The winter months are a little slow in the bbq competition world. This does not mean judges and cooks remain idle. In fact a white flag was raised and cooks and judges united to practice cooking judging and honing our particular bbq skills. This was all done at Dana Meyers house last Saturday.evening. Kevin from the competition team "Smoky Luv" and his new partner Brian Gutierrez brought their bbq trailer and parked it right in front of Dana's house. I am not sure what the neighbors thought.
During the competition year cooks complain about judges and vice versa. This was an opportunity to understand and learn about each other. Today Kevin and Brian cooked the four meats of chicken, ribs, pork and brisket. We would judge these meats and give verbal comments directly to the cooks. This is different than actual competition because all judging is blind and anonymous.
As a judge this was a good way to verbally put together the thought process of why we assign the numbers we score. It is simple to just write a number down on a score sheet but when we are face to face with the cook you better explain this numerical critique.
The cooks like the instant feedback. They know how their cook went but are not sure how judges will score. This face to face interaction is positive for both parties.
Needless to say we ate and scored some fantastic bbq today. Kevin and Brian are a competition bbq team that will be taking a lot of walks this season. (Taking a walk is winning a meat category). This was a learning experience for both parties. It also was a good excuse to have fun and good eats.
I've never been a BBQ judge but have followed it for several years and often wondered if you can actually taste the meat with all the stuff that goes on it, especially rips and chicken like these legs.
ReplyDeleteBig Dude, That is a great question. We as judges are instructed to judge the meat. Sauces intentions are to compliment the meat. The cooks job is to establish the perfect balance using spices, sauces and the meat. Sometimes a sauce can overpower and that would influence a score. Sauce has an important role in flavor but meat is the star and our focus in judging.
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