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View Full Version : First Comp Boxes... Critique, Please.


MoGreen
04-19-2010, 08:41 PM
Here's the breakdown of appearance scores:

Chicken- 6/9/9/9/9/9 What was that guy's problem?

Ribs- 9/8/9/7/8/7

Pork- 7/8/9/9/8/8

Brisket- 9/8/9/8/8/8

These photos were taken under a red tent, so keep in mind that everything looks a little more rosy than it did in real life.

Be honest. We're dying to improve!

JD McGee
04-19-2010, 09:05 PM
Chicken box looks great...
Ribs look a bit jumbled...kinda all over the place...
Pork slices look a bit too saucy...chunks look great...
Brisket slices are uneven and not uniform in thickness...

Just my 2c...:cool:

MoGreen
04-19-2010, 09:16 PM
Yeah, I should have thinned out the sauce on those pork slices. Ribs should look more like a unified rack? Is that what you mean? Should we trim the edges of the brisket slices to keep them uniform? Thanks for the input, JD.

JD McGee
04-19-2010, 09:19 PM
Yeah, I should have thinned out the sauce on those pork slices. Ribs should look more like a unified rack? Is that what you mean? Should we trim the edges of the brisket slices to keep them uniform? Thanks for the input, JD.

Exactly...:thumb:

smknwhlswife
04-19-2010, 09:46 PM
Since you will get lots of feed back for the food, I will give some on the parsley (even though it shouldn't count, but you put it in the box so....) Make sure the color of the parsley is similar. Notice how the light green stands out from your pork & rib box. You can always hide the ugly greens under the food. Also I try to have a "bed of parsley". I even flatten it down, this way I don't have some sticking up and some not showing. Hope this helps.

NateOwsley
04-19-2010, 10:09 PM
beautiful chicken

G$
04-19-2010, 10:21 PM
All I have to say is .... "first timer" boxes sure have improved in the last few years.

Meat Burner
04-19-2010, 10:52 PM
Loose the red tent, makes it difficult to look at. Sauce seams heavy but may be the red tint thingy. Chicken looks really good...cept the red tint thingy. LOL Just farkin with ya bro. Boxes look really good!

Meat Burner
04-19-2010, 11:12 PM
Mo, seriously the chicken looks great but who knows about the one judge, that is just what it is sometime. Pork looks great on the pulled pieced but the money muscle looks awful with all that sauce, JMO. Visual impression is that all you would be tasting would be sauce and not meat. Ribs look pretty good but the one on the left and the right are not close enough to the same. The left one really distracts from the presentation. You need to kiss the bbq gods for those score on appearance on the brisket bro. Not very neat at all. Hey, you asked brother. Don't ask how my last brisket scored...it was not pretty. LOL

MoGreen
04-20-2010, 07:32 AM
Thanks, Kim . I see what you mean about the difference in color. I didn't notice that until you mentioned it.

MoGreen
04-20-2010, 07:36 AM
Hey, Meat, thanks for the feedback. You're right... I asked. I was tempted not to post pics of our chicken and brisket since we did pretty good on those, but at the same time, I knew there were people on here who are so detail oriented that they would find a few issues with them. This kind of stuff will only make us better, and your feedback is appreciated.

monty3777
04-20-2010, 09:09 AM
It looks like you used slices from two different places on the flat. Not that that should matter, but it is immediatly obvious - therefore it got my attention. The top of the last three slices looked great. To me the pork looks pretty good. Folks are saying to lose some of the sauce - I wonder how your taste score was?

MoGreen
04-20-2010, 09:40 AM
Those are actually slices from 2 different flats. Taste scores on the pork were all over the map... 7/9/6/8/9/9. It placed 15th out of 47 teams. I didn't think to thin the sauce out like I did for my chicken, which used the same sauce and got 8/8/7/9/9/8 for taste. There was no sauce on the pulled, I just dredged it in the jus from the foil.

Lake Dogs
04-20-2010, 10:07 AM
DUDE! For fist comp; A+. Very well done. For having to use 2 different flats, you did
pretty well getting them in there. Ribs... I dont know; they just didnt say "YOU WANT
TO EAT THIS" to me. I really liked the pork chunks, and agree that it appears to have
too much sauce on the MM (appearances being appearances). Chicken; well done.

MattG
04-20-2010, 10:19 AM
Graet job for first time out. I would like to know where the 6 came from. I really liked the chicken

daedalus
04-20-2010, 10:19 AM
First, let me preface the following remarks by saying that these boxes look really good overall, especially for a first time comp. What I am about to say is just my opinion, and should be taken with the grain of salt it is intended.

