Laurie Turn in pics

[butts a fire]

Here are my turn in pics for the laurie contest, I appreciate any feedback that you guys can give me, and as always be brutally honest.

Here are the apperance scores

Chicken: 8 6 7 8 8 8

Ribs: 8 7 9 9 7 9

Pork: 7 6 6 6 6 7

Brisket: 7 8 9 7 8 9

Open: 9 8 9 7 8 7

[KC_Bobby]

What two judges gave you a 7 on the cookies - those look incredible. They must hate walnuts.

The chicken looks good, but the box appears as it may have been put together in a hurry. Some of the parsley in back is a bit yellow and it's kind of everywhere.

That's the first chopped brisket I've ever seen ... but the meat does look good.

The pork looks too glistening to me - almost appears like it has a film on it

Ribs look good, I think I see some sauce on the greens, might be a reason for two of the judges from going down a point to give 7's. I always keep a damp paper towel and wipe sauce off the greens when ever and where ever possible.

[cmcadams]

I've never seen brisket like that... I don't know offhand how I would judge it for appearance.

The chicken looks good, but it's just too big, IMO... but all the food looks good. Nothing looks dry... a plus there!

[lwest99]

The only suggestion I would have is to look at your lettuce and parsley. The parsley in the chicken was yellow as KC Bobby pointed out and it also looks like the greens are overflowing out of the boxes. Not sure if you could see it when you closed the lid but from these pic it appears that you might have.
I would also try to get regular slices out of the brisket. I think it looks good but I think you might run into a mental wall with the judges because they are not typical slices. Even though it should not effect the scores I think it might.

I also agree that greens and chicken box have bbq sauce on it.

The food looks good. Just my .02

[Chris Nickelson]

I second their comments, Parsley and lettuce should not be the focal point. Meat should be the eye catcher! Try to arrange so garnish is just background or bedding, not "in your face".

Meat looks great!!

[ModelMaker]

Nice boxes overall.
Chiken -don't often see chicken stacked,must have been whoppers,- off colored greens are a distraction no deduction though.
Brisket- first thought was my mom cut up my meat for me. Clean up box smudges.
Pork - looks like a ball of pork, maybe more relaxed look. Bigger pieces and more chunks o bark. Just by looking I would guess a pinch overdone?
Ribs - Really nice. Push back rib down to make even. Clean up sauce/rust from greens.
Open - Just for giggles add a sweet chocolate drizzle also. That would be even more eye candy!!
ModelMaker

[butts a fire]

Thanks guys I agree with every thing said, The pork was over done and a little mushy, The brisket was over done and could not be cut into slices because it was falling apart I was surprised it actually scored as high as it did. I think next time I might skip the parsley all together and just use lettuce.

[lazyjacres]

I do just the opposite and use all parsley on everything except the pork. All in all the boxes look good. Just take a little more time and make everything look uniform and neat.

[KC_Bobby]

Originally Posted by ModelMaker

Nice boxes overall.
Open - Just for giggles add a sweet chocolate drizzle also. That would be even more eye candy!!
ModelMaker

Ironic (maybe not) you say that. I heard last night that 8 of the top 10 places were a chocolate sweet. I don't have the exact scores in front of me right now, but I think our open turn in scored a 168 and we were in the mid 30's. I think I counted 20 entries over 172! Must have been heaven being a judge.

[ModelMaker]

Originally Posted by KC_Bobby

Ironic (maybe not) you say that. I heard last night that 8 of the top 10 places were a chocolate sweet. I don't have the exact scores in front of me right now, but I think our open turn in scored a 168 and we were in the mid 30's. I think I counted 20 entries over 172! Must have been heaven being a judge.

You would think heaven, but remember dessert is the last group after eating meat for 2 or 2.5 hrs. I must admit 9's are alot more available in dessert(as evident in the perfect 180's you see in desserts). It just seems to grab a kids heart and cause a smile...
ModelMaker

[paydabill]

I always use parcely. I als olike to like up stuff for the best presentation.

The ribs looked Awesome!

[shadetreebbq]

When we cooked the IBCA in Jasper GA.The guy next to me over cooked a brisket flat he just cut what he could stacked it high said heck with it.He took 5th place with a clump of burnt meat.You never know what the judges will like.

[Plowboy]

Chicken - Awesome!
Ribs - Awesome.
Pork - Needs more barky pieces.
Brisket -

Lettuce & Parsley - Tighten it up I never want the judges to see parsley stems.

[Plowboy]

Butts,

Your cookies gave me a great idea for how I can dress up my apple dump cake for dessert categories. Seems like you have to be perfect or near perfect to win an open... even if you are using chocolate. Of the three opens/dessert I've entered in the last month, two were 180's for first place. 2nd was like the difference in an 8 to a 9 in from just one judge. (None of those scores were mine, unfortunately.)

My apple dump cake got 9's in taste and tenderness with the exception of a single 8 in tenderness. The appearance scores were 7's and 8's. Though my score was a 174 (I think.), I ended up 18th place. That's tough. So I've been trying to figure out how to dress that sucka up. Thanks for the pics.

Todd

[smknwhlswife]

Chad...I would give those cookies 9's across the board, they look great!

Todd....what do you think I would have gotten for Andy's cake. I posted the pics of it under the Laurie posts.