- Joined
- Jan 11, 2011
- Location
- Lawrence...
Looking for some feedback if anyone else has had something like this happen to them and also just sharing a learning experience.
At this last weekends competition (which I gave general details in another post) we tried a new chicken recipe that we had been practicing for a while. Nothing earth shattering. Scraping skins, cooking in margarine bath foiled, finishing on the smoker with sauce. We had awesome bite through skin and the flavor was much better than what we had done in the past.
So here are our scores
999, 988, 788, 888, 887, and........wait for it.............922. Booyah!!
We had what I would assume is the normal what the hell (though we didn't say hell) reaction. Then found the comment card with the note saying "red juice, undercooked". After our what the hell reaction and cursing the bbq gods we had to swallow our pride and say ok what could we have done wrong?
This is what we came up with.........we cooked 14 chicken thighs, all trimmed to as similar size/shape that we could get. After the hour in the margarine bath at 250, then another hour on the smoker with sauce we took them off after a few probed 165-170. Then we probed about 7 more and all came up in the same range and very clear juices. Then we picked the 6 best looking and stuck them in the box. So the only thing I can think of is some how 1 piece that we didn't probe was undercooked. But that is also hard to believe because we ate the other 8 pieces immediately after chicken turn in and they were all 100% done and delicious. So 1 out of 14 that ended up in the box was underdone.........
But the thing that blew our minds is that while different pieces of meat absolutely cook differently, how could it happen to such small pieces of meat no more than 1 ounce different per each piece. 2 identical weight butts can have an hour or more variation of cook time, but has anyone ever seen this with chicken thighs??
We thought there was no way and that the judge had made a horrible mistake or didn't know what they were seeing. I literally took the KCBS judging class the week before and learned about the only way you get an inedible chicken score is if it is bleeding/red juices. I want to be very clear I am no judging expert, but can't get my mind around how 1 piece didn't get fully cooked. We were specifically told in the judging class though that we shouldn't confuse the blood vessels that can rupture near the bone with red juices. I'm sure you all have seen them that looks like blood stains on the bone even though the chicken is cooked properly. That is the only thing I can come up with on how they could have been mistaken and then there is nothing we could have done.
The bottom line is we are still a little mad, though we will get over ourselves. We realize we didn't see what the judge saw when he picked up the piece of chicken and I'm assuming they opened with their hands and red liquid ran out. Even if the judge was wrong we have to learn from this. So you will be assured that every piece of chicken from now on will be probed before it goes into the box.
Oh and we still got 8th in chicken .
One of the 8 pieces we ate.
At this last weekends competition (which I gave general details in another post) we tried a new chicken recipe that we had been practicing for a while. Nothing earth shattering. Scraping skins, cooking in margarine bath foiled, finishing on the smoker with sauce. We had awesome bite through skin and the flavor was much better than what we had done in the past.
So here are our scores
999, 988, 788, 888, 887, and........wait for it.............922. Booyah!!
We had what I would assume is the normal what the hell (though we didn't say hell) reaction. Then found the comment card with the note saying "red juice, undercooked". After our what the hell reaction and cursing the bbq gods we had to swallow our pride and say ok what could we have done wrong?
This is what we came up with.........we cooked 14 chicken thighs, all trimmed to as similar size/shape that we could get. After the hour in the margarine bath at 250, then another hour on the smoker with sauce we took them off after a few probed 165-170. Then we probed about 7 more and all came up in the same range and very clear juices. Then we picked the 6 best looking and stuck them in the box. So the only thing I can think of is some how 1 piece that we didn't probe was undercooked. But that is also hard to believe because we ate the other 8 pieces immediately after chicken turn in and they were all 100% done and delicious. So 1 out of 14 that ended up in the box was underdone.........
But the thing that blew our minds is that while different pieces of meat absolutely cook differently, how could it happen to such small pieces of meat no more than 1 ounce different per each piece. 2 identical weight butts can have an hour or more variation of cook time, but has anyone ever seen this with chicken thighs??
We thought there was no way and that the judge had made a horrible mistake or didn't know what they were seeing. I literally took the KCBS judging class the week before and learned about the only way you get an inedible chicken score is if it is bleeding/red juices. I want to be very clear I am no judging expert, but can't get my mind around how 1 piece didn't get fully cooked. We were specifically told in the judging class though that we shouldn't confuse the blood vessels that can rupture near the bone with red juices. I'm sure you all have seen them that looks like blood stains on the bone even though the chicken is cooked properly. That is the only thing I can come up with on how they could have been mistaken and then there is nothing we could have done.
The bottom line is we are still a little mad, though we will get over ourselves. We realize we didn't see what the judge saw when he picked up the piece of chicken and I'm assuming they opened with their hands and red liquid ran out. Even if the judge was wrong we have to learn from this. So you will be assured that every piece of chicken from now on will be probed before it goes into the box.
Oh and we still got 8th in chicken .
One of the 8 pieces we ate.