Judges comment cards or responses

[White Dog BBQ]

We once got a comment card from a judge who said he could taste lighter fluid in our ribs. I've never used lighter fluid to light charcoal. Ever. I chalked it up to a judge just trying to show he had a "refined" palate.

 

[Rookie'48]

I hear the "lighter fluid" remark about every 3 or 4 contests. There are two things that I know of that will give that foul taste, there may be others, but here are my two:
1) Excessive use of alcohol (JD, Jim Beam, etc.) in the injection, mop or spray.
2) Using green wood chunks or overly wet wood.

Both of these can, and have, left the meat with a "lighter fluid" after taste. By the way, I use either a weed burner or a chimney to start my coals - there ain't none of that chitt in my house!

 

[gmholler]

We talked about the "lighter fluid" taste at my table in Ashland, MS this past weekend, and we decided that while it certainly COULD be due to actual lighter fluid used in cooking, this was unlikely and we were probably tasting either "green" wood being used or meat put on the pit before the pit was hot enough. I can see how wet wood might cause it as well - and considering all the rain in Ashland this past weekend, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the cause! But one of the judges said something when we were talking as to where notion of "lighter fluid" came from, at least this go around: she mentioned that at her CBJ class, the teacher said that some cookers use lighter fluid to start their pits - so this is what you're tasting when you taste "lighter fluid". Somehow, I think there was something more to that comment...

 

[glued2it]

I was going to start another post on this but found this one and thought I'd just add to it.

We got our first comment card today. This was from a CBJ and they scored our brisket a 3 on taste. The comment....."Taste was bad". While I appreciate the initiative....we kinda figured that out on our own from the 3 this judge gave us. If it would have been followed up with a "because it was too salty/dry/hot/spicy/sweet" maybe it would have meant something to us but "Taste was bad" is simply an opinion without a reason.

I do think that comment cards can provide useful feedback, but we'll chalk this one up to having a judge that has a significantly different taste profile than his or her peers (which scored it a 8-8-8-9-9 on taste) as it pertains to brisket.

That was where I saw the fault with the comment cards. As some of our Friends received there cards it was the same issue.
Elaboration would be helpful. I think the table captains or one of the reps should view the cards and ask for an elaboration before the cards are officially submitted.

 

[stlgreg]

Dang that is wrong. There should be some accountability by the table captain. I mean everyone else scored it pretty good and one judge blows it up with a 3. That is just crazy. I figure the comment cards would be a waste of time. That had to be someone that didn't have a clue, as to the work that is put in cooking for them.

Chris

A couple of weeks ago as table captain i was handed a card

Texture is like Mush
Feels like shoe leather.

How something can be mush and shoe leather I will never know!
Showed it to the rep and they just shrugged it off. As the TC I am not going to throw one away. We were closed in enough that I could not confront the judge without all the judges finding out.

 

[Slamdunkpro]

The problem with comment cards is that we've become a check box society and comment cards are like an essay question.

Maybe the thing to do is print up comment cards like:

Points were taken off for:

____ overcooked _____Undercooked

____dry _____tough _____greasy

Over / under salted ____________________________

Over / under spiced____________________________

Over / under sweet____________________________

Over / under heat______________________________

Perhaps this would give the judges some kind of framework?

MY IP! I thought of it first:biggrin: for licensing usage contact me directly - All rights reserved - Patent Pending - Copyright 2009

 

[Divemaster]

I spoke to Tonto regarding this very item at the Practice Comp...

I'd gotten a 1st in ribs, 3rd in pork, 4th in chicken, and 10th