Yo to All, If my old crusty memory serves me correctly, up to and including the 1992 season,the pork category in KCBS competitions allowed any cut of pork as a legal entry. The only exception to this rule was that spare ribs and back ribs were not allowed to be submitted as a pork entry. These two rib cuts were only allowed to be submitted in the rib category. However, country style ribs that were cut from the loin area and contained the chine bone or back rib bone were allowed to be submitted as a rib entry. (Country style ribs cut from the shoulder section were not allowed as a rib entry, but back in these old times they were not a common cut of pork.) To add more confusion to the pork category, there was an unwritten rule that if you submitted loin cut country style ribs for your pork entry, you were not allowed to enter those same cut ribs as your pork entry. Our team once took fifth in pork at the 1990 Royal with loin cut country style ribs.
Other than the exclusion of spare and back ribs, the pork category was pretty wide open. Most teams submitted loin cuts either as slices from the loin roast or chops. Slices of the true/inner tenderloin were another item that was another popular entry. There were a few teams submitting shoulder cuts, Some teams cooked the shoulders whole and submitted either sliced or pulled entries. There were even pork steaks submitted as legal entries.
In 1993 there were several rule changes and the pork category was one of them. One of the main reasons given to the teams for the rules changes defining a legal pork entry was the BOD felt that the judges were making comparisons and contrasts of the different cuts to the entries of the same category as in loin cuts vs shoulder cuts that were on the same judging table. There was a perception that some judges preferred one cut over the other cut. (We still see that notion today with the spares vs back ribs for submission.) The BOD felt is was more fair for every team to submit meat cut from the same area of the hog.
Another reason given for the rule change was that the loin chops and pork chops teams submitted did not have the degree of difficulty of cooking as a pork shoulder/picnic cut. Pork chops and steaks can be grilled in less than an hour where as cooking a five pound or greater weight shoulder cut was a more traditional BBQ item that took longer to cook. There were some other reasons given to the teams for the change, but these were the main two that I recall.
Another big rule change occurred in 1993. Prior to this year, there were two divisions in the contest, Amateur and Professional. A professional team was defined as a team who had a member who derived monies from BBQ. This included someone who sold BBQ supplies such as smoking woods, rubs, sauces, grills, smokers and other BBQ related items. People who cooked professionally or owned restaurants or catered were also included as professionals. There were other parameters that would designate someone as a professional, but this was 30 years ago and I cannot remember everything......... If you did not have a team member who was a "pro", your team was in the amateur.
Here is how the contest worked. Every team, regardless of division followed the same rules. There were two judging tents, one for the professionals and one for the amateurs. Each division had its own category winners, but the overall contest winner was the team that had the highest overall score, regardless of its division. For the most part, there was not a big difference in the number of teams in either division. If there was a difference, there were usually more amateur teams competing than professional teams.
This all changed for 1993 season, The divisions were all combined and each team were then deemed as competing against each other, It should be noted during these times and up until about 2003, the various KCBS contests across the country could have more than the standard four categories count towards the Grand Champion. For instance, the Royal had six categories for grand champion, Besides the big four, there was lamb and sausage. The lamb category was dropped at the Royal before 2003 as they were having trouble finding enough judges who liked lamb.
When the BOD did restrict the criteria for GC to the big four categories of chicken, ribs, pork and brisket, there were several contests that were grandfathered in to include a category that was a traditional category at that contest, Two contests that come to mind are Kearney, MO with turkey and Tryon, SC with whole hog. I believe there were two other contests that were grandfathered in with a fifth required category, but I cannot recall those contests. I am not sure if that grandfather clause still applies.
So there is your history lesson for the day........... There will be no quiz given on this lesson and if there is, there will be no math involved. And that is a shame as I am good at math. I am not one of those four out of three people who cannot do fractions.
Lager,
Juggy D Beerman