Parsley, parsley, parsley! What ever happened to Green Leaf Lettuce?

[Pig Headed]

When I judge, it doesn't matter what is used for garnish as long as the box looks nice. I care more about the meat.

I cook also and use both parsley and lettuce, it depends on what the entry is. I think chicken and ribs look better on parsley and pork and brisket look better on lettuce. Just my personal preferrence with turn in's. I don't notice much difference in scores.

 

[HarleyEarl]

One big difference (parsley vs lettuce), is that with a parsley putting green it's easier to prop the meat up so it sits on top of the garnish... which highlights the MEAT.

With lettuce boxes, even when done well, I find that the lettuce wraps around and up the sides of the box. With lettuce - the meat is 'in' the garnish, whereas with a putting green the meat is sitting up on top of the garnish.

This is a pretty broad statement and I'm sure there's exceptions, just something I've noticed and pondered...

I guess I was one of your exceptions when I was using lettuce. We trimmed the lettuce and placed it in the box vertically and ended up with a lettuce "putting green" of sorts. The reason we switched to parsley is that it seems to make the meat pop better on a darker surface. Both methods are a pain to assemble, but the parsley also takes less time to assemble and now that I am putting the boxes together myself, I take the quicker/easier route. I much rather spend my time cooking rather than gardening.

 

[QansasjayhawQ]

I much rather spend my time cooking rather than gardening.

Well, there you go. So much concern about an attribute that is weighted so much less than taste and tenderness! (I reviewed the rules this afternoon.)

"6) The weighting factors for the point system are as follows:
Appearance ‐ 0.5714, Taste ‐ 2.2858, Tenderness ‐ 1.1428."​

From:
http://www.kcbs.us/pdf/2011_Rules_and_Regulations_12-10-2010.pdf

Seems like folks ought to be more worried about their cooking rather than their gardening, as you say!

 

[kcmike]

Careful, don't undervalue the importance of the appearance score in today's ultra-competitive contests where sometimes only tenths of a point separate the top three teams and there's big money at stake.

 

[QansasjayhawQ]

Careful, don't undervalue the importance of the appearance score in today's ultra-competitive contests where sometimes only tenths of a point separate the top three teams and there's big money at stake.

That's very true - and I pointed that out in a previous post comparing the closeness of competition to the qualifying times of NASCAR - all the competitors are very close!

But when a team such as mine that finds itself in the lower half of the competitors on a consistent basis, it seems fitting that we would concentrate first on taste, then tenderness and finally on appearance in order to improve our results.

Thanks for the thought -

 

[kcmike]

That's very true - and I pointed that out in a previous post comparing the closeness of competition to the qualifying times of NASCAR - all the competitors are very close!

But when a team such as mine that finds itself in the lower half of the competitors on a consistent basis, it seems fitting that we would concentrate first on taste, then tenderness and finally on appearance in order to improve our results.

Thanks for the thought -

How would I have know about your other post in a different thread posted over two weeks ago? I don't commit every one of your posts to memory, nor do I follow you around to see what you posted...

Anyway... my advice to you (if you find yourself in the lower half of competitors on a consistent basis) is you should probably focus on all three aspects of judging equally, because the devil's in the details, and if you preferentially focus on the first two you mentioned, in today's contests, you'll still likely find yourself outside the top ten each time.

Good luck,
Mike