Chicken

[boftx]

How about letting the student judges cook for a panel of cooks, award-winning or not, and find out first hand what it feels like to be told "it sucks to be you"?

[Chillin' n Negrillin']

Aaron,
I agree completely.

[Huskee]

You should be required to cook yourself to be a judge, period. What tastes good to a rookie judge may not be what SHOULD taste good. If you're raised on big name chain restaurant bake 'n grill ribs, and then you think competition wood-cooked ribs are too smokey...then there's an experience issue. Judges should know what they're tasting. They give you actual samples at the CBJ class, but I was never impressed by what I ate, I didn't give anything over a 7. Most things got a 6 since it was "meh". The instructor didn't like my ratings. Sorry but it wasn't excellent I told him, it tastes average to me. I'd like to see award winners cook for judge class attendees, and judges cook themselves to prove they know what's going on.

[Jon Solberg]

...

I'll add that I don't care where that taste comes from, if you can make a winning taste on a gasser or a hotplate go for it.

I concur

[_John_]

I only know competition bbq from TV, but what always irked me was how much goes into the visual presentation. I get the whole eating with your eyes, but if I have 20 points to give to presentation and taste, 1 goes to presentation and 19 goes to taste.

I'll add that I don't care where that taste comes from, if you can make a winning taste on a gasser or a hotplate go for it.

[boftx]

I can see where it is reasonable that a judge might not own a pit. After all, you don't have to know how to cook to know what tastes good.

That said, it is perfectly reasonable to ask that a judge understand everything that goes into putting an entry into the box!

[Meathead]

Great post! Thrilled to hear you did well with my rub recipe. Shocked to hear that some judges don't own grills, but now that you mention it, I can see it happening. There is so much KCBS does will and so much room for improvement. Look at how far it has come in 10 years. Where will it be in 5?

[Chillin' n Negrillin']

We have competed in KCBS events and done well. Even got a perfect score on brisket at the WV KCBS a couple of years ago using Meatheads rub and recommendations! My BBQ mentor and another friend used to compete, however, none of us currently compete right now. Let me add that we all did very well, with a number of top 10's. I will say that we had a blast and met some of the finest people on earth as our competitors. We've made lifelong friendships. BUT, for the effort provided and the qualifcations of some of the judges, we put our competition on hold. As Meathead and others have said, we don't cook at home like we do in comps. No, I don't cook thighs in cupcake tins for my friends and family! My mentor took a KCBS judging class and was surprised to find that several in the glass don't even own a grill! So how can they be qualified to judge us, that spend $1000 plus on an event (Wagu brisket and such), stay up overnight to cook, and practice for several weekends prior? KCBS has recently required those that want to be master judges to cook with a team. My friend invited a husband and wife to do so in a recent event. They were required to stay up and mind the cooker, cook, make the presentation boxes etc. They also helped pick which brisket, etc would be turned in (they cooked multiple cuts as we usually do). In short, the master judges were very happy with what got turned in. They were floored when my friend finished mid pack at the comp. I think that this is a step in the right direction by KCBS that all judges shoud have to do. So I'll end this rant by saying, for now, if we're going to put $1K into a cook, we now invite all of our friends and family over, do our best, and let them all judge our food. We've never finished out of the top 10 yet! I will also add, for those wanting to compete, that we likely will compete again, and as I said above, made a ton of friends. Do it, but don't quit your day job! We cook for fun, not blue ribbons.

[Marauderer]

Good luck and have fun. as Aaron said Pictures and commentary will be appreciated.

Barry

[Huskee]

Sounds great, please document with pictures and SHARE!

[FLBuckeye]

I am competing in November in my first KCBS (or any other sanctioned) event in Plant City, FL.

http://www.plantcity.org/Plant%20City%20Pig%20Jam.cfm

Am excited to compete; will be entering the backyard division. Hopefully, my brother from AZ, who has taken Harry Soo's class in CA will be there to help me. His daughter is due two weeks prior so if she is close to her due date, he will be able to attend. Will have my kids helping as well.
I have a big cooker that I will be using for the event. My plan right now is to start the brisket and butts within an hour of each other. I am going to use my Weber with the Party Q and Smokenator for the ribs. I have done ribs twice on the big cooker and was not happy with the temp control and the hot spots. The Weber et al will give me perfect temp control. I will do the chicken at 325 after the brisket and butts are of the smoker resting. I plan on doing drumsticks just to be a bit different. I may just defer to my brother and have him do the chicken. Still up in the air at this point. We can sell food so I plan on doing 4-6 butts and doing sandwiches with an East Carolina sauce (my favorite).

Should be interesting. Will be competing against a team of scout dads (in our troop) that I know; the trash talk has already started.

[bslogsdon]

I agree with MH here. Why pellets and not gas. I switched to gas because I could not afford a quality charcoal smoker when I started. I stayed because the results speak for themselves. I've won numerous backyard cook offs with my gasser. I know that does not compare to KCBS comps but my gas smoker has beaten WSMs, BGEs, as well as stick burners.

[boftx]

I think MH speaks with forked tongue on this. After all, how many lines of text has he devoted to telling us that BBQ is a very, very big umbrella?

[Huskee]

Completely agree with the point on pellet smokers! If anything those are easier to cook on then a gas rig. All you need is a 120v outlet and an index finger. I would love to see kcbs change to charcoal or stick burners only. Be fantastic to see everyone at there pit at all hours of the night

I agree. I'm not trying to start hate mail from readers, but I'm not sure why pellet smokers are allowed at KCBS, like you say point, click & fill. But if I judge, and something tastes like it's oven-baked with a teeny amount of smoke, it's quite likely a pellet smoker. You can taste the difference. Some prefer that difference, but not this cowboy. Not at a BBQ competition anyway.

[Bigguns2705]

Completely agree with the point on pellet smokers! If anything those are easier to cook on then a gas rig. All you need is a 120v outlet and an index finger. I would love to see kcbs change to charcoal or stick burners only. Be fantastic to see everyone at there pit at all hours of the night