Garnish

[eap0510]

Being a CBJ I am seeing more and more teams turn on boxes with only lettuce in the box. The lettuce however is not iceberg but something different and I was wondering if someone could tell what it is?
The color is a bright green almost like a neon green. I originally thought that it was curled leaf lettuce but when I looked at some in the store the color was not right.
The boxes that these teams are making with this lettuce look great in my opinion.

-Eric

 

[Rusty Kettle]

Green leaf lettuce

 

[Funtimebbq]

If you have any questions about the validity of the garnish, ask your KCBS rep. Otherwise ignore it completely as per the instructions to judges.

 

[ibrisky]

Probably what you're seeing is butter lettuce?

http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Butter_Lettuce_6393.php

 

[bbq.tom]

If you have any questions about the validity of the garnish, ask your KCBS rep.

Actually, bring your question to the Table Captain and he/she will ask the REP.

 

[J&B'sBBQ]

If you have any questions about the validity of the garnish, ask your KCBS rep. Otherwise ignore it completely as per the instructions to judges.

I can't speak for the OP, but I didn't read his question in a way that he doesn't know if it is legal or not, but more of a curiosity as to what it is teams are using. You are right that it shouldn't factor into scores, but it's not illegal for someone to wonder what it is and outside of the judging tent, comment that it looks nice.

Butter lettuce and romaine are common as are all varieties of green leaf lettuces.

 

[Joe Black]

I have judged a lot of boxes as a SCBA Senior Judge and Table Captain. There is no garnish of any kind used in SC. I much prefer it that way. The garnish and especially a variety or new type is distracting. IMHO, judge the meat, lose the garnish.

 

[Skip]

As much as people like to say it you can't ignore the garnish...even if you aren't marking it you can't ignore the garnish. No one can dial in their field of view to look only upon the meat presented. Its like serving someone a filet on a dirty hubcap or fine china. The same product but the one on china is going to look more appetizing. No garnish sanctioning bodies are great and fun to compete in but KCBS allows garnish and as such gives those with presentation skills a leg up. If the meat was the only thing we were judging than you better get the judges to the competitor sites before they even rub the meat since rub/sauce/spritz/wrapping fluid and wood/charcoal aren't meat yet they enhance the presentation both in appearance and taste.

As for the lettuce I think the above posters got it correct when they said butter or butter crunch lettuce. Its usually a very vibrant green.

 

[Rusty Kettle]

As much as people like to say it you can't ignore the garnish...even if you aren't marking it you can't ignore the garnish. No one can dial in their field of view to look only upon the meat presented. Its like serving someone a filet on a dirty hubcap or fine china. The same product but the one on china is going to look more appetizing. No garnish sanctioning bodies are great and fun to compete in but KCBS allows garnish and as such gives those with presentation skills a leg up. If the meat was the only thing we were judging than you better get the judges to the competitor sites before they even rub the meat since rub/sauce/spritz/wrapping fluid and wood/charcoal aren't meat yet they enhance the presentation both in appearance and taste.

As for the lettuce I think the above posters got it correct when they said butter or butter crunch lettuce. Its usually a very vibrant green.

The above I agree with. Garnish shouldn't matter but it definitly does.
I don't really think my ribs improved between contests. I took a class with DivaQ and learned a much better way to garnish my boxes and my scores went sky high for us. We got a first place in an amateur contest for ribs. Just saying I think the better presentation got our food to have improved scores. I haven't changed flavor profiles yet. I plan to but probably not on ribs. Just the improved presentation seemed to have made a huge difference. Just my opinion though.

 

[Blanton]

Please share the magic garnish

 

[Rusty Kettle]

Please share the magic garnish

Green leaf lettuce. It is easier to work with. It holds the meat in place better than parsley, at least when I do parsley it looks like chit. It may all be in my head that the garnish made a difference but I just don't see how what I think was the same product would get drastically different scores.

First time out using green leaf lettuce and we got a lot of 9's and 8's.
I can do a lettuce box. If I can make it look good anyone can do it.

I am not saying it was the only factor and sure judges judge differently place to place. It helps a lot. Probably because I can build a nice lettuce box so quickly that I can focus more on cooking. I like to use the really tiny leaves to fill in holes to make it look nicer.

Not saying parsley won't work it definitly works for some but I can't make it look good. I think at the very least bad looking garnish will negatively impact a boxes score.

 

[J&B'sBBQ]

Green leaf lettuce. It is easier to work with. It holds the meat in place better than parsley, at least when I do parsley it looks like chit. It may all be in my head that the garnish made a difference but I just don't see how what I think was the same product would get drastically different scores.

First time out using green leaf lettuce and we got a lot of 9's and 8's.
I can do a lettuce box. If I can make it look good anyone can do it.

I am not saying it was the only factor and sure judges judge differently place to place. It helps a lot. Probably because I can build a nice lettuce box so quickly that I can focus more on cooking. I like to use the really tiny leaves to fill in holes to make it look nicer.

Not saying parsley won't work it definitly works for some but I can't make it look good. I think at the very least bad looking garnish will negatively impact a boxes score.

Parsley is a thing of the past. We had a great team show us how to build lettuce boxes last November at the National BBQ Cup, and we practiced it a few times over the winter till we got a good system down we felt good about. We build all four boxes with lettuce now, and it takes about 20 mins to build all four, so your comment about spending less time on it is totally valid; we spend less time fussing over greens and more time focusing on product.

