Mustard Sauce for Pork?

Nope! Even in SCBA (south carolina bbq association) contests, mustard sauce on anything but wings will get you killed in scoring.

great idea if you are competing for last place.

The unfortunate thing about comp bbq, that we ourselves have made, is that you can no longer think outside the box. The judges, now a days, have a preconceived notion of what to look for. They are expecting red sauce. The coined phrase "Mahogany color" has brain washed everyone into thinking that is the only way to present BBQ. Same thing with turning in anything else besides bone in chicken thighs (Even though a few leg entries do ok from time to time). Heck some of the best ribs i have eaten, had no sauce on them and were only dry rubbed. But try that and you will get killed. I have had some great white sauces and some great mustard sauces but the stigma of BBQ only having red sauce, is what you are fighting.

DR said:

The unfortunate thing about comp bbq, that we ourselves have made, is that you can no longer think outside the box. The judges, now a days, have a preconceived notion of what to look for. They are expecting red sauce. The coined phrase "Mahogany color" has brain washed everyone into thinking that is the only way to present BBQ. Same thing with turning in anything else besides bone in chicken thighs (Even though a few leg entries do ok from time to time). Heck some of the best ribs i have eaten, had no sauce on them and were only dry rubbed. But try that and you will get killed. I have had some great white sauces and some great mustard sauces but the stigma of BBQ only having red sauce, is what you are fighting.

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So what if you get a judge who is like me and completely dislikes the taste of mustard on anything? Going to blame it on preconceived notions? Or the fact that the flavor of mustard is offending to many?

I tried it and it was a fail in the the judges minds

The problem with a lot of these alternate flavor profiles is that they don't play well with sweet. Pork with mustard sauce might do great on its own, but do you want someone who just tasted 5 sweet entries to judge it?

i agree with tduffy......its not so much preconceived notions as the fact that the overwhelming % of BBQ eaters prefer non mustard based sauces.

therefore the old rule of thumb is to make sure you dont turn in things that can be offensive when it comes to comps means that to me it would be a HUGE risk to turn in mustard based sauce.

now as someone who is around BBQ all the time, I used to hate mustard based sauces, but over the years I came to love em......in fact, many times when I am eating just for myself I will only use mustard based sauces.

when i took myron's class he said that mustard based sauces is his favorite but would NEVER turn in meat it during a comp.

I'd say go for it. If you win with a sweet, red sauce, then so what; everybody does that. However, if you win with the odds so stacked against your tangy mustard sauce, you immediately enter the pantheon of BBQ gods. You'll be famous and probably get your own TV show. :thumb:

I think it would be great to get some different flavors coming across the table. The wife and I judge mainly in NY and MI. We judged in GA and TN this spring and I thought we might get some different flavors. NOT!! Got some great bbq at local eateries but the competition stuff tasted the same as we get up here.

All of my comp sauces start off as a mustard based sauce.

Candy Sue said:

Now that's funny!

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Wonderful things happen when Gore comes over to Comp

tduffy said:

So what if you get a judge who is like me and completely dislikes the taste of mustard on anything? Going to blame it on preconceived notions? Or the fact that the flavor of mustard is offending to many?

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i was going to let this pass, and believe me, i am not trying to stir the pot or insult anyone as i am no real expert myself, but as a judge are you not supposed to be judging the box as presented and not taking your own personal likes and dislikes into account? having said that i would not turn in a mustard sauce.

rookiedad said:

i was going to let this pass, and believe me, i am not trying to stir the pot or insult anyone as i am no real expert myself, but as a judge are you not supposed to be judging the box as presented and not taking your own personal likes and dislikes into account? having said that i would not turn in a mustard sauce.

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I keep seeing these statements pop up from time to time and it truly baffles me......how are you supposed to judge the taste of something you despise? if you really dislike mustard flavors and somebody turns that in how can you judge it fairly?

i freaking hate cottage cheese and no matter how "great" the cottage cheese may be if I was in a position to have to judge it then I am either not gonna eat it or give it a 1 because I hate the crap.

judging food is not like a foot race or some other contest where empirical evidence is used to determine who wins....it lies in the hands of a judge who is primarily gonna judge it based on what they like the most, regardless of what "training" they have received ahead of time, especially when it comes to BBQ.

and yes I understand that there are some basic "tests" that judges can use like the pull test and pushing pork to the roof of your mouth etc.....but when it comes down to plain ole flavors nobody can tell me that it doesnt come down to what tastes best in your mouth. if it didn't then why have the contest to begin with?

cpw said:

Nope! Even in SCBA (south carolina bbq association) contests, mustard sauce on anything but wings will get you killed in scoring.

