Judging Classes...

[JD McGee]

Do you think the flavor profiles of the meats that are cooked for judging classes are an influence for what new judges will be looking for when judging their first competitions?

[MattyB]

Perhaps. I would have to assume that judges come from a variety of backgrounds in terms of BBQ "experience", either cooking, competing or close with someone who does. I would have to think the variety of backgrounds of judges would offer a variety of expectations for first-time judges. Guess it would work well if a team from that competition cooked for the judges class. Part of my brain wants to draft up a survey and find out this relation, but I suppose that's because I've been reading too much research to finish this damn thesis...and all I have is Q on the brain!

[bbq.tom]

I think that most judges have an idea of what good barbecue tastes like before attending a CBJ class.

Prior to attending my first CBJ class I had MUCH experience in tasting barbecue. I've been in the process of writing a book on barbecue served in Q-joints and restaurants in North Carolina for almost 10 years now and my research goes back even further and INCLUDES barbecue in other states and countries as well. To date, I've eaten at, reviewed, rated, and included in my book 403 Q-joints and restaurants serving barbecue, with 348 of these being located in North Carolina.

I believe that each judge brings their own ideas of flavor profiles with them to the CBJ training and that the entries cooked for their class do not influence them significantly.

Just my $0.02.

[FashionBiff]

I just did my class, everything was pretty bad. The food is given to us to get us (the future judges) on the same page for a scoring perspective. Only 5 or 6 of the people in our class were competitors, me and some others are wanna be cooks and a lot of press people. Dont know how it usually breaks down but this was not a big event. I know what my BBQ tastes like, I can keep the difference between the competitors and mine separate. Mine is OK to good on occasion, what I see and taste is still going to get a fair shake.

[MattyB]

I also can't imagine a competitor who might be cooking for a judging class to do a full comp style cook unless they're using it as dry-run practice for that weekend. I was offered the opportunity to cook for a judging class where meats would be provided and I would get $200. If I have a couple days worth of day long competing ahead of me, I'm surely not going to spend a couple hours trimming chicken thighs if I don't have to.

[NRA4Life]

The food we had in the CBJ class I took was barely above "barely edible". If I based all food I have judged with that CBJ class food as a baseline, nearly everything would be a 9.

[SmokinOkie]

I've cooked for a few judging classes. Try cooking the four entries for 80 or so judges AND making it your comp recipes. We tried our best, but it's a lot of food to cook. I know the reps told them that it wasn't representative of the exact Q they would get because of the time and other constraints in the classes.