Royal Results

[voodoobbqIL]

Hey Jeff it's Kevin the tall philospher (Smokecrates)....thanks for gettting us hooked on this I think it will be a great thing for our team!

 

[Jeff_in_KC]

Hey Jeff it's Kevin the tall philospher (Smokecrates)....thanks for gettting us hooked on this I think it will be a great thing for our team!

Absolutely it will! Great ideas, great guys and a lot of competition experience to draw from. You guys finished 265th so you don't need as much help as I do! :smile: Maybe I need to make a trashcan smoker too! Those were awesome you guys had. Don't know how you got any work done with all the folks stopping by to admire them! And Little Ed (wasn't that the name?) is a cool piece of equipment!

 

[voodoobbqIL]

Hey Jeff,

Yes "Lil Ed", here is the readers digest version. My Wife's Stepmom's Father is a blacksmith they call him Big Ed. I designed the cooker and he and I fabricated it I jsut thought the name Lil Ed was a great tag and it has stuck. He will undergo a redesign this winter but the some of the conceptual engineering will remain.

AS for the trash cans...can't beat em for the money, they generate a lot of interest. No one would ever talk to us if we didn't have a conversation piece like them

K

 

[Jeff_in_KC]

Here's a link to the photos for the Royal... comments on the turn-in boxes welcomed and appreciated! :grin:

http://home.earthlink.net/~bigcreekbbq/amroyal2005.html

 

[The_Kapn]

Here's a link to the photos for the Royal... comments on the turn-in boxes welcomed and appreciated!

http://home.earthlink.net/~bigcreekbbq/amroyal2005.html

Jeff,
When you get it figured out--post them in the photos section.
The "slideshow" and all of that make it really nice to view.

Your turn-ins do not look bad, at all.
Good show and effort on them, especially for a first go at it.

I really like the way you did not "over-do" the garnish and let the meat be the star of the box.

TIM

 

[Jeff_in_KC]

Thanks, Tim. I appreciate your comments... I hope I get to see scores for appearance, tenderness and taste for each sometime. I have no idea if they mail you your scores like that or just leave it at what they've posted. I'd also like to see if there were any judges comments, especially on the ribs. Going from 36 from one judge to a 16 from another has me very curious about what happened.

 

[The_Kapn]

Going from 36 from one judge to a 16 from another has me very curious about what happened.

That is just the way it is.
I have seen 2's and 8's on the same entry.
I have also seen amazingly consistant scores--even if we did not like them a lot

Go figure.

And, as DRBBQ explained so well--the Royal Open is not a good test of BBQ.

Go do 6 or so events, get your feet wet, and then you will get a feel for the competetive level of your Que.
Certainly not from the Royal Open.

TIM

 

[chad]

Jeff;

Your boxes look very nice - excellent job on the garnish (no I'm not kidding) The mix of parsley and green leaf really framed and offset the meat nicely.

Good color on all your meats. If you judge you'll start getting ideas for the pork box. Your chicken box was well presented - a bit "rough" but you picked good thighs and had them presented well - you definately didn't just throw things in a box.

Good job.

 

[MoKanMeathead]

Jeff,
You did do a good job with the garnish - must have learned well from Lana (Squeal of Approval) at Blue Springs. My only comment would to use a little glaze on your meat to give it a sheen. This is something that we don't do a very good job of either. Sometimes we will spray the meat with Pam right before we close the box - helps a little.

 

[MoKanMeathead]

Hey - I must have hit a milestone post - just went from "Knows what a fattie is" to "On the road..."

 

[Jeff_in_KC]

Thanks Dave and Wayne.

Dave, knowing how you feel about garnish, I guess that's a pretty good compliment...

And Wayne, yeah, I paid careful attention to what Lana was doing at Blue Springs! It was one thing to watch her and another to repeat it three weeks later. My first box I prepped (which fortunately became the sausage turn in box) was a little rough. Along about the third box, I started to get the hang of things and was getting done BEFORE the lettuce wilted!

Tim, I did get a strong feeling that I really had no way of knowing how I stand after competing at the AR and I am therefore looking forward to DeSoto a week from Friday for that reason (that and I'm jonsin' for Wayne's cheesy potatoes!). After experiencing the AR, I think I can honestly say I'm glad it was my first one. To be honest, I knew I had no chance in hell of winning it as I said I would but I am a believer in what you focus on expands. By competing in the Royal, I could go into a first contest with few real expectations and not be embarrassed to come back home and to work and tell my friends that I placed 400th out of 474 teams. The way I'm starting to look at things is searching for the positives... We knocked off 74 teams, our sausage finished high, we got Wayne in brisket (even a blind dog finds a bone every once in awhile) and outscored my wife's co-worker's team in three of five categories after they've been cooking for lots of years and I got one judge who gave me a 36 in ribs. We can build on those positives and move on.