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I 100% agree I cook in the SCBA and nobody that wins uses mustard; You still see a lot of blue hogs and smokin coles (local brand)

masque13 said:

I keep seeing these statements pop up from time to time and it truly baffles me......how are you supposed to judge the taste of something you despise? if you really dislike mustard flavors and somebody turns that in how can you judge it fairly?

i freaking hate cottage cheese and no matter how "great" the cottage cheese may be if I was in a position to have to judge it then I am either not gonna eat it or give it a 1 because I hate the crap.

judging food is not like a foot race or some other contest where empirical evidence is used to determine who wins....it lies in the hands of a judge who is primarily gonna judge it based on what they like the most, regardless of what "training" they have received ahead of time, especially when it comes to BBQ.

and yes I understand that there are some basic "tests" that judges can use like the pull test and pushing pork to the roof of your mouth etc.....but when it comes down to plain ole flavors nobody can tell me that it doesnt come down to what tastes best in your mouth. if it didn't then why have the contest to begin with?

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If your personal bias is to the extent that you'd refuse to sample an entry or give it the lowest possible score automatically, you probably shouldn't be a judge. It doesn't make you a horrible person. It does suggest that you aren't suited to judge a contest where you might be asked to sample cottage cheese.

I'm not a judge or a competitor, so you can probably just skip to the next post. I personally have an aversion to sour. It makes my throat itch and cough. However, that does not stop me from sampling all the Carolina BBQ I can get my hands on. Why? Because I appreciate all kinds of BBQ and all techniques. I especially like being surprised. Sometimes I can barely swallow it (other times it is not a problem), but I can certainly appreciate it and recognize when it is done well. I am headed down to South Carolina this weekend and I am very much looking forward to stopping at a few places there and on the way. Last time I brought back four bottles of sauce for my family to try. One was too vinegary for me to take, but I still used it and I really appreciated it on the BBQ I made. It is very sad for me to see the hole that competition BBQ has dug themselves into because the judges cannot be objective and look beyond their own prejudices. There are a lot of fabulous cooks out there, but it is a shame that the model for success is that of McDonalds. Personally, I would be bored out of my mind. How about adding "creativity" as one of the judging criteria?

rookiedad said:

i was going to let this pass, and believe me, i am not trying to stir the pot or insult anyone as i am no real expert myself, but as a judge are you not supposed to be judging the box as presented and not taking your own personal likes and dislikes into account? having said that i would not turn in a mustard sauce.

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So in that case if someone turns In an entry that has so much spice that it burns your tongue and you find it offensive you're not supposed to score it down? No different than mustard. Some including me find it offensive. Entries that typically win are ones that tow the line of being offensive to no one.

I don't have as many years judging under my belt as some here, but I have more than some. In my time as a judge, I have seen mustard sauce used twice -- once on chicken and once on pork.

The chicken was fantastic. It did very well at the table. The mustard flavor was there, but there was a lot going on in the sauce to compliment and tame the pure mustard flavor. Also, it was used very sparingly. Also, the entry was, in every other way, fantastic. The chicken looked very good, it was perfectly cooked, and it did very well at the table. Everyone seemed pleased to have something different -- that was done well.

At the last contest I judged, we had a pork entry with mustard sauce and it was everything that the above chicken entry was not. The sauce was terrible, and the pork was ugly, undercooked, and had a poor flavor overall.

Two entries isn't really enough for a decent sample size, but if there is anything to learn, I would say that -- just like anything you put in the box -- the entry has to be good. The only way you're going to know if it was the sauce's fault is if everything else is on point.

On the topic of having a personal dislike of certain flavors -- if you can't put your personal feelings aside, you shouldn't be judging. Disliking mustard is hugely different from someone turning in an entry with too much spice. Too much spice, that either overwhelms your palate or dominates the flavor of the meat, is a bad thing. Something as judges we specifically talk about as being a bad thing. Mustard, however, is a flavor profile choice, and if it is used with restraint and in balance, then it should be judged just like any other spice a cook uses.

Personally, I do not like fish, but I know what good fish tastes like. I know what the texture of tender, well-cooked fish and seafood should be. I can fairly judge fish and seafood. I prefer not to, but I have done so.

If I hear a judge at one of my tables say that they judged something down just because they don't like a particular spice, you can rest assured that I will be talking to the contest rep about that judge. It isn't fair to the cooks or the process.