No more comment cards?

[QN]

On the agenda for the upcoming KCBS board meeting; "After discussions between the Rules and Rep Committees, both committees decided that a motion be made to have comment cards discontinued."

[Arlin_MacRae]

Hmm, I hadn't heard that yet. Any idea why?

[Big George's BBQ]

I have never had a comment card. I do think they are a good idea. Would love to know why I received some of my scores

[QN]

Originally Posted by Arlin_MacRae

Hmm, I hadn't heard that yet. Any idea why?

My guess is that they are not being used very much and the ones that are being filled out don't provide much helpful information to the teams (at least a lot of the ones I have seen). They have always been optional and a lot of judges just don't want to take the time to fill them out.

[bover]

That's pretty disappointing. If anything, I'd rather see it go the other way. Either start encouraging the use more or even make them mandatory. I really don't see the benefit of discontinuing them at all.

[tigerpaw]

I feel they should continue to be used. Might answer why one judges score was off. Recent event I judged I got a rib with no meat on it. One side was all bone, other was charred badly. Everyone else at table gave scores of 8's with a few 9's. I asked for card, filled it out and gave to table capt. Then showed him rib I had. He thought I was generous with the score I did give.


I do agree it does not make any sense to fill one out on a score of 7 or 8 or 9. But 5 and below, I believe should always be given a comment. And not - "worse chiken/rib/pork/brisket I have ever tasted" but constuctive - Too much sauce overpowered meat taste, too dry, too spicy and killed taste, etc.

[Disconnect]

We're going into our first comp in a few weeks, and if I don't get comments I'm going to be -very- disappointed. I'm not expecting recipes but - as tigerpaw said - simple notes about what the judges want vs what I provided... How else do you break out of 6s? Its a little expensive to just keep making random changes trying to blindly guess what they wanted.. (Sure, if its tough and you get a 3-4 in tenderness, thats easy.. but what do you do about a 4 in flavor?)

[Warthog]

I always will fill out a comment card for a score of 5 or below. Only problem it is not very often that I would give a score that low.

[DawgPhan]

Originally Posted by Disconnect

We're going into our first comp in a few weeks, and if I don't get comments I'm going to be -very- disappointed. I'm not expecting recipes but - as tigerpaw said - simple notes about what the judges want vs what I provided... How else do you break out of 6s? Its a little expensive to just keep making random changes trying to blindly guess what they wanted.. (Sure, if its tough and you get a 3-4 in tenderness, thats easy.. but what do you do about a 4 in flavor?)

You are probably going to be very disappointed then. Comments cards very work that way.

Last weekend we got 3 comment cards, all for chicken. We knew the chicken was too spicy. 1 card was too spicy, 1 card was too dry, 1 card was chicken was perfect. Basically Goldilocks comments.

We didnt get a comment card for a pork score that was 8-5-6 on a box of pork that was called and was the same pork as the people's choice winner.

Unless that judge ate a piece of the box with some parsley on it, no way did anything in that pork box deserve a 5 in taste or a 6 in tenderness and of course no card to go with that 5.

[Lake Dogs]

Personally, I'd like to know why 7's or below. Whether it's nonsense or not, that in itself is helpful. Heck, why not even have check boxes; 99% would fit in that. For taste it could be: Too salty, too sweet, too spicy, bland, tasted bad, etc.

[Jacked UP BBQ]

We should either have them or not. I hate that they are optional

[moocow]

I would say 6 or lower deserves a comment card. These days a 6 might as well be a 2!

[bbqbrad]

I've only had one experience with comment cards. I turned in a chicken that was done 4 minutes before turn in. Just barely got to temp. Comment card came back that it was overcooked.

Was at a comp a few weeks ago, and a rookie cook next to me got a few cards. And he deserved them. But the one for chicken said that he should turn in thighs, as that is what most people do (He did breasts). I didn't like that the judge had in their mind what to look for as far as style of chicken.

[atvalaska]

Originally Posted by bbqbrad

I've only had one experience with comment cards. I turned in a chicken that was done 4 minutes before turn in. Just barely got to temp.******* Comment card came back that it was overcooked. *******

Was at a comp a few weeks ago, and a rookie cook next to me got a few cards. And he deserved them. But the one for chicken said that *********he should turn in thighs, as that is what most people do******* (He did breasts). I didn't like that the judge had in their mind what to look for as far as style of chicken.

.............. man thats just plain wrong

[Alexa RnQ]

I would be strongly against discontinuing comment cards. They are a valuable part of the judges' feedback. One of the things I love about KCBS is that the raw scores and the comment cards are valuable tools for cooks to continue to improve.

If the organization half-assed it making cards optional, then they shouldn't be surprised that some judges half-assed it by ignoring the cards. A clear policy that cards are required for a particular score or lower seems reasonable. If a judge is going to say that an entry was worse than average, he/she should be able to come up with a short description as to WHY it was worse than average -- salty, dry, tough, whatever -- or that judge isn't putting forth enough effort to deserve that seat.

Although some argue that many cards did not provide useful comments, I have to say that a grain of truth can be gleaned from many of even the seemingly ridiculous. Putting ego aside, that grain of truth is still in the food product, and needs to be addressed because it will one day meet another judge that it will strike similarly.