Please judge our practice boxes

On those thighs I would get a sharp pair of scissors and clean up those edges and tags hangin off the top and bottoms, also check and remove those seeds on the thighs.

Chicken 6, needs better color, looks like there's no rub on them. They need trimmed more uniform.

ribs 7. They look fatty, undesirable to bite. They also need to be more uniform.

pork 8 possibly a 9, by far your best box

brisket 7. looks dry and undesirable to taste, BE's do look burnt.

Not terrible for the first time/practice. Good luck at your first comp and have fun.

My first practice (or competition) didn't look near that good! Keep it up!

Deknuckle the chicken, get more color on them.

Ribs have a nice color but need to be evened before cooking. The points are detracting.

Pork looks fine as it, though I might pull it more in the front, assuming you did pulled, money muscle slices, and chunks.

The brisket needs a little sheen. It looks dry, but I can't tell by just looking.

Your brisket edges look ragged and you can see saw marks on the face of the slices. Your colour also looks blackblack which isn't to appealing.

Not our best but only one I could find quickly. https://scontent.fyqr1-1.fna.fbcdn....=e4cc8a500087a14658694f9857b7686e&oe=57AC3112

Chicken is 7 or 8. Uneven coloring, that huge piece of whatever on the upper left piece draws my eye in an unappealing way.

Ribs are 7 or 8. Again, uneven coloring and pieces. If they were evened up in the box a bit and maybe given a bit more of a sheen.

Pork is a 9. Good looking box.

Brisket is a 7. The pieces look ragged and dry.

I'd slice the brisket thinner if possible. Fair or not, at least one judge is liable to be thinking that it's over cooked before even taking a sample out of the box.

Here is my .02
Chicken - 6-7. The thighs need to be more uniform, so some detail trimming would be in order. The sauce is also a little splotchy and it appears heavy in spots and light in spots. Also, the rub is uneven in spots.

Ribs - 7-8. Ribs are not very even, tho they look pretty appetizing the color could be better in my opinion.

Pork - 8-9. Looks very good. Borderline too much sauce. Ease back just a hair and a solid 9 from me.

Brisket. - 8. Not the greatest picture, but to me looks pretty dang good. Even up the slices, especially on the ends.

Keep practicing. Don't practice til you get it right, practice til you can't get it wrong.

What are you using to slice your brisket and ribs? How sharp is it? If it's not razor sharp, it should be. Alternatively, we pull out the electric knife to cut brisket whenever I overcook it.

I would try and turn your chicken thighs the other way and have them lay horizontally in the box ie have the bone go from left to right instead of top to bottom.

I think that everyone covered it pretty well. Very good for first efforts . Some minor adjustments and you are there. Keith

BIGLEGGA said:

In preparation for our first comp coming up in Lima,OH we set up at my team mates house to do a full trial run. Please take the time to look over our boxes and give us some constructive criticism.

The set-up


Chicken


Ribs


Pork


Brisket


Thanks for your help!

Click to expand...

Chicken ends needs to be cleaned up. As someone else mentioned, take some sharp scissors to those, or clean up the knuckles before you cook.

Ribs are not bad. The back bone (2nd from the right) sticks out to me because it doesn't seem to line up. You can clean up those ends with scissors too.

Pork isn't bad, but I prefer a more organized box. The MM looks a little light in color too.

Brisket looks dry and overcooked. The slices are cracked and cut very thick, which would indicate you're trying to cover overly tender meat.

They look great for your first practice. Clean up a few small tidbits, and you're on your way!

Chicken: all of them are different sizes. Try to make them as uniform as possible during prep. Of course, they may all shrink up differently when cooked but that's why you cook way more than you need. Just cleaning up the bones on those thighs would have made a huge difference in the appearance. It seems as though the chicken might not be quite done, but it's hard to tell with the lighting. The sauce is a little to thick and it is globbed up in a few areas. Thin out the sauce, heat it up and try dunking the whole piece in the sauce. It will coat much more evenly.

Ribs: Look a little under-cooked to me...but not too bad. Try and pic bones that are as close in size/shape as possible. Also, make sure you cut them in even widths. Did you cut down spare into St. Louis? They seem really long.

Pork: This is the best looking box but why do your chunks have so much more color/bark than your MM? The MM looks under-cooked next to those chunks. There is a lot going on in that box though. I'm not a fan of putting in more than 2 different cuts. Also, you need more green in the box...in my opinion.

Brisket: You should have trimmed your flat to the width of the box before you cooked it. You can tell that you had to trim off the left side to get it to fi in the box. Looks like someone took a bite out of each piece. You already know the other issues with this box.

I won't pile on with more of the same comments that others have mentioned except to say that I commend you for doing a good job on practicing for your first comp. It's not easy making the full commitment to practicing at home EXACTLY how you plan to do it at the comp (full set up, timelines, boxing, etc.). Great job on your first boxes. The others have given you excellent feedback to do even better.

I will mention that all you're getting here is scores from us on appearance (obviously). My point is that appearance is the lowest weighted score so make sure you keep practicing your taste profiles and really work on nailing that tenderness. That being said, appearance is the easiest score to influence...use the notes you got until you're confident that you're getting an 8 or better every category, every time.

Thanks for the feedback!
Made some adjustments to the chicken today.

No flash


With flash


Bite

Nice bite. Just cook 12 and pick 6 that are equal in size and you're there.

Very nice. Those look dang tasty. 8-9 from me.

The chicken looks great. We will be competing in Lima as well. Our team name is Smokin' 4 Play BBQ. Stop by and say hi. We will help in any way we can and can answer any questions for you. Just remember to have fun. Dan runs a great competition in Lima.