 

[MoKanMeathead]

Not sure what we are fix'n for Friday at DeSoto but it won't be cheesy taters. Did you miss them at the Royal? I can't remember what time you made it down - everything is kinda hazy - must have been all the smoke.

 

[Jeff_in_KC]

Not sure what we are fix'n for Friday at DeSoto but it won't be cheesy taters. Did you miss them at the Royal? I can't remember what time you made it down - everything is kinda hazy - must have been all the smoke.

Yeah that must have been it... all the smoke! :roll:

Actually, I didn't make it down at all on Friday night. We had too much going on to leave camp. We're going to be sure to do some visiting at DeSoto to get to know folks better. It was way too difficult to accomplish much of that at the AR with the exception of neighbors and a few I talked with on the way to the head or wherever.

BTW Wayne... if you're interested, we'd be glad to pitch in and contribute to your meal if you want to hook up. Let me know either way.

 

[icemn62]

Jeff, I have never competed, and don't really have the "jones" to want to right now. But, I watched/read your adventure with interest. For your 1st contest you went to the ROYAL, you beat people at the ROYAL, you had fun, and you did not lose. By your scores, judges liked your product.

A co-worker and I looked at your pics. I would be VERY PROUD to be able to serve meat that had such a good look to it. I cook for my family, and friends here at work. I know they like it, because they ask for some whenever I cook. I would be pleased to ask for some of your Que, and that is RARE for me. If it taste as good as it looks, I would even pay for someof your food. That does not happen anymore (I hate to by sub par BBQ)

All of this being said, I am proud and have even done the "My Brother cooked at the superbowl of BBQ and beat people" bragging. I am sure that every contest you enter (there will be more) you will do better, and before you know it, you will be stage walking on a regular basis.

Once again, good job and congrats. you got out of your seat, and left to backyard to compare yourself to the rest of the BBQ world. Make sure your wife tells her co-workers to Fear The Pig in the days to come.

 

[Jeff_in_KC]

Wow, thanks, man! That's danged nice of you to say, Gary! Much appreciated!

 

[Bellybro]

Jeff great photos!

You did great for your first time. Way to jump in with both feet!!!!

 

[Jeff_in_KC]

Just got my non-weighted scoring detail in the mail from the American Royal. While I know what they mean (appearance/taste/tenderness), I was hoping that some experience contest folks could help me determine if there's anything I should be getting out of all this:

CATEGORY JUDGE1 JUDGE2 JUDGE3 JUDGE4 JUDGE5 JUDGE6
CK 777 777 866 777 677 866

RI 865 999 735 888 756 745

PK 867 876 856 989 979 867

BR 669 677 778 788 978 777

SG 889 866 969 888 988 878


What I THINK I can gather from this is:

1. Chicken appearance could use a lot of work (as I knew at turn-in)

2. Chicken only had average taste

3. A couple of people don't care for sweet tasting ribs with Dr. Pepper/pineapple juice spray

4. Pork presentation must have been better than I thought... maybe they liked the big chunks of pork with all that bark that I circled around the pile? Whatever it was, I wasn't happy with it but all 8's and 9's don't lie.

5. Flavor on pork didn't work. Not sure why? Maybe because there were two types: pulled and chunks. My guess is not enough bark/smoke ring mixed into the pulled pork and those who gave me better taste scores ate chunks while lower taste scores at the pulled?

6. Brisket - while i thought it was my best presentation, five of six judges didn't think so. My brisket was the highest placing of the four main categories and apparently the tenderness was what got that because they didn't do me any favors with the other two scores.

7. Judge #2 hosed my sausage placing (150th out of around 375).

So any other ideas or help I can gather from these scores that I should keep in mind this weekend at DeSoto?

 

[MoKanMeathead]

Jeff,
One thing about your ribs. I think that when ever you use "unique" flavors (Dr. Pepper/Pineapple) you run the risk of inconsistent scores - some judges may like it and some will not. I would keep your taste neutral - any flavor that over poweres another is generally not good with the judges.

On your pork you mention that the judges may have tasted different samples. I think when you turn in both pulled and chunks, most judges will taste both so you really don't know if they liked or disliked either one.

I haven't received my judges scores yet but probably will before DeSoto. Bring your scores and we can discuss out there.

See you Friday.

 

[Sawdustguy]

Jeff,

Wow, interesting scores. It looks like judge 2 loved your ribs! I have never seen all the scores before. I can't believe how much they vary all over the place with very little rhyme or reason.

 

[BBQchef33]

Just to point something out ladies.

Adam from Daisy Mays BBQ took first in pork and Rob Richter from Big Island BBQ took first place in Chicken

Both NY teams. !! :mrgreen: