Practice Cook - Turn-In Boxes - Critiques Welcome

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bvbull200

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We had a practice run this weekend for our very first competition. Great day with lots of friends, family, music, and beverages. I can talk about that elsewhere, though.

Below are the turn-in boxes that we made and I wanted to see if I could get some feedback. Our team is three strong and it is the first time we've ever "presented" our food. We did run out of parsley, so the ribs are on green leaf lettuce instead (lesson learned) and we did not do a good job of trimming the ribs beforehand, then proceeded to overcook them, making it very difficult to get 6 identical pieces (2nd lesson learned).

Sorry about the black boxes. We had a hell of a time finding any and ended up getting these from Taco Bueno.

Here are the 4 boxes:

Chicken:
20140816_183341_RichtoneHDR_zpscrj3v6ie.jpg


Brisket:
20140816_190854_zps66fbam6v.jpg


Pork:
20140816_192442_zps0qlejr7t.jpg


Ribs:
20140816_194021_zpsvdoybvn4.jpg


Thanks for looking and I look forward to the feedback!
 
For a first time, not too bad. As a judge, here is what I see. Chicken color doesn't look appealing to me. Looks a little yellow. Pork looks a little dry, but looks appetizing. Ribs and brisket - pay attention to slice uniformity. Try to get ribs from the same rack if you can. Not trying to be negative on each box, but if you want them to be better those things would help
 
bbq.tom said:
Agree with all if the above. Boxes look average at best. Try to have meat sit on top of garnish instead of snuggled down into it. Spritz or lightly sauce everything to make it look moist.
Click to expand...

^^^^This. Plus, the chicken "balls" have dents in a couple that looks cancerous. Personally I would stay away from the pulled brisket as it doesn't look appetizing to me.
 
Chicken - right or wrong, judges tend to like to see a red/mahogany color on bbq, so you might want to consider adding more color to your rub, or possibly a glaze at the end

Brisket - I actually like seeing the chopped in the box, but would prefer to have full slices running the width of the box, and then placing the chopped at either the top or bottom. Clean up the brisket slices, you don't want "debris" visible as it hurts the appearance

Pork - my favorite of your boxes. Agree that a light saucing or spritzing at the end would be good, as you want the meat to look moist

Ribs - nice color, as you already stated, the trimming isn't ideal
 
With the cupcake chicken, I would consider turning in 9 pieces to fill the box. Garnish needs to be lower in the box and not covering the meat.

Pulled brisket is risky. You can win with it, but you can also get 2 or 3 judges who will knock you pretty hard on it. I agree that it should be top or bottom of the box.

Pork is probably going to look really dry when it makes it to the judges. I also looks like you include some white meat which will dry out sooner. Light sauce would help.

On ribs, it looks like you have a couple of hollywood cuts and maybe an end. Most people are turning in straight cut ribs, wide cuts can affect your tenderness scores because there is more meat to bite through.

Overall, not bad for a first attempt. The biggest issue is that garnish is distracting from meat instead of enhancing the appearance.
 
JeffR said:
Not trying to be negative on each box, but if you want them to be better those things would help
Click to expand...

Trust me, none of what you or the other Brethren have shared is being taken as "negative". Constructive criticisms, sure, but in no way discouraging. I didn't post these up to get undeserved pats on the back. Great info that we will absolutely take in to consideration.

Thanks to everyone else that has offered critiques so far, as well.

So far, my biggest takeaways are:

1. Chicken needs a better, more "reddish" glaze.
2. Don't let the garnish come up around the meat, just support it.
3. More spritzing or other method for adding moisture and shine.
4. There is risk with the pulled brisket, decide if it's worth it. If so, put it on the top or bottom of the box.
5. Attention to seemingly minor details, like the dent in the chickens, the slightly out of line brisket, and the little flakes on the faces of the brisket slices (among others).

This in addition to the admittedly less than desirable trimming of the ribs.

Thanks for all of the help. Looking forward to any other opinions, too. I may practice with some or all of the meats throughout the next couple of weeks.
 
I would seriously stop turning in chicken balls. This fad went away a few years ago. Many judges score it down because it doesn't look natural. I'd score it down because it doesn't look appetizing.

I'd suggest cooking thighs in their normal shape and trimming them all to the same size.
 
tduffy said:
I would seriously stop turning in chicken balls. This fad went away a few years ago. Many judges score it down because it doesn't look natural. I'd score it down because it doesn't look appetizing.

I'd suggest cooking thighs in their normal shape and trimming them all to the same size.
Click to expand...

We'll give a bone-in, non-tin version a try and see what sort of results we see. Chicken is, by far, the most foreign category for any of us, so we tried something that felt like it could give us some consistency. There were a good number of people at the practice that liked them, but they aren't judges, so a grain of salt is required.

As for the fads, it's all new to us, so we might sport the bell-bottoms of BBQ from time-to-time without realizing we're stuck in the 70's :wink:.
 
I agree with the statement of building your garnish up so that the meat sits up and really stands out. All in all I think that you did a great job for your first try. They look 100 times better than my first boxes did. Nice job and keep practicing. I'm sure that you'll do just fine.
 
bvbull200 said:
We'll give a bone-in, non-tin version a try and see what sort of results we see. Chicken is, by far, the most foreign category for any of us, so we tried something that felt like it could give us some consistency. There were a good number of people at the practice that liked them, but they aren't judges, so a grain of salt is required.
Click to expand...
If you like your results from the muffin tin, try switching to a mini loaf tin instead, like this:
12-loaf-non-stick-mini-bread-pan-6-4-oz.jpg

That should shut up the judges that have a preconceived bias against round chicken thighs.:thumb:
 
A couple of days late to the party BUT...
When you have a choice of what to place in your box, chose your best samples. It's better to have Excellent sliced brisket only rather than Excellent sliced brisket and Good chopped brisket. Same with all of your turn-ins.
I, for one, would love to try your chicken as presented. Doesn't matter is it's round, square, rectangular, oblong or whatever. For that matter, doesn't need to be only thighs.
Wishing you BBQ Excellence at this weekend's competition !
 
Bob in Corona said:
A couple of days late to the party BUT...
When you have a choice of what to place in your box, chose your best samples. It's better to have Excellent sliced brisket only rather than Excellent sliced brisket and Good chopped brisket. Same with all of your turn-ins.
I, for one, would love to try your chicken as presented. Doesn't matter is it's round, square, rectangular, oblong or whatever. For that matter, doesn't need to be only thighs.
Wishing you BBQ Excellence at this weekend's competition !
Click to expand...

Welcome to the Brethren Mr. Bass !!!!
 
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