Judge My Box Via KCBS Standards!

[timzcardz]

I'd go
6 pork looks nothing special, maybe there should be more there

4 chicken not sure what to make of it- not even sure of what I'm looking at, and looks burnt

6 ribs look ok, just not all that apoetizing though

5 brisket looks dry and like it was hacked up

Been competing since 2008, i guess pro, but the bank account would say otherwise!

 

[kenthanson]

There is not much else I can say about what I would score your boxes that hasn't been said, but I'd like to know how long you've been competing and have you taken any bbq education; judges class, comp classes, so I can better gauge what your own expectations would be for these turn ins. My teammate and I both became judge for a year before we started competing and I would say that it shortened the learning curve on what the judges wanted to see considerably and then the next three years were spent working on taste. We don't get perfect appearance scores but I'm confident we score in the top 25% for appearance in our neck of the woods. We had a comp two weekends ago and our neighbor was telling everyone who would listen that appearance is only 17%(?) of score because of weighting so he only focuses on taste and tenderness, but why leave free points on the table is my opinion.

 

[Skip]

Hi. Team and CBJ. I haven't read anything and I don't say any of the following with any malice just constructive criticism.

6 - Pork box: Parsley is sloppy. It shouldn't be noticed it should just be a canvas to paint. By offering so much parsley in a haphazard manner it becomes distracting. The pork appears to sink deeper into the shallow box. The meat, in itself is a fine presentation. Put it on a neater canvas and it should garner you the expected score.

5 - The Chicken box: Again the canvas is tattered. In this aspect imagine trimming the lawn. if you drop your parsley to the base level of the meat it will help your meat stand out. The meat appears to sink into the box again. The coloring is different. Now different can always be good but it has the two colors most BBQ judges and cooks would, on the surface, think to be bad. The skin looks black and the pulled meat looks white. Which to many would make you think burnt and flavorless. Remember that we eat with our eyes and as much as the meat should be tasted and rated on its merits. The merits of appearance are how much you want to eat it. From the picture I can tell you I wouldn't be excited to eat it. I may change my mind when I taste it but the appearance score was already placed. This may be the picture as well. Sometimes they just don't show how it really looked.

7 - The Rib box: Same with parsley...meat sinks parsley sloppy etc. The presentation is atypical. the changing of the bone direction causes it to look unorganized. I would suggest lacing bones in groups of 6 or 8 with 3 over 3 or 4 over 4 in the center of the box. Overall the meat looks good. A little bit of inconsistency in the color but that can be dealt with using sauce to mask it.

5 - The Brisket box: Well the same issue with the parsley but not as bad as the others. All the meat looks pale. No real bark and as such appears to be flavorless. The meat looks steamed out and done too early. Quite possibly wrapped too early or cooked too far from the fire. The ends looks like they never saw the fire. They are white and light in color.

 

[J&B'sBBQ]

If I were to closely evaluate these boxes I would just copy and paste what Beth (J&B'S BBQ) has already written. She knows her stuff about building a good looking box and taste/tenderness as well. Just look at her last two comps - took 1st in Pork with a perfect 180, and a 1st in Brisket! My scores for your boxes would be exactly the same, and for the same reasons: 6, 4-5, 7, 5-6.

Gowan hit the nail on the head as well about checking out boxes that have been posted and scored. BBQ.Critic.com is just one of the sites where you can find LOTS of boxes that have been scored.

Thanks for the props Tom! What I will say to piggy-back on the comment about "knowing how to build a good looking box" is that in the three years we've been competing, I have taken two classes from two very reputable award winning competition cooks: Rod Gray with Pellet Envy and Scott Smith with QSB. I will always stand firmly on the fact that taking classes has helped us get where we are. People will tell you a variety of different things on that issue, but that is my opinion, and I'm sticking to it :grin:.

Please take Gowan's advice and check out BBQ Critic, but make sure you read the comments. I was on there yesterday and saw some pretty atrocious boxes. The comments will help you see why they were bad (hopefully). Sometimes I do not agree with the ratings on there, but that is something you'll be able to better hone in as you move along through your experiences in this crazy hobby.

Good luck! If you need any advice along the way, do not hesitate to send me a PM. I'm on here frequently, and we got a lot of help from other teams when we started, so I like to help others where I can.

 

[I_Use_The_Force]

All I can say is thanks a ton to all the people who offered up advice and critiqued my boxes for me. After reading the responses, I'm seriously considering taking a class. I really like the idea about making the parsley look like a putting green, I think that advice will probably help my appearance scores more than anything.

I have to admit in my appearance scores were overly generous compred to the other boxes I've seen on here and since most people scored it from a 5-7. The 6 judges gave me: 9,8,9,8,7,8

And Beth, I'll PM you some specific questions. If you're good enough to make the 180 club, you have my full attention! :hail: