Had a Blast at the Royal! Opinions Please....

[sparkii]

Okay, i made it through my first comp. I chose a crazy one to maybe hide my inexperience a little bit more. I was completely worn out, but exhilarated all at the same time. I learned a lot from the first competition. I Need to work on clock management, need to pay better attention to color, need to follow the advice" If in doubt, Leave it out", everything i thought I had learned from reading your guys posts and suggestions. When your under pressure, its easy to forget the smallest things. Had help from one teammate for two days, and the wife and neighbors on the day of turn ins. It was a blast!




Now I am going to throw myself out there looking for constructive criticism. I would like opinions on my turn in boxes. Some of you will immediately know from which class I learned my boxing methods. I failed to get a chicken pic. Scored the best in chicken with a 174.3, i was fairly happy with that turn in. Brisket earned a respectable 170.3, I had my doubts. My ribs needed more time, definitely tough, and I may have filled the box too full. Pork.....I am in need of much more work as I bit off more than I could properly manage.
Here are the turn ins.....



Would love some pro opinions so i can improve! Dont be too hard on me, I am still not caught up completely on sleep as of yet. Thanks in advance! ray: I will probably will not get the actual judge scoring for another couple weeks.

 

[SOB]

First boxes ever looked GREAT TO ME. Ribs could of been a tad more lined up. Maybe go to 5 on 5.

 

[tduffy]

All of your boxes look pretty good. Only criticism I have is put less ribs in the box. I'd go 4 on 4. Let the garnish frame the meat. Also, less ribs in the box allows you to focus on putting your very best in. Put the bone end of the rib down in the garnish. Some picky judges like to judge "meat pullback" for some odd reason like it actually means something. putting them down in the garnish so they can't see it eliminates that little issue.

 

[hogzillas]

From an appearance standpoint I don't really see anything wrong w/ your boxes. Nitpicking I might put the rib bones towards the top rather than bottom like you did but I only look for the symmetry of the cut of the ribs (do they look like they come from same rack in order???). I wouldn't really change much at all yet as judging at the AR you can get many tables w/ people straight off the street who really don't know how to judge yet & there's only so much you can teach them in the short time they have before judging. If you avg 170-175 for each meat you should be getting calls on a regular basis at normal contests if not winning them

 

[sparkii]

From an appearance standpoint I don't really see anything wrong w/ your boxes. Nitpicking I might put the rib bones towards the top rather than bottom like you did but I only look for the symmetry of the cut of the ribs (do they look like they come from same rack in order???). I wouldn't really change much at all yet as judging at the AR you can get many tables w/ people straight off the street who really don't know how to judge yet & there's only so much you can teach them in the short time they have before judging. If you avg 170-175 for each meat you should be getting calls on a regular basis at normal contests if not winning them

Thanks! I wish i averaged 170-175 overall. If I only cooked chicken and brisket, yes. Figured I overstuffed the ribs. Cant really explain the horrid score on the pork yet. I know i got dionked on tenderness on the ribs. Pork i am confused on, scored very poorly, i think i should have left the cubes out as they probably had a little too much fat on the bottom. But i rushed myself. I wish we had a tasting option on the site! LOL
Thank you:biggrin1:

 

[midwest_kc]

Every time I've turned in cubes of pork they've killed me. I know some have success with them, but they have done me no good.

 

[sparkii]

Every time I've turned in cubes of pork they've killed me. I know some have success with them, but they have done me no good.

Looking back i should have left them out, but i could only envision the box one way. Lack of experience and panic. I think the money muscle was too dark as well maybe.

Thanks!

 

[toymaster]

I think those boxes look great. I agree about the ribs. Maybe 2 less ribs and a tad more garnish around the outside. I think your scores speak for themselves, congrats! Can't believe this is your first contest.

 

[sparkii]

Waiting for the scoring sheets will be the death of me!:icon_frow