Been doing some thinking about scoring systems.
Appearance / Taste / Texture.... Usually, Appearance is weighted the least and taste weighted the highest, which makes the taste of the food the dominant portion of our scores.
BUT what is the real challenge in cooking in competition?
We can all make something taste good. (just smear some blues hog on it :becky: ). We agonize over flavor profiles, balancing, smoke/wood influence, temps etc.. but in all actuality, a non offensive commercial rub will taste just plain old good. So, what is our real challenge??? And what hits the judges first in that first bite?
We establish our flavor profiles out of a jar or 10, prep the meat and into the pit it goes. Flavor is done.. ...But then we spend hours checking, probing, foiling, un-foiling, setting, dipping, dunking, shredding slicing and pulling, not drying it out, not undercooking it, not burning the skin, not making it too tough or too mushy. Whats the challenge.. taste?? or texture?
Soooo...what has more of an influence on the judges? When the judge bites that thigh, what do they notice first. Juicy, tender, dry or chewy? thats the FIRST impression, and then comes the flavors. Texture hits first, and can make your score RIGHT THEN AND THERE. Can perfection in texture mentally influence the judge and over shadow mediocre flavors. ?? if so, then why is the texture weight the lowest? Or is THAT WHY the texture weight is lower(to balance the scoring?)
Think about it, a great, well balance flavor profile will never hold up a tough brisket, mushy pork, undercooked chicken, or chewy rib. I dont think i ever heard a judge say it was tough, but tasted good so I gave it all 9's. Or you nailed the texture, and screwed up the flavors, and get penalized because the weight of the texture is less than the weight of the flavor scores. You cooked it perfectly, but the judged hated your profile.. why get nailed.. ??
What if..... the weights were reversed, giving texture more weight than flavor??? Just sayin... :thumb:
discuss.
Appearance / Taste / Texture.... Usually, Appearance is weighted the least and taste weighted the highest, which makes the taste of the food the dominant portion of our scores.
BUT what is the real challenge in cooking in competition?
We can all make something taste good. (just smear some blues hog on it :becky: ). We agonize over flavor profiles, balancing, smoke/wood influence, temps etc.. but in all actuality, a non offensive commercial rub will taste just plain old good. So, what is our real challenge??? And what hits the judges first in that first bite?
We establish our flavor profiles out of a jar or 10, prep the meat and into the pit it goes. Flavor is done.. ...But then we spend hours checking, probing, foiling, un-foiling, setting, dipping, dunking, shredding slicing and pulling, not drying it out, not undercooking it, not burning the skin, not making it too tough or too mushy. Whats the challenge.. taste?? or texture?
Soooo...what has more of an influence on the judges? When the judge bites that thigh, what do they notice first. Juicy, tender, dry or chewy? thats the FIRST impression, and then comes the flavors. Texture hits first, and can make your score RIGHT THEN AND THERE. Can perfection in texture mentally influence the judge and over shadow mediocre flavors. ?? if so, then why is the texture weight the lowest? Or is THAT WHY the texture weight is lower(to balance the scoring?)
Think about it, a great, well balance flavor profile will never hold up a tough brisket, mushy pork, undercooked chicken, or chewy rib. I dont think i ever heard a judge say it was tough, but tasted good so I gave it all 9's. Or you nailed the texture, and screwed up the flavors, and get penalized because the weight of the texture is less than the weight of the flavor scores. You cooked it perfectly, but the judged hated your profile.. why get nailed.. ??
What if..... the weights were reversed, giving texture more weight than flavor??? Just sayin... :thumb:
discuss.