Glaze color

[masque13]

i think your chicken in the box pic looked real good.....we've turned in stuff that didn't look that good and gotten four 9's and two 8's before.....i think it boils down to who is judging on stuff like that. I also didn't have any issues with your sauce. your chicken looked tasty to me.

 

[DUBBAGA]

This is how each of the judges impacted your results

989 - 33.70
888 - 32.0
977 - dropped
898 - 34.30
889 - 33.14
987 - 31.42

As you can see, it is the last judge (987) which had the most negative impact. Since the judge gave you a 9 in appearance, and an 8 already in taste, tenderness is what hurt you with them. If you had even bumped it up to 988, that would have improved your overall score to 165.70 (one place higher).

Now, let's say that you were able to only focus on tenderness, and get each of the judges to score you 9 in that area, while leaving your appearance and taste scores the same. You would have a 169.1312, which is now 17th.

If you are consistently getting 8's and 9's in appearance, and 9's in tenderness, you will be giving yourself a great shot at landing on a table of judges that not only finds your taste to be "non-offensive" but really enjoys it, and then you will be getting a quality call

 

[Right on Q]

I wouldn't worry about you're appearance too much. You got three 9s and three 8s.

As DUBBAGA said, I'd worry more about tenderness and taste.

But what do I know? I haven't had a lot of successes either:blah:

 

[bpeyton89]

I brined for an hour and a half. I actually think the brine makes the chicken have a mushy texture.

I never was a big brining fan, but my last two comps I've brined my chicken and gotten 2nd in both... the last one I was one 7 in tenderness away from a perfect 180... remember trust your butcher... or your Darian

 

[CBQ]

The chicken had great flavor, tenderness and fairly good bite through skin.

Fairly good might not cut it. Just a little tug will hurt your chicken score.

The color of the sauce won't affect appearance as much as the look of the sauce itself. From the pictures, it might have been a little thick on there.

 

[big brother smoke]

Sauce needs to be thinned, it looks like it was gooey!

 

[Stabone]

Sauce needs to be thinned, it looks like it was gooey!

Hmmmm, I actually thought it was pretty thin compared to what I've used in the past. I guess I will thin it down even more next time. Everybody seems to have the same opinion on the sauce being too thick so I will make some adjustments. I honestly do think its the picture making it look like that though. Thanks for all of the comments and input so far!

 

[Stabone]

You want to see what won me 2nd place in this same contest last year??? Scored a 175.4172 with this box. Lost to a perfect 180. I thought it had to be a mistake.

 

[Pappy Q]

You seem fixated on appearance but it did not effect your scoring or rank. Appearance is least valued of the scores. Tenderness is the culprit.

 

[RubLover]

Question - is it honey/corn syrup/agave that produces that "sheen" that looks like someone used lacquer... I see in many chicken entrees?

I have noticed that Blues Hog with all its sweetness has a beautiful sheen