On Site Judging

[ThomEmery]

Seeing on site done on TV has peaked my interest in this.

What impressions could you experienced on site presenting teams
or Judges offer on this style of BBQ Judging?

First does it seem impartial?
Judges have to be able to see around the "big name"

Thanks

[Big Tom]

Thom, I've been on both sides of the table (so to speak) for this topic. MIM/MBN cook & presenter as well as a certified judge from MIM > MBN > MBN in that string of evolution.

From the perspective of a cook team the biggest pitfall to the onsite judging is the concern that the judges play favorites instead of judge the product and presentation. The contest reps and sanctioning body have difficult jobs of monitoring the judging and scoring process to ensure consitency and fairness to the cook teams.

The difficult side as a judge is trying not to get taken in by the social side because the friendships can be very strong. I have seen some less experienced judges almost in a starstruck daze the first time they walk up to the team, or the hog on the cooker.

I am a huge supporter of the "Memphis" style on-site judging, we cooked and won in those circuits until our team started losing members and the costs per person were too much for three members to afford. If that judging process could be modified to reduce some of the costs we would find a way to get back into that ring.

[ThomEmery]

When you say costly
Is it the contest fees?
meat costs?
everything involved?

[Bunny]

Originally Posted by ThomEmery

Seeing on site done on TV has peaked my interest in this.

What impressions could you experienced on site presenting teams
or Judges offer on this style of BBQ Judging?

First does it seem impartial?
Judges have to be able to see around the "big name"

Thanks

Thom,
It's definately not impartial, but it's who can BS the most. And it's a lot of fun. You do, however, have to present some pretty fine BBQ. That helps a whole bunch. But the camraderie between the judges and the cooks can make a big difference.

Bunny

[chambersuac]

In on-site judging, is there a score for the person's presentation or is it still only the food that is judged. I know that the presentation might help "sell" the food, but wonder if there is a separate score for the way the cooks present (or B.S./whatever)?

[ThomEmery]

There is a MBN cook in here with that answer

[Sawdustguy]

Being a rather good bullchit artist (I sell electronic test and measurement equipment for a living), just ask my wife. I would love to give this a try. I have taken a zillion public speaking and presentation courses and given dozens of technical presentations throughout the years and would love to test what I have learned in a non technical athmosphere.

[Sledneck]

never done an MBN but at the battle of the brethren a few years ago we did an onsite judging. It was entree/dessert. it was a lot of work but a lot of fun interacting with the judges. except for the 2 that gave me a 455 on a lasagna :)

[Big Tom]

Thom, the costly part for us was the meats because of quantities required by the judging process. Example: 1 30# case of BB ribs (12 racks), 3 cases of 17# whole shoulders (3 shoulders / case) and a 120+ lb whole hog.

The nice part of the MBN is we didn't have to cook all the categories, we would usually cook two. Our plan was to cook the meat that was listed as the first category according to the schedule, for many years it was hog, it changed to shoulder over time as fewer people were cooking hogs. The last scheduled category has always been ribs. That gave us a good hour+ break between categories, since the presentation portion is very involved with the place settings and decorating the grill.


chambersuac, the judging process does include scores for the presentation and area and personal apperance. There are a total is six judging criteria that goes into the MBN process: presentation, area & personal apperance, apperance of entry (meat on grill or in blind box), tenderness, taste and overall impression. The last four criteria are shared with the blind entry for that category. The onsite and blind are judged simultaneously for each category.

[Bourbon Barrel BBQ]

Originally Posted by Big Tom

Thom, the costly part for us was the meats because of quantities required by the judging process. Example: 1 30# case of BB ribs (12 racks), 3 cases of 17# whole shoulders (3 shoulders / case) and a 120+ lb whole hog.

Man I can see 12 racks of ribs but 9 whole shoulders?! Really? 3 seems excessive to me but I've never done MBN.

[ThomEmery]

Wow that is a lot of meat

[Spanx]

Our last MBN event we did all three categories and we had right at $700 worth of meat.

[ThomEmery]

With the higher entry fees this would be a real hurdle

[Bourbon Barrel BBQ]

Originally Posted by Spanx

Our last MBN event we did all three categories and we had right at $700 worth of meat.

I really want to do a MBN event because I think whole hog is the pinnacle of BBQ but there is no way I could handle that kinda expense on a regular basis.I thought the $500 total for a KCBS event was nuts.

[Rich Parker]

Can someone explain to me why you need to cook so much meat at an MBN contest because i am confused?

From what i seen on TV you have a blind box, 3 onsite judges, and if you make finals 6 onsite judges. At least that is how it seemed to play out on TV.

As i type this i am understanding why you need 12 racks of ribs for 9 judges but 50lbs of pork shoulder seems like a lot. If you don't make finals you have the chance of coming home with 9+ racks of ribs, 20+ lbs of cooked pork, and that doesn't even count the whole hog.

WOW that is a lot of leftovers!