No garnish boxes

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bradgreer

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I was wondering if any KCBS competitors have had excellent (9) appearance scores on a consistent basis not using any type of garnish whatsoever?

I know that garnish is not supposed to be a judging factor, but...

Thanks,
 
bradgreer said:
I was wondering if any KCBS competitors have had excellent (9) appearance scores on a consistent basis not using any type of garnish whatsoever?

I know that garnish is not supposed to be a judging factor, but...

Thanks,
Click to expand...

but...Judges eat with their eyes, don't even think they disregard garnish and smoke rings etc.
 
bradgreer said:
I was wondering if any KCBS competitors have had excellent (9) appearance scores on a consistent basis not using any type of garnish whatsoever?

I know that garnish is not supposed to be a judging factor, but...

Thanks,
Click to expand...

No I have never heard of a KCBS judge giving no garnish a good score. However when the KCBS and FBA regions overlap you will probably find judges who will give better and possibly perfect appearance score because FBA uses no garnish.

I have heard the argument that garnish shouldn't be judged but what happens most times is not that the garnish is judged but that the platform upon which the meat is displayed gives a nicer appearance. We charge our judges with the task of judging "appearance". Anything that aids in creating a better overall appearance is welcomed and thats what garnish does. Its the difference between viewing a work of art in a museum setting with perfect lighting or in a utility closet under a dirty light bulb. Its still the same wonderful work of art but which do you think will elicit a positive response?
 
From a judge's perspective, I've seen a lot of no-garnish pork boxes that looked fantastic. I've given 9s to those that deserved them. That said, I've seen no-garnish boxes that looked like crap, too. An attractive presentation is an attractive presentation.

Now, I specify pork because I've never seen any other category without garnish have a good looking box. I'm sure it could be done, but its never hit my table.
 
As Skip mentioned above when you have an overlap of FBA/KCBS judges (FL, GA, AL areas mostly) you'd probably not get dinged as hard on a no garnish box. In FBA, they're no garnish but many turn boxes in on a bed of pulled meat for chicken, pork & brisket so that the meat is the garnish essentially. Hopefully a FBA/KCBS team will post what results they've had in doing an "FBA style" box in KCBS. I'm an ex FBA judge but have done mostly KCBS judging but can't remember many if any "FBA style" boxes in KCBS but I wouldn't ding it as I'd consider it part of the entry to be judged so would be scored in that context good or bad
 
hogzillas said:
As Skip mentioned above when you have an overlap of FBA/KCBS judges (FL, GA, AL areas mostly) you'd probably not get dinged as hard on a no garnish box. In FBA, they're no garnish but many turn boxes in on a bed of pulled meat for chicken, pork & brisket so that the meat is the garnish essentially. Hopefully a FBA/KCBS team will post what results they've had in doing an "FBA style" box in KCBS. I'm an ex FBA judge but have done mostly KCBS judging but can't remember many if any "FBA style" boxes in KCBS but I wouldn't ding it as I'd consider it part of the entry to be judged so would be scored in that context good or bad
Click to expand...

I know that when FBA teams go to invitational KCBS events they go with garnish for the most part. My wife learned from the best and had her brain picked at the royal by an FBA team. They went on to garner twenty three 9's and one 8 in appearance on the big four. They were sold. :laugh: Of course they were already well accomplished competitors who were accustom to such numbers. But the consistency was impressive.
 
Skip...
I have given 9s in appearance for garnish-free boxes. One box in particular stands out in my memory. This was from 2 years ago. This was a brisket box... or should I say Excellent slices of brisket in a box wrap (if you will...). Everyone at the table give it 9s in appearance. Others have tried it with varying results. Can be done !
 
I've never turned in a box with no garnish, but I have been "testing the water" on how little parsley will still score 9s. I've found using a layer on the bottom of the box and filling in obvious gaps will score all 9s in appearance.
 
I like the idea of putting pulled meat in the bottom of the box instead of greens. I'm also toying with using different types of lettuce in the box. One thing is for sure - NO PARSLEY.
 
Dave...

Hopefully you ARE putting Excellent pulled meat down as the bed.
Question... will the first judge see it in time to take a sample ?
(as long as you don't do the same for your pork rib entry...)
 
Personally, we always garnish. Then again, the #1 Pork box at Havasu 2009 (70+ teams) used no garnish at all. Then again, that was in 2009.
 
dirtydingus said:
but...Judges eat with their eyes, don't even think they disregard garnish and smoke rings etc.[/QUOT

My Dear Mr. Dingus,
I call big fat bulls*it on your generalization of all judges. I personally DO disregard both garnish (after checking legality) and smoke ring when judging KCBS contests. It's the rule and is not hard to do once you train yourself to do it. And I'm not the only judge to follow the rules, in fact I would venture a guess most do.
The amount of comments on the BBQ Critic site that make note of garnish improvement oppertunitys and then follow with "but we don't judge garnish" indicate the ability to see it but not judge it.
Ed
Click to expand...
 
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