(CLOSED, SEE NEW THREAD) BBQ Brethren Masters - Cut #2 - Spareribs

[Gore]

Oh, now those look really yummy, but this is going to be awfully confusing for Chris. As I understand it (from #31 above), the TD was open last week, and will be opening again next week, but not this week. So, ... if you wait until after next Wednesday, you can submit those (I think) or something that you cooked last week (maybe) or next week (probably),...And you can't submit or cook anything this week.... I think, except maybe on Friday and Monday between 3:45 and 7:30.

 

[txschutte]

EH?

3:45 & 7:30? Pacific or Central? Standard or Daylight Savings. Aw hell never mind.

 

[Wampus]

As stated, I dig this new challenge. Although I haven't been able to participate in either of the "Master Comps" I still think it's different than the TD's and something worth persuing.

On the one hand, I agree that if it's about being the ______ Master, then that should be a real serious thing, so more contestants would make sense. I don't mean to make light of the TD's, but if I earn the title of "Brisket Master", I'd think that's a title that should warrant beating out a lot of entries. SO, the idea of having the comp open to the first 10, 15 or 20 entries makes sense.

On the OTHER hand, though, I also feel that if you want to go for the "Master" title, you need to make it happen. I mean, if you want to golf in the Masters, they don't wait until everyone can work it into their schedules. I have to also say that if I want to enter into a TD, my wife wants to enter in a TD and my son wants to cook as well for a TD every week, that's on us. If I/we also want to enter into a Master comp, that is also on us. We don't have to enter every singe contest here. If you want to, great. More power to you. If you can't do it, you can't do it. If you DO do it and you have to deal with leftovers......that's on YOU.

I'm not singling Gore out here (by mentioning wife and all). I'm just saying that it is what it is. Noone ever said that one has to enter in every single throwdown. They can, sure, but that means a lot of work and groceries.

I mean I have 4 kids, volunteer at their schools, our church, my wife and I both work full time, 3 out of 4 kids are in sports regularly, I'm a Cub Scout Cubmaster for my 3 boys, etc. That's our choice. We chose to live that life. If I can't make TD's regularly (which I can't), that's just life.



Long winded, I know......but that, too, is me.
I'll leave it to you, Chris, to come up with whatever you decide. If I can enter, I will. If not, luck to those who can.

 

[Gore]

I agree with you Wampus, but the main point is to increase participation. I wonder if maybe it is too serious and people aren't participating because of it. I wasn't planning to participate in either of the next two simply because I don't feel I qualify, but that's probably the wrong attitude. With the regular throwdowns, it is purely for fun and silliness, but these seem more serious. Maybe that is the problem.

 

[bigabyte]

Well, I kind of liked the idea of opening it and accepting the first 10 entries. That seems pretty cool. However, in order to prevent upsetting people (these are supposed to be fun too), what I would most likely do is simply set the cutoff date to accept entries as the date that the 10th entry was submitted. So when the 10th entry was submitted, if anyone else was cooking that day and wanted to enter, they still can.

I wasn't sure if this was going to be more serious or not, with the title of 'Master' and all. I mean...in the Throwdowns you get a unique certificate (when I finally get around to making them) AND you get to pick the next category. In this one, all you get is bragging rights, but these bragging rights come with an official title that sounds cool. A Throwdown winner could have bragging rights and call themselves a Throwdown Winner, but that doesn't sound as cool as "Brisket Master", does it?

So, the way I see it, if these are more serious simply because of the bragging rights title, that kind of tels me that a certificate and choice of picking the next category is not as interesting as the cool title. I would find that very interesting, because I would not have thought that was the case. If anything, I was hoping that the cool title COULD match the coolness of the certificate and category choice, but i was worried it would not match it. I could be wrong and the title is very important.

Also, frankly, while I was debating this whole thing before starting it...even if it became more serious than the regular Throwdowns, I thought that could actually be a good thing. After all, look back at our Virgin Throwdown. There are people out there who are not entering due to what they perceive as too fierce of competition, even though we all know it is in fun, and say it is in fun. So a higher level division does not sound so bad really in that perspective, because then those who are absolutely amazing will be chasing after "Master" titles, leaving the Throwdowns more open to people who would like to try it out for a change.

