KCBS Chicken trends


 
DavidB-CA

DavidB-CA

New member
Turn in boxes were mainly thighs at BBQ comps. I am starting to see chicken legs more frequently now. The last comp i judged my first wing box. My thoughts on the three types. Thighs and legs can be presented easier than wings. The wing box was not as full and appearance scores took a hit. What do you think of the three types?
 
I don't know about BBQ comps, but wings have gotten outrageous at the grocery. Legs are a much better deal price wise. I remember fighting with my siblings over who got a leg when we were kids. Chicken wings used to be cheap and no one wanted thighs. How things have changed.
 
David, first off... Welcome to TVWBB family !
On the subject of chicken... Chicken breast has been done but only once have I totally enjoyed it.
On the subject of appearance of the meat... Box Fullness is not to be considered in the appearance score.
 
I have competed with all three. The judges still seem to go with thighs, but I switched to legs last year. They are a lot easier to prep. I also tried wings and displayed them in a star pattern. The key is to remove one of the bones in the flats, and a butter bath is the chickens best friend!
Still trying to figure out this game…
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Bob Bass said:
David, first off... Welcome to TVWBB family !
On the subject of chicken... Chicken breast has been done but only once have I totally enjoyed it.
On the subject of appearance of the meat... Box Fullness is not to be considered in the appearance score.
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First of all, 9’s for appearance for all your boxes. My friend turned in pulled chicken breast at a comp that was easily a 9 for taste and texture, but judges have never seen that before so they downgraded the box for appearance which seemed like comparison to me rather than judging each box on its own merits. Reps should remind judges of this during the judges meeting.
 
Waaaayyy down south in Texas, IBCA is half chickens only. But more CBA events are popping up and pretty much anything goes. Lots of teams are turning in a combo of legs and wings. Letting the judges decide what they want to sample. I tend to like CBA more as they have 1hr turn ins and I can do burnt ends which seem to be better received than my slices. Since everyone loves a photo, this was the sky a couple weeks back at an IBCA. Tenth overall for the fat man that day. IMG20240405195644.jpg
 
This comment concerned me some. "The wing box was not as full and appearance scores took a hit." I've judged about 108 events and when listening to the tape recording, prior to judging, don't think I've ever heard anything about boxes being full, or not full, affecting scores for appearance. I wonder if a comment slip was completed for a less than full box :)
 
The KCBS has as many unwritten rules as major league baseball. It must be the money and ego boost that fuels folks to compete under such an elitist umbrella because BBQ made to the KCBS standards is subpar to what these same folks can turn out when left to their own devices.
 
Oh Tom...
You have it so wrong, in so many ways !
First off... to those not knowing... We judges can ONLY judge based on the KCBS WRITTEN RULES, PERIOD.
I stopped judging KCBS pro contests 5 years ago this month with just over 60 pro contest judged.
SO, Tom... How many KCBS Pro competitions have YOU judged ???
I sure would NOT want you as a fellow judge.....
 
I can’t remember how many times I questioned judges on their score compared to the table and have them tell me what was in the box was not what they expected (like wings or pulled chicken instead of thighs or different flavor or wasn’t like the other boxes). I always told the judges in the meeting there was no comparisons between boxes and judge each box on its’ own merits and that while there may be something unusual they’re not not used to seeing or tasting (Once a cook used teriyaki sauce as his flavoring profile) and it needs to be judged as the cook presented it, not on what the judge expects or prefers. Typically, it was experience judges most often that harshly judged non-typical entries.
 
Mark Silver said:
I can’t remember how many times I questioned judges on their score compared to the table and have them tell me what was in the box was not what they expected (like wings or pulled chicken instead of thighs or different flavor or wasn’t like the other boxes). I always told the judges in the meeting there was no comparisons between boxes and judge each box on its’ own merits and that while there may be something unusual they’re not not used to seeing or tasting (Once a cook used teriyaki sauce as his flavoring profile) and it needs to be judged as the cook presented it, not on what the judge expects or prefers. Typically, it was experience judges most often that harshly judged non-typical entries.
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I've helped at a half dozen new judge classes and I can tell you cooks, from teams, are the harshest judges during the class training. I'd like to see some mechanism to curb those judges that are outliers at every event they judge. The teams deserve consistent/predictable scoring at events.
 
MikeBarger said:
I've helped at a half dozen new judge classes and I can tell you cooks, from teams, are the harshest judges during the class training. I'd like to see some mechanism to curb those judges that are outliers at every event they judge. The teams deserve consistent/predictable scoring at events.
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Very true. In KCBS, the lowest score at the table for each category is dropped or tossed out. There was one judge who was a cook who scored everything low. When I asked him about it he told me his stuff was better and that’s how he scored it. I told him comparisons to anything isn’t allowed but when I told him his low scores would never count because they got tossed out, that’s when he understood about scoring as the cook prepared and presented it only. This was before KCBS instituted comment cards, so his low scoring didn’t mean anything or penalize any team.
 
Mark Silver said:
Very true. In KCBS, the lowest score at the table for each category is dropped or tossed out. There was one judge who was a cook who scored everything low. When I asked him about it he told me his stuff was better and that’s how he scored it. I told him comparisons to anything isn’t allowed but when I told him his low scores would never count because they got tossed out, that’s when he understood about scoring as the cook prepared and presented it only. This was before KCBS instituted comment cards, so his low scoring didn’t mean anything or penalize any team.
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Actually, in a tie situation the low scores are brought back into the total. This wouldn't happen often but is a possibility.
 
Bob Bass said:
SO, Tom... How many KCBS Pro competitions have YOU judged ???
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“I refuse to belong to any club that would have me as a member.” - Grouch Marx.

As for any remaining indignation you wish to cast at me, if we look at others comments here, it appears that adherence to the written rules and a lack of consistency are not an exclusive opinion of my own. You might’ve done your part but the organization has some work to do if the participants themselves can’t trust their efforts to be judged consistently & predictably.
 
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