Franklin, NC pictures

Here are some pics from the Friday before the comp.


Cooks meeting.




















Started raining...big time!








The contest rep asked how many were new teams. Lots of hands!






Some of the teams stayed to hear "tips" from the contest rep.






The internet connection in the hotel is slow...so I'll upload pics in batches.

This is Scott Lane from England. He and his wife flew over to compete at Dillard and Franklin.






Trophies for the car show.

A fellow Brethren!

Sauce turn in























Well...that's it for tonight. I'll get a few more pics in the morning before judging. Hope you enjoyed the pics.

Sweet smoke rising Sat. morning from the contest site.











The vendors had lines all day!



Some very nice hardware will be given out later!




Judges getting ready.





And that's a Brethren (Capt Table)

Did you know that at every contest the judges recite the oath? We take judging very seriously.

Time for awards!








This is Linda and Ernie. Some of the nicest contest reps. around.





Scott and Lyndz of Miss Piggy's from the UK take 3rd in chicken.




Congrats to Jiggy Piggy on grand and Bub-Ba-Q on reserve.

Next up...my judging review.

At my table we had one master judge and I was the rookie with 12 contests. I think we had only 3 first time judges at the other tables.

Chicken - We got to judge 5 entries...all thighs. 4 bone in and one without. 4 had skin on but one bone in thigh did not. All were nice rectangles of muffin pan chicken. Each box had either 6 or 8 pieces but one had an ODD number. Don't remember how many pieces were turned in but at the time I was thinking I have never seen that before.

All of them were above average in taste and tenderness. The 4 that had skin were bite through...good color and great glazed. The one without skin had a heavy layer of sauce on it. I detected Blues Hog on at least 2 entries.

As a table we were all impressed with all 5 entries.

Ribs - Got only 5 entries again. All spares...stacked bones..mainly 4 over 4 but one box had 3 over 5. One box had bones in the bottom and then 4 bones arranged around the outside edge, on top of the other, like a frame. Made it hard to see the bottom bones....plus there was parsley on top of the meat. Don't do that.

4 were tender and I was not. That one I could barely get a bite off the bone. I forced the bite to get a taste score on it. I saw another judge reach for the comment cards so I didn't fill one out. I figured the cook knew his turn in was way under cooked and didn't want to "pile on" with another card.

2 entries had a good smoke ring and the others had none. We don't score down if there is no ring...just FYI.

None of them "wowed' me in taste.

Pork - 5 entries. Most had MM plus some pulled or chucks. One had pulled in the middle and then what looked like burnt ends around the outside. When I picked one up it turned out to be a square of bark that was barely a millimeter thin. This bark piece was not as good as the pulled so it hurt his score. Don't add something just because you think you need to if the meat isn't better than what is already in the box.

One box had pulled as a base under the MM (even though he used parsley around the edges). As judges we taste everything in the box including any base added. It didn't taste as good as the rest of the meat presented.

Brisket - 6 entrees. All slices with burnt ends except one was pulled brisket. 4 of the burnt ends were nothing more than cubed up point that didn't taste or look any different than the slices. They didn't even look like they had been returned to the cooker to get crunchy on the outside. Very strange.

Overall it was a great contest and I hope to be back in Franklin either cooking or judging.

kenthanson said:

I would have still written that cook a comment card for the undercooked rib. For all you know the other judge might have been giving him a comment on how tender and delicious his rib was. Or he will get one comment card and think that just that one judge thought it was not tender, you might have gotten a bone from a different rack and it had different texture. It's not plunge it on if it's the truth.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean but you had to be there for this one! Judges are not supposed to show pleasure or disgust while tasting but it was comical as we all hit this turn in at the time. We looked like 6 dogs trying to gnaw on a bone. :icon_smile_tongue: