Brisket presentation. Which do you prefer?

[bbqwizard]

Appearance scoring is all about eye appeal, and how well an entry makes you want to sample it. It's up to the cook to determine how they present their entry in a way that captures a Judge's attention each time a box is opened.

Exactly right. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out with the new training.

 

[Bob in Corona]

Exactly right. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out with the new training.

Speaking of which... I prefer none of them !

OH... I am a MCBJ and have completed the JCUP....

 

[Right on Q]

B for me as well. Looks natural, appealing and makes me want to eat it now!

I think the trimmed edges make it look unnatural and may be why I don't prefer them.

However, I do think these would all get a 9 appearance score from me as they all look great.

EDIT: apparently I missed the second page and looks like i'm late to the party

 

[bbqwizard]

B for me as well. Looks natural, appealing and makes me want to eat it now!

I think the trimmed edges make it look unnatural and may be why I don't prefer them.

However, I do think these would all get a 9 appearance score from me as they all look great.

EDIT: apparently I missed the second page and looks like i'm late to the party

All good. I appreciate your comments. I agree on the trimmed edges. I would prefer they not be trimmed, but sometimes the edges just don’t turn out, and if they had been left on, there would likely be issues with tenderness.

 

[West River BBQ]

This is what was so frustrating to me as a judge. I would find myself at a table with two or three newly trained (or untrained) judges. The variability in scores based on so many things shouldn't have been factored in made it almost impossible for truly good submissions to have any chance of winning. A six or seven by two people is just too hard to overcome.

 

[thirdeye]

This is what was so frustrating to me as a judge. I would find myself at a table with two or three newly trained (or untrained) judges. The variability in scores based on so many things shouldn't have been factored in made it almost impossible for truly good submissions to have any chance of winning. A six or seven by two people is just too hard to overcome.

I would agree that newer Judges are sometimes overly critical at first, and I've seen some cooks in the judges tent that have been too. That said, I've judged with some experienced cooks that were very interesting to visit with. The JCUP training put a lot of emphasis on the variability point, and gave pretty good examples. One for example is the fact that KCBS scoring has no provision for uniformity or focusing on imperfections which can easily come into play in both chicken and ribs. If you have ever read scores/comments on the BBQ Critic Judge My Box site, some are very harsh if samples lack uniformity. You get the impression some commenters spend way more time that 5 or 6 seconds looking at the box photographs.

Have you looked at your past scores on the KCBS site? On the high scoring entries, the scores are usually within a point of the table average. But when an entry really bombs, it's easy to see that some Judges don't go lower than a 7. I suspect it's to avoid filing out a comment card, but it's not fair to the cooks if something deserves a 6.

And speaking of a 6 which is now "Fair", examples of scoring a 6 are: samples that are overcooked, undercooked, too spicy, or too bland. A 5 (poor) may be appropriate if a sample is too chewy, dry, burnt, mushy or the taste/tenderness has so little appeal you would not want another bite.

 

[West River BBQ]

I would agree that newer Judges are sometimes overly critical at first, and I've seen some cooks in the judges tent that have been too. That said, I've judged with some experienced cooks that were very interesting to visit with. The JCUP training put a lot of emphasis on the variability point, and gave pretty good examples. One for example is the fact that KCBS scoring has no provision for uniformity or focusing on imperfections which can easily come into play in both chicken and ribs. If you have ever read scores/comments on the BBQ Critic Judge My Box site, some are very harsh if samples lack uniformity. You get the impression some commenters spend way more time that 5 or 6 seconds looking at the box photographs.

Have you looked at your past scores on the KCBS site? On the high scoring entries, the scores are usually within a point of the table average. But when an entry really bombs, it's easy to see that some Judges don't go lower than a 7. I suspect it's to avoid filing out a comment card, but it's not fair to the cooks if something deserves a 6.

And speaking of a 6 which is now "Fair", examples of scoring a 6 are: samples that are overcooked, undercooked, too spicy, or too bland. A 5 (poor) may be appropriate if a sample is too chewy, dry, burnt, mushy or the taste/tenderness has so little appeal you would not want another bite.

I haven't judged this year but I have read about the changes in scoring and am in favor of the effort to shore-up the judging. I was speaking of my experiences judging, not as a competitor. For the latter, I accept that my lack of calls was not due to a rogue judging score.

I have a brisket on today. I hope my wife doesn't score it a 5 on any category.

 

[Bob in Corona]

... I have a brisket on today. I hope my wife doesn't score it a 5 on any category.

Guess that's really up to the cook / pitmaster....

 

[thirdeye]

I haven't judged this year but I have read about the changes in scoring and am in favor of the effort to shore-up the judging. I was speaking of my experiences judging, not as a competitor. For the latter, I accept that my lack of calls was not due to a rogue judging score.

I have a brisket on today. I hope my wife doesn't score it a 5 on any category.

I kinda, sorta figured you were talking about judging. And all my examples were referring to judges scores.

 

[LongTong]

I prefer box B. There is something to be said about symmetry and a full box but, I know we are not to judge based on that. However, all would get a 9 from me...

 

[DUBBAGA]

BOX E ...

 

[Smokin D@wg@77]

B IS "OK" , only thing bugging me is all boxes expect A , slices aren't same length , but A is WAY to short for my liking even though its closet one with same size slices

 

[Smokin D@wg@77]

I must say though uniformity is why I'm saying it 'bugs me" its distracting to my eye. Where I can see some "harder judges " could score down a notch 1 notch not 2 or 3 though.

 

[Smokin D@wg@77]

uniform box

 

[bbqwizard]

BOX E ...

Ha! There it is. The box that changed the way people think. I know many that do this now:-D. That’s a sexy box right there.