In fact...this makes me realize I need to think about this some more. Maybe they should run side by side to force it to be difficult to enter both, therefore making one decide what is more important to them...a Throwdown win, or a Masters win? I think I am liking that idea.

This raises lots of questions though...are Masters open to everyone (I originally felt it should be), or should only prior Throwdown winners be allowed to participate to earn the Master title? This would facilitate such a divisional breakdown.

Geez...why does everything here always have to be so complicated?

Everyone, please dump your thoughts in their entirety, no matter what. My feelings won't be hurt.

 

[bigabyte]

Oh, one more thing I wanted to toss out there...I know some have felt that the Master's categories were too short, making it hard to enter. I am not sure I agree, allow me to explain.

When this category "Spareribs" began on 3/3, I stated in the opening post that the next category would be "Tri-Tip Roast" and that it would start on 3/10, meaning you could post entries from 3/10 through 3/16. That gives you 14 total days from the time it was announced until the time it closes, composing 7 days planning time, and 7 days to execute the plan.

In the regular Throwdowns, the category is announced no later than the day it starts, preferably earlier. I announce it usually as soon as the winner tells me their choice, which is typically Wednesday on average. So, if we extrapolate that (using similar dates as above) so that Category1 was announced on 3/2, it would start accepting entries on 3/4 and close on 3/13, giving you 12 total days composing of 2 days to plan and 10 days planning/execution time.

So it seems to me that you have 2 more days with the Masters series than you do in a regular Throwdown. The only way the regular Throwdowns would give you 14 days similar to the Masters category would be if the winner gave me the next category and I announced it on Monday which RARELY happens. So I am not sure how people felt they did not have enough time. It seems like the Masters has at least similar time, if not more.

 

[Gore]

How about closing it on the Wednesday after the 10th entry is received? That way you guarantee at least 10 and are out of phase with the other throwdowns. I certainly think the Masters should be open to everyone and I will try to encourage people to enter TDs when they cook in category.

For me, the Masters seem much more serious. The pictures show just the dish. There is much less room to hide and I think the voting is really on the preparation (and less on the sides and beer and sheep or whatever :roll. It's a different skill-set. I don't know if you like or dislike the way the regular TDs have evolved, but I really enjoy the creativity and silliness. That, however, can be a turn-off for some and I feel the Master's fills this gap. The only thing I wish for is more participation in all the TDs.

 

[---k---]

Wow. A lot of thinking going on.... getting deep.

My two suggestions, that if they aren't heeded won't upset me at all.

1) How about saying that the Master's closes 1 week after the 10th entry is received. I would be a little upset if I had the meat ready to go on a Saturday, but it closed on a Thursday or Friday. At least maybe the Monday after you reach 10, if that is the magic number.

2) What if the In-progress thread also was a vote thread for the next meat. Chris, you could select three options and then let people vote. This may then allow for the meat selection better aligning with what people are in the mood for that week. I think, with proper selection of the three options, we could still get good variety. It should also make the next meet jump out more. Spares sort of caught me off guard, because I hadn't been paying attention.

And on a related, but separate topic. Is it possible to keep the vote results hidden until the poll closes? I often wonder if this influences people. I try not to look until I've voted, but sometimes I'm weak and can't decide and look at the results and like a weak person am swayed.

 

[Gore]

And on a related, but separate topic. Is it possible to keep the vote results hidden until the poll closes? I often wonder if this influences people. I try not to look until I've voted, but sometimes I'm weak and can't decide and look at the results and like a weak person am swayed.

Absolutely this is a factor. In the regular throwdowns, I think it is part of the fun. You can see it almost every week where someone gets a lead and then the others fill in and then catch up. I think if the votes were hidden, we would have bigger wins, fewer ties, and more zeros. I also find it refreshing to see who votes for what. There are certain Brethren who I now know their tastes and what they will vote for beforehand. I kind of like that aspect. I often wonder if it would be better to have them hidden, but then the voting becomes less fun and dynamic. Perhaps in the Master's series, it would be more "serious" to have the votes hidden. Another interesting thought.