Every competition we've been to this year, we have shown a newer team how we build our boxes because parsley is just a waste of everyone's darn time! :biggrin1:

 

[Rusty Kettle]

Parsley is a thing of the past. We had a great team show us how to build lettuce boxes last November at the National BBQ Cup, and we practiced it a few times over the winter till we got a good system down we felt good about. We build all four boxes with lettuce now, and it takes about 20 mins to build all four, so your comment about spending less time on it is totally valid; we spend less time fussing over greens and more time focusing on product.

Every competition we've been to this year, we have shown a newer team how we build our boxes because parsley is just a waste of everyone's darn time! :biggrin1:

Yeah I definitly hate parsley. We took that class with DivaQ $400 for both me and my wife. It was worth the money just for learning to build lettuce boxes.

I am so glad to be done with parsley.

It just is so easy to make a nice lettuce box.

Got to say that is really awesome of you to teach new teams lettuce boxes.

 

[ModelMaker]

As much as people like to say it you can't ignore the garnish...even if you aren't marking it you can't ignore the garnish. No one can dial in their field of view to look only upon the meat presented. Its like serving someone a filet on a dirty hubcap or fine china. The same product but the one on china is going to look more appetizing. No garnish sanctioning bodies are great and fun to compete in but KCBS allows garnish and as such gives those with presentation skills a leg up. If the meat was the only thing we were judging than you better get the judges to the competitor sites before they even rub the meat since rub/sauce/spritz/wrapping fluid and wood/charcoal aren't meat yet they enhance the presentation both in appearance and taste.

As for the lettuce I think the above posters got it correct when they said butter or butter crunch lettuce. Its usually a very vibrant green.

I absolutley disagree with your statement "As much as people like to say it you can't ignore the garnish...even if you aren't marking it you can't ignore the garnish. As a normal thinking, rule understanding adult, you most certainly can, and must ignore the garnish when scoring KCBS competition entries. It is not the least bit difficult all that needs to happen is to train your mind to do it. After a few contests it becomes second nature. Do you see the garnish? Of course you do, do you let it be considered in affixing a score to the entry, no. Do we see a smoke ring? Sure we do but the rule states smoke ring shall not be considered in determining the appearence score. What's so hard to understand here?

Garnish, if used, shall not be used in determinig the appearence score.
Give us judges a little credit.
Ed

 

[Rusty Kettle]

Yeah maybe you can ignore it and I would bet money you can but I doubt all judges are ignoring it. The only way for that to work is to ban garnish all together.

If it is not effecting appearance scores then why have it?

It may not work on a certified master judge and it may make no difference but there are plenty of new judges that can't ignore garnish yet. They may be able to do it eventually but a majority can't yet. Just my opinion.

I think the lettuce box gives me a leg up and I know our boxes did not change at all. Except garnish. That is it. Our scores went up with just changing garnish.
It may be we had more time to focus on the meat because lettuce boxes were easier to make and may be all in my head. For now though I am still unsure if that is what improved.

 

[ynotfehc]

Garnish is a background elemen

 

[ynotfehc]

Garnish is the background for the box. If it looks sloppy, it should not count against the scoring, that is 100% in the rules. However, backgrounds do impact how someone percieves the item. No matter what anyone says or thinks it will change perceptions, no rule will change how a person's mind processes visual information. You can sit there staring at a box for 20 seconds saying to yourself, "look at the meat, look at the meat, look at the meat" but your mind is thinking " ooohhh look at the pretty box with all the color contrast and nice soft green stuff, I like that!!" Visual techniques and background info is used all the time in consumer ads and media, just because its a rule and you have yourself convinced you arent looking at the garnish, you are. But the rule is you cannot lower a score because of the garnish, how your mind percieves the overall box cannot be controlled. This has no bearing on how good or experienced of a judge you are, its the way our minds work.

 

[rookiedad]

I absolutley disagree with your statement "As much as people like to say it you can't ignore the garnish...even if you aren't marking it you can't ignore the garnish. As a normal thinking, rule understanding adult, you most certainly can, and must ignore the garnish when scoring KCBS competition entries. It is not the least bit difficult all that needs to happen is to train your mind to do it. After a few contests it becomes second nature. Do you see the garnish? Of course you do, do you let it be considered in affixing a score to the entry, no. Do we see a smoke ring? Sure we do but the rule states smoke ring shall not be considered in determining the appearence score. What's so hard to understand here?

Garnish, if used, shall not be used in determinig the appearence score.
Give us judges a little credit.
Ed

c'mon man!!! i respect you. i do, but really, does this mean we can just toss a bunch of parsley under the meat and hope to get the same score? maybe i won't spend twenty minutes poking each piece of parsley down with a chopstick to get it all level. maybe i wont go over it to get any yellowing pieces out. do you really think i can expect the same score, not from you only, but from judges in general?

 

[ITBFQ]

Parsley is a thing of the past.

I disagree 100%. Lettuce makes a great box, too, but parsley is not "gone." I don't find it that difficult to make a nice parsley box.

 

[Skip]

The above I agree with. Garnish shouldn't matter but it definitly does.
I don't really think my ribs improved between contests. I took a class with DivaQ and learned a much better way to garnish my boxes and my scores went sky high for us. We got a first place in an amateur contest for ribs. Just saying I think the better presentation got our food to have improved scores. I haven't changed flavor profiles yet. I plan to but probably not on ribs. Just the improved presentation seemed to have made a huge difference. Just my opinion though.

I am sure that they did improve as I know how well Diva can make a box but I will venture to say that your marks went up because of what she taught you about fire management and cooking technique that subtly changed your whole approach. Once you improve your texture score your taste scores follow.