Chicken,
If I were a table captain and saw that 6 in chicken appearance, I would have asked the guy if he were sure. I would then keep and eye on his scores for the rest of the categories. If they tended to be that far off of the norm, I would probably bring it up to a rep. IMHO, and not really knowing what the color looked like, I would put you in the 8-9 range without a problem. Maybe the guy who gave you a 6 had his card upside down.:confused:

Pork,
I agree with the gloppy sauce comment. I also think that the pulled pile could be tightened up a bit. It look just ever so slightly "thrown in". Great looking bark on the pulled. I also agree with the previous comment about the garnish. Try to really make it tight and even. They call it a putting green for a reason. I would say 7-8.

Ribs
Not bad, and it is especially hard to tell because of the red tint. I think the middle line looks too jagged. Try to make it look like it came off of one rack. If that is impossible, then think about a different display technique, maybe stacked. Same garnish issue as pork. Again, 7-8 depending on color.

Brisket
First, I think that you should have put slightly less pulled in the box. I think it looks better if there is a bit of green showing all the way around the box. It helps to frame the meat. Having said that, I think the pulled meat itself looks really good. The slices seem a bit haphazard. The back three look great, but then it looks like you reversed the front 4. Try to stay consistent with the lines. I have seen people cut the ends off so they can make two flats line up. I also like to go ahead and trim the front slice so that it has a nice, neat bottom edge. The jaggedy line does not look as nice. Also, watch the crumbly ends, like on the left side of the front 4 pieces. Same garnish issue. I would probably give it a 7.

All in all, great job!

monty3777
04-20-2010, 10:29 AM
Those are actually slices from 2 different flats. Taste scores on the pork were all over the map... 7/9/6/8/9/9. It placed 15th out of 47 teams. I didn't think to thin the sauce out like I did for my chicken, which used the same sauce and got 8/8/7/9/9/8 for taste. There was no sauce on the pulled, I just dredged it in the jus from the foil.

Look at all those 9s and take them into consideration. If your stuff is scoring that high in your first comp (you tend to tighten things up as the season rolls along) then I WOULDN'T CHANGE A THING! Seriously, don't start screwing with something that works. You need fine tuning - nothing else - and that will come naturally with experience (not that I have much but that's how our first year 2009 went).

BTW, just wondering why you would uses slices from two different flats?

sitnfat
04-20-2010, 11:21 AM
I went with those slices because I thought they were the best as far as the way the cut and felt while handleing them

MoGreen
04-20-2010, 01:15 PM
Thanks Lake Dog and Matt G. for the kind words. For that matter, thanks to everyone here for sharing all of your knowledge. Team Rub Won Out could never have done this well in our first comp without this great forum and all of it's members. We have spent the last 8 months doing our research here and on one other forum.

Daedalus, thanks for your two cents. That's exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for. I think we'll probably spend the next couple of weeks trolling for pics of turn-in boxes! I'm telling you... that 8th place walk in Brisket has got me hooked!

KC_Bobby
04-20-2010, 01:26 PM
First comp? Impressive (based on pic, my app score will follow)

Chicken - I'm jealous - don't change a thing app wise (9)

Ribs - take more time to arrange so it looks like 6-7 ribs that are uncut from side to side. As you progress maybe stack 4 on 4 or 5 on 5 (7)

Pork - hard to tell from the pic how much sauce is on the sliced or if that's a shine from the tent. I like the layout of the box. Drizzle some sauce over the pulled and try to work on similar thickness of the slices (8 )

Brisket - IMO, this is the weak one. That bottom of the front slice just makes me want to ask if that's where the pulled brisket came from (Yes, I'm aware that it didn't based on the grain, but that bottom edge is really distracting.) Three slices from 2 different flats - might have been a good call for texture - but it's very possible that the two briskets tasted different, so that could effect the highest weighted score. Sounds like it worked based on your call, but seems like a big chance to take unless you were very happy with the taste of both. We're they overcooked or do you need a new knife? The left edges of the slices are ripped. (6)

For a first comp, I'd say your presentions were very good - minus the brisket. Had that brisket had a smooth edge on the bottom of the front slice, I'd say that's even a nice first comp box.

Good job.

mrichard
04-20-2010, 01:46 PM
Chicken looks phenomenal! Brisket needs some work on evening up the slices. I thought my brisket looked great this past week and my scores were. 6/6/6/9/9/9. WTF?

BRBBQ
04-20-2010, 01:52 PM
I would'nt change chic, you got ripped off 9's
Pork alot of sauce, but still worthy of an 7-8
ribs I go 7-8 I can't tell for sure on pic
beef I would of went 7-8 by the left side cut up or torn.

MoGreen
04-20-2010, 01:52 PM
KC Bobby... great advice. And that is exactly why I love this site. Next comp is May 29 in Young Harris, GA. We will work on more consistent slices, better parsley beds, and we will NOT be photographing under a red tent!!