Rate my boxes


 
Ryan, I see no boxes. The folks here will give you an honest evaluation. You can also submitt to The BBQ Critic.com for further CBJ analysis.
Hope to see your boxes soon.

Mark
 
Here, I did it for you

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ribs:8 very nice.
chicken:8 looks very nice. Too bad the skin on the back left piece is pulled up and showing. Also overall picture would improve if sauce wasn't on the sides of the box.
pork:7 looks appetizing but organization needs some work.
brisket:6 looks dry.

Couple general comments. Rating boxes from photos is largely dependant on photo technique. The brisket is so dark it's hard to judge fairly.

Most folks orient the box so the viewer is looking from front to back.
 
Mark,

Thanks for the comments. The brisket was a little dry but not as bad as it looks. I am not sure why it dried out like that. It was running all over the cutting board when I was slicing it and then it was dry. It rested plenty long enough.

I agree on the chicken skin. I am having trouble finding thighs with enough skin on them. I always have some really nice ones and a few bad ones. I did 12 thighs this time and they were chosen from 24 to begin with.

I wish the pictures had been taken from the other side. The guy that was taking them for me was on the opposite side of the table from me. I should have spun the boxes around when he took the shots.
 
Ryan, I think that it's great that you are enjoying comp BBQ. There are a couple trics to making brisket "look" moist. One is to brush it with a thin/sauce,glaze or just with the auju and then spray lightly with a fine mist of eith water or apple juice. My wife is getting into taking my box pics but I also take a shot or two just before walking to the turn in table. It is even good to take a shot and look at it to see if your box is REALLY ready for turn in. The camera sees so much more than we do.
As far as chicken is concerned and its skin. Obviously try to pick thighs with ample skin and no holes in the skin. Also it is ok to trim the meat to make the skin fit all the way around. Just make sure you trim all the pieces the same size. There are also cooking methods that help set the skin so it does not shrink so much.
Glad to see you are interested in improvement. Drop me an email if you have any specific questions that I may have an answer to. It may not be the best answer cause I and most comp cooks are always learning new ways to do this better.

Mark
 
Mark, Thanks for your comments and tips!

I think the brisket pictures were taken before we glazed it. I did make a glaze (got the recipe on here) and it did make everything look shiny.

As for the pork... What do you mean by organization? I thought with the sliced in the middle and the pulled on either side it was pretty symmetrical. The sliced was tapered due to the shape it was. I would like to know what they are looking for and maybe this is not it.
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Ryan, this is a hard one. By organized I mean that the meat should be set in the box to present as perfect a picture as possible. Thyis usually means symetrical in shape and palcement. Furthemore when I look at a box i don't want to see stray pieces of meat poking up one way or the other. The overall picture should be one of "the cook had the intent to present a beautiful picture of his meat that is appetizing and make me want to eat it" Obviously this is subjective. Most KCBS comp cooks use garnish and as such the boxes look different. That being said, It has been helpfull to me to look at winning boxes, these can be found on ThePickled Pig.com in the contest section, also you can look at TheBBQ Critic.com and not only see what others are presenting but also read the judges comments.

I would highly suggest to any new comp cook to consider taking a KCBS certified judging class. If you plan on cooking in KCBS certified comps. If not, then take a class from the association who certifys your comps, if they have one. Do a google search of comp boxes and look at u tube .

Mark
 
I echo Mark's scores and general comments.

On organization, I would say this about pulled and sliced pork. Our eyes prefer to orient larger to smaller. If you had the slices on the outer two columns and a pile of pulled in the center, it would be more appealing. Or, try lining the outer area with the slices and then put the pulled in the center.
 
my scores:
ribs 9
chicken 8
pork 7
brisket 8

at our judging class, we were told most appearance scores should be 8 or 9. The engineering/math/stats part of me is driven crazy that this instruction was not consistently given. Seems unfair to teams to have different standards.

on the brisket, it might look dry but that would come out in the taste and tenderness score.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by CullenJ:
I echo Mark's scores and general comments.

On organization, I would say this about pulled and sliced pork. Our eyes prefer to orient larger to smaller. If you had the slices on the outer two columns and a pile of pulled in the center, it would be more appealing. Or, try lining the outer area with the slices and then put the pulled in the center. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ditto. I'm with Mark and CullenJ. Reorient the pork and make the pulled more size consistent. A few nice bark-y nuggets wouldn't hurt.

Make a paint for the brisket. It looks like it rested too long (this will cause quick drying after slicing, but brisket is somewhat prone to this regardless). A paint will keep all your slices looking nice and moist for quite some time.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by CullenJ:
I echo Mark's scores and general comments.

On organization, I would say this about pulled and sliced pork. Our eyes prefer to orient larger to smaller. If you had the slices on the outer two columns and a pile of pulled in the center, it would be more appealing. Or, try lining the outer area with the slices and then put the pulled in the center. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ditto. I'm with Mark and CullenJ. Reorient the pork and make the pulled more size consistent. A few nice bark-y nuggets wouldn't hurt.

Make a paint for the brisket. It looks like it rested too long (this will cause quick drying after slicing, but brisket is somewhat prone to this regardless). A paint will keep all your slices looking nice and moist for quite some time. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for the comments! Any suggestions for the paint?
 
Ryan,

That's some good looking Q there. A general comment before getting underway, take an extra minute and be sure to clean the sides of the box after loading. Goes a long way with appearance scores. Even a pro chef will clean the side of a plate before serving. Here goes:

Pork:
Slices - Can't tell for sure but never, ever serve the butt end up front (that's kind of what it looks like from this perspective) . It darkens the front of the box whereas the side of an open slice is much brighter. Can't tell from the picture but it looks like slice#2 came from a different area than the rest. Slices 3-7 look perfect.
Pulled - It's ok to do a course pull (chunks) but try to make the direction and size of the pulled uniform in the box. If at all possible try to get pieces that have the bark/smoke ring along the top end. I usually try to have the pulled vertical but layed back towards the back of the box. Think of a pork lawn. One other comment, try to not use the 'white' meat at the center of the butt. It's too dry. Try to stick to the outer edge meat. More flavor and moisture.

Brisket:
Nice looking bark. Slices appear to be a tad thick. I would clean up the left end of slices 1-3.
Little trick. Because brisket will dry out really quick after slicing, try having a small pan that has some broth/stock/etc. in it so that when you make a slice you can immediately put it in the pan to keep moisture. Then pull it out at the last second and load into the box. Just be careful to not let the bark get in the liquid. Ever thought about doing some chopped/sauced point meat under the slices? Maybe even try some burnt ends?

Chicken:
Too much sauce. It appears that the pieces are different sizes. Try to make them as uniform as possible. The upper left piece seems to have some skin issues. Always load more than the required six in the box. It doesn't allow the last judge a choice. Nice trimming job.

Ribs:
Good looking bark. The four in the bottom of the box appear to be nice and square, however the two along the sides aren't. I prefer a bit more pullback on the bone. Nice shine

Not trying to be a jerk in my above comments, just honest and picky. The judges are. As I said above it's good looking Q, would love to try a taste.

Russ
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Any suggestions for the paint? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Unless you have homemade beef stock at hand, mix 50-50 low salt canned chicken stock with beef stock. Add a little juices from the rested meat and/or a little sauce, and a little unsalted butter (not margarine - too much salt and too disgusting for words). Add a little Dijon mustard (not cheap yellow) - just a little - and whisk to emulsify. Alternatively, add a little xanthan gum.

Paint both sides of the slices, as you slice, avoiding the bark.
 

 

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