. "If you're just there to eat, go to Denny's."
The Reps
I guess I knew this, but I didn't really realize to what extent, how much the KCBS reps are there to help out the cooks. Most of them are cooks, too, and they want to make sure things are judged fairly. For example, she said if the table scores 8s and 9s in a category, but one judge scores a 3, she'll go to that judge and tell them they better have a good reason for giving that score.
Judging Differences
In my case, what I like is way different than what a 75 year old woman will typically like. You gotta find that balance between spicy and bland. On our pork butt, I got a pulled sample and a sliced sample. I liked the pulled sample that was injected, I believe. The sliced sample was not, but had great texture and a wonderful flavor that tasted like real pork. The injected sample didn't IMO. However, nearly everyone went for the pulled sample saying that the sliced sample was too bland. That 75 year old woman thought that sliced was too fat. Maybe her piece was, but if you know BBQ, you're going to get some fat on a pork butt slice.
Anyway, those are my thoughts and opinions on it. I could probably go on and on about the individual categories, and if you want that I'll do that, but suffice it to say that this judging thing is as subjective as you probably believe it to be.
op2: This is gonna be good...
