Rate My Box


 
To Nickel above concerning pre-trimming brisket for the box. I take along a paint stirring stick that has been marked to the exact length of the bottom of the turn-in box. That way I know when I'm trimming brisket exactly how big it needs to be. However, you are correct in eluding that brisket will shrink some and that the shrinkage is an unknown variable.

Russ
 
Is there anything wrong with trimming after it is cooked or will that get you a lower appearance score?
 
I think brisket that has been trimmed ahead of time looks better, as you will have a smoke ring on the top and both sides of each slice. It adds to the visual appeal, regardless of whether you are supposed to judge the smoke ring. The advantage of not trimming ahead is if the ends of the slices are a bit overdone you can slice them off and not end up with a slice of brisket only 5" long. I know teams that do well both ways, so it really comes down to personal preference.
 
JB, I love the color of the chicken. The bad thing that I see its the turtle heads popping out on the bottom and middle pieces on the right. Solid 8 imho.

Ribs- needs a little shine to make them pop. 7

Pork. Looks like the same stuff we turn in. 7

Brisket... The little pieces of rub or whatever caught my eye. Remove those plus trim the flat so that the slices are more uniform 'before cooking'. I believe if you dont put burnt ends in the box your score will suffer. 7

JB, your turn ins look like ours in many ways. Good is fine but my experience tells me that to win it has to be almost perfect.
 
JB, I love the color of the chicken. The bad thing that I see its the turtle heads popping out on the bottom and middle pieces on the right. Solid 8 imho.

Ribs- needs a little shine to make them pop. 7

Pork. Looks like the same stuff we turn in. 7

Brisket... The little pieces of rub or whatever caught my eye. Remove those plus trim the flat so that the slices are more uniform 'before cooking'. I believe if you dont put burnt ends in the box your score will suffer. 7

JB, your turn ins look like ours in many ways. Good is fine but my experience tells me that to win it has to be almost perfect.
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Dale, I'm with you 100%.

chicken, not sure how I could avoid the bone ends unless I went boneless.

pork, its hard to make it pretty. I usually do more sliced MM, which helps the appearance scores.

brisket, I use a home made sauce that has ground ancho in it. I don't like the flecks either, but the recipe is doing well for me. I may try switching to a bottled sauce at some point. That brisket wasn't trimmed as well as I would have liked. We score well for appearance with burnt ends in the box, but then our taste and tenderness scores suffer. I need to work one my burnt ends more before I go mixing them in with a flat that gets me calls.

lets see some of your boxes
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JB,

Your assessment about chicken pork and brisket is right on. I don't compete anymore or judge anymore for that matter but I have been a Contest Rep for many years.

7's/8's for appearance--it's harder to judge photo's than the actual box contents.

I agree with what Dale said plus (for what it's worth) more uniformity in brisket slice lengths and you might consider turning one or two ribs on edge to show a more interesting appearance and to show off another aspect of the rib meat (moistness, succulence) and especially if the rib lengths differ. (more uniforn lengths like you have them in the box, longer ones on edge top and bottom).
 
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