 

[landarc]

Now I am confused, there has now been too much thinking for me to keep up. I will do whatever I can when I can. Although, that being said, I was surprised that so few entered for spareribs, I mean, most folks are cooking at least one rack a month or so. Also, I did not know this was serious, I would not have cooked a totally experimental rack if I knew it was for something serious that required a lot of thinking.

 

[landarc]

And personally, on Ryan's thoughts, really? You pansy! Vote for what you want

I would like to know if Guerry or Gore are getting zeroes to make sure they are thwarted before I vote.

 

[bigabyte]

There is no way to supress the display of the votes. Sorry.

 

[bigabyte]

And on a related, but separate topic. Is it possible to keep the vote results hidden until the poll closes? I often wonder if this influences people. I try not to look until I've voted, but sometimes I'm weak and can't decide and look at the results and like a weak person am swayed.

Until you cast a vote, they are hidden. All you see are radio buttons for you to select your choice. You have no way of knowing who is in the lead before you actually cast your vote UNLESS you click on the link that says Show Results. So, if you don't want the current number of votes to influence you, don't click that link. After you vote, it shows the number of votes every time you open the thread since you have already cast your vote and can no longer pick. i don't see how that can influence any decisions, because at that point you have already picked.

There is no way I can prevent that "Show Results" link from showing however. If someone wants to see the results before voting, I am powerless to stop it.

 

[landarc]

I know you are not powerless, you are Mr. Big

 

[campdude]

Lots of thoughts here. I didn't realize this was more serious than the TD's. I was unable to get out and get some spares to enter or I would have. I was surprised there were not many more entries. I'm all for the cutoff being the Monday after the 10th entry. That gives everyone a weekend, plus. That being said, spares were on sale this weekend at a local market. I picked up a cry-o-vac pack and threw in the freezer. I'm ready when the cook window opens up again.:-D

 

[---k---]

So far, only Gore said that these are more serious. Does his opinion really count?
I'm not taking them more serious. :grin:

 

[Wampus]

I kinda thought of them as more serious. Or at least I'd rather win one of these than a TD. Maybe it's because I feel I have a better chance? Not that I feel I'm a master of anything, but since I don't have the "fu fu" plating skills of many of those who've won countless TD's and this is only about the MEAT, I'd have as good a chance as anyone. Plus.....who wouldn't want to put "Brisket Master" in their sig?

I don't really have a lot of opinions on HOW it should be facilitated. As creator of the challenge, I leave that to bigabyte.......Mr. Big.:becky:

I'll compete if I can.
I've turned in on like 4 or 5 TD's total (I think) and have never done that well. Doesn't mean my cooking sucks, but there's some pretty awesome competition, all in fun or not. Doesn't mean I'll never enter again, though. Same goes for these Master Challenges.

 

[landarc]

I will let you in on a secret Wampus, Gore doesn't have frou frou plating skills either, he just cooks steaks for everything and puts it on a fork. All of his wins involve a stuffed squirrel and steak on a fork.

 

[Gore]

So far, only Gore said that these are more serious. Does his opinion really count?

Not with anyone I know. I don't think much of his opinions either. He hangs around with squirrels .... Need I say more? :crazy:

I will let you in on a secret Wampus, Gore doesn't have frou frou plating skills either, he just cooks steaks for everything and puts it on a fork. All of his wins involve a stuffed squirrel and steak on a fork.

Actually, the squirrels haven't done me much good, and the steaks are the result of laziness, and ... I like steak. :becky: I would really like to get back to the squirrels when I have a bit more time. I'm thinking the latter half of May.

 

[bluetang]

For me, it's just a timing thing. I'd like to enter all of them, but cannot always devote the necessary time due to whatever takes precedence. Maybe do one Master's Cut per month, revealing the chosen cut at the beginning of the month, and the entry submission and voting to occur at the end of that month.