I judged my 2nd KCBS contest yesterday. It was a bit different than my first one a couple weeks ago.
Some notable takeaways:
1. This was a big event called "Smoke on the Falls" in Gadsden, Alabama. It was their 8th annual event, I believe. A lot of top KCBS Professional teams were there. There was also a Backyard competition. There were about 70 teams overall, between Professional and Backyard.
2. I judged the Backyard competition, and we judged chicken and ribs only. The Backyard teams never cook brisket, and sometimes not even pork.
3. I had a big "to each his own" moment, as the two rib entries I scored highest were absolutely loathed by the other 4 judges at my table. We were allowed to take our samples home, and I sampled all the ribs again when I got home. And I still thought the ribs I scored highest were the best. By far.
4. There was a team there named "Smoke Me Tender", an obvious twist on Elvis Presley's hit song "Love Me Tender". They were playing Elvis music, had all kinds of Elvis memorabilia, and a young man was dressed like Elvis offering to take free selfies with people. A lot of young people joined in. And I didn't even know young people knew who Elvis was.
5. The best thing I ate all day was a cajun-boiled piece of corn, with butter and a bit of cajun rub sprinkled on.
6. The smokers I saw included Primo, Big Green Egg, Jambo, Ugly Drum Smokers (no PBCs, though), and a bunch of custom smokers I didn't recognize.
7. The judge that sat across from me flew his private plane about 400 miles to judge the contest. He said judging gives him an excuse to fly his plane.
8. The KCBS rep said that 3 teams were competing for the first time ever, and they chose to enter the Professional event rather than the Backyard event.
9. There were 3 first-time judges who were allowed to judge the Professional competition. I guess they knew somebody, because there were judges at my Backyard table that had judged 30+ competitions.
10. It felt good not to raise my hand when the KCBS rep asked the whole group if there were any first-time judges.
11. The KCBS rep at this contest was definitely "in charge", but ran a very organized event. It's against KCBS rules to even have a cell phone on while judging. And it' a great sin to take pics of food at the judging table. He said there has been trouble this year with judges taking pics, and that the KCBS office has reiterated that anyone caught doing so will be expelled as a judge. Their reasoning is that taking pics of food can help judges find out whose food they judged, for nefarious purposes (i.e. for judges and competitors to make "deals"). Specific cases have occurred in the past.
12. Those of you who read my other thread on judging know that two weeks ago, the Table Captain at my table specifically told us that we should be generous in our scoring since we were judging Backyard entries. It was just the opposite yesterday. The KCBS rep there said several times, in a loud voice, that we were to judge the Backyard entries just like they were Professional entries. The ironic thing was that my Table Captain from last week was standing right beside him shaking his head in agreement.
13. I got there early, and enjoyed walking around looking at all the smokers in action. I was invited by several Professional and Backyard cooks to come sample their meats, but I had to politely decline since I was judging the contest. They didn't know I was a judge, they were just being nice and trying to promote their team.
14. It was a fun day, but I'm already realizing that if I keep this up, I'll need to work a bit harder at the gym during the week in order to avoid having to buy bigger clothes.
Some notable takeaways:
1. This was a big event called "Smoke on the Falls" in Gadsden, Alabama. It was their 8th annual event, I believe. A lot of top KCBS Professional teams were there. There was also a Backyard competition. There were about 70 teams overall, between Professional and Backyard.
2. I judged the Backyard competition, and we judged chicken and ribs only. The Backyard teams never cook brisket, and sometimes not even pork.
3. I had a big "to each his own" moment, as the two rib entries I scored highest were absolutely loathed by the other 4 judges at my table. We were allowed to take our samples home, and I sampled all the ribs again when I got home. And I still thought the ribs I scored highest were the best. By far.
4. There was a team there named "Smoke Me Tender", an obvious twist on Elvis Presley's hit song "Love Me Tender". They were playing Elvis music, had all kinds of Elvis memorabilia, and a young man was dressed like Elvis offering to take free selfies with people. A lot of young people joined in. And I didn't even know young people knew who Elvis was.
5. The best thing I ate all day was a cajun-boiled piece of corn, with butter and a bit of cajun rub sprinkled on.
6. The smokers I saw included Primo, Big Green Egg, Jambo, Ugly Drum Smokers (no PBCs, though), and a bunch of custom smokers I didn't recognize.
7. The judge that sat across from me flew his private plane about 400 miles to judge the contest. He said judging gives him an excuse to fly his plane.
8. The KCBS rep said that 3 teams were competing for the first time ever, and they chose to enter the Professional event rather than the Backyard event.
9. There were 3 first-time judges who were allowed to judge the Professional competition. I guess they knew somebody, because there were judges at my Backyard table that had judged 30+ competitions.
10. It felt good not to raise my hand when the KCBS rep asked the whole group if there were any first-time judges.
11. The KCBS rep at this contest was definitely "in charge", but ran a very organized event. It's against KCBS rules to even have a cell phone on while judging. And it' a great sin to take pics of food at the judging table. He said there has been trouble this year with judges taking pics, and that the KCBS office has reiterated that anyone caught doing so will be expelled as a judge. Their reasoning is that taking pics of food can help judges find out whose food they judged, for nefarious purposes (i.e. for judges and competitors to make "deals"). Specific cases have occurred in the past.
12. Those of you who read my other thread on judging know that two weeks ago, the Table Captain at my table specifically told us that we should be generous in our scoring since we were judging Backyard entries. It was just the opposite yesterday. The KCBS rep there said several times, in a loud voice, that we were to judge the Backyard entries just like they were Professional entries. The ironic thing was that my Table Captain from last week was standing right beside him shaking his head in agreement.
13. I got there early, and enjoyed walking around looking at all the smokers in action. I was invited by several Professional and Backyard cooks to come sample their meats, but I had to politely decline since I was judging the contest. They didn't know I was a judge, they were just being nice and trying to promote their team.
14. It was a fun day, but I'm already realizing that if I keep this up, I'll need to work a bit harder at the gym during the week in order to avoid having to buy bigger clothes.
Comment