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Consistent Taste

P

pharp

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Hi everyone. I just finished my second KCBS event and I have some questions about the taste scoring. My appearance scores were perfect, literally. However, I finished 20 out of 26...so that tells you all you need to know about my taste/tenderness scores. I feel like I know where I missed on tenderness, but taste has me puzzled. I know that judges and judging techniques are all different, but I am having trouble figuring out how to improve. Another thing is that geographically (located in Arkansas) I do not have access to a lot of competitions or the budget to travel to a lot of competitions. Only doing 4 competitions a year makes it hard to find out what "consistently works." Does anyone have success stories of what they did to improve their "taste scores." I need to take my 7's to 8's and my 8's to 9's to boost my score. Thanks in advance, you guys are all awesome.
 
I'm sure if you would PM some of the West Coast teams, they would be more than happy to help with the rub/flavoring.

Pretty sure if you nail the tenderness and use some Smokin' Guns Hot rub, you could hear your name called.
 
Start nailing tenderness (as mentioned above) and use products that have been known to score well.

Some examples that are well known on this site are Blues Hog Sauces, Smokin Guns rubs, Big Poppa Rubs, Head Country Sauces, Swamp Boys Sauces, Butcher BBQ Injections, Kosmos Q Injections

The list goes on and on. Hopefully this will get you started.

Also, practice, practice, practice at home on tenderness. Take a class. and practice some more

Good luck. Hopefully we will cross paths someday.
 
Not sure if this is a photo of an actual entry, or just an example of what comp bbq looks like. If it is a real entry, I would be careful about having the large pieces of "stuff" in your rub/sauce, as it could be visually detracting and also result in uneven taste depending on where a judge might bite

8d693d_470c74a2675742379758009d122176b4.jpg
 
Agreed with all posts thus far. Your brisket may taste phenomenal, but if it's tougher than shoe leather both scores will suffer.

Practice at home for sure.

Stick to the proven winners in flavorings. Blues hog on just about everything. Smokin' Guns hot on just about everything (I use on all 4 meats). Once you get the basic flavors, then you can start tweeking. Adding salt here, touch of sweet there.

When you are at a cook-off, ask a winning team if you can sample a bite. Some will be happy to share, but be careful, others are secretive.
 
Like qbert said. Cooking for competition is not cooking for home. You need to basically use what everyone uses. If you are playing chef... it generally doesn't work too well. We moved up from bottom of the pack on everything to 2 name calls on our second comp by cooking just like everyone else. The tenderness thing may be the most important. If you stick with profiles that are widely used it's all down to how perfectly you can cook your meat. Once you.get a few higher scores, then start modifying the flavor profiles to see what you can do. Unfortunately you may want to buy some blues hog if you aren't already using it.
 
Not sure if this is a photo of an actual entry, or just an example of what comp bbq looks like. If it is a real entry, I would be careful about having the large pieces of "stuff" in your rub/sauce, as it could be visually detracting and also result in uneven taste depending on where a judge might bite

8d693d_470c74a2675742379758009d122176b4.jpg

Thanks for the advice...that was a picture I took illustrating what surprised me when I used granulated honey for the first time. I was very surprised at how it formed those little "pieces." I am going to order some of these rubs/sauces on a practice cook this weekend. A lot of people mention the same hot rub. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being equal to a blazing at Buffalo Wild Wings) where would most of you say your heat level falls (I realize different meats have different profiles, but for sake of assigning a heat level). I am afraid that I will scare judges with just the least bit of spice.
 
If you're referring to Smokin' Guns Hot, it's not all that hot. Especially once it's been in a 225-300 degree smoker for 3-10 hours

I'd say it's a 6 on heat YMMV

The stuff wins so I wouldn't be worried about the heat too much
 
I run my granulated honey thru my wife's nutra bullet. Just a quick pop or it'll turn to dust so fine you might create a new atomic particle or something.
 
Some heat is good. Treat it like other spices. Think balance.

Don't over do it ! Judges don't like it and neither do teams whose boxes follow your box at that table.
 
Thanks Right On... I am not so much concerned with the heat since that rub wins...just trying to get a point of reference when I am taste testing at home to see if I am in the proper heat range!
 
Thanks Bryan...I actually started dissolving it in cola...works good for the color and got rid of the "pieces." I like the nutra bullet idea!
 
Keep in mind that you are trying to pack as much flavor into 1 bite as possible. It's all about 1 bite.

The other thing is, don't try something that might offend someone. Maybe offend is the wrong word here, but pick flavors that blend well. A judge shouldn't pick up on 1 distinct flavor.
 
Start nailing tenderness (as mentioned above) and use products that have been known to score well.

Some examples that are well known on this site are Blues Hog Sauces, Smokin Guns rubs, Big Poppa Rubs, Head Country Sauces, Swamp Boys Sauces, Butcher BBQ Injections, Kosmos Q Injections

The list goes on and on. Hopefully this will get you started.

Also, practice, practice, practice at home on tenderness. Take a class. and practice some more

Good luck. Hopefully we will cross paths someday.
I just finished a brisket using SGH and Butcher injection. Do you guys typically follow the recipe for butcher's injections? I didn't notice much difference but I know it must be me since it is such an widely respected product.
 
I thought the same thing until I cooked a brisket for some family a few weeks ago without injection.

It does make a difference.

I follow the instructions on the package but I know many people play around with the ratios
 
Thanks Right On... I am not so much concerned with the heat since that rub wins...just trying to get a point of reference when I am taste testing at home to see if I am in the proper heat range!
the proper heat range is no heat.
 
Hi everyone. I just finished my second KCBS event and I have some questions about the taste scoring. My appearance scores were perfect, literally. However, I finished 20 out of 26...so that tells you all you need to know about my taste/tenderness scores. I feel like I know where I missed on tenderness, but taste has me puzzled. I know that judges and judging techniques are all different, but I am having trouble figuring out how to improve. Another thing is that geographically (located in Arkansas) I do not have access to a lot of competitions or the budget to travel to a lot of competitions. Only doing 4 competitions a year makes it hard to find out what "consistently works." Does anyone have success stories of what they did to improve their "taste scores." I need to take my 7's to 8's and my 8's to 9's to boost my score. Thanks in advance, you guys are all awesome.

I believe you should be proud for your 2nd contest, Hot & Fast BBQ! There were some tough teams at Stuttgart and the cooking conditions were brutal. If I'm where you are next time, you're welcome to taste my stuff. Lord knows I don't have the magical "taste" answers, every now and then I get lucky. My next Arkansas event is Wynne, then Fort Smith. If'n you're not cooking, you are welcome to park your chair at BBQr's Delight.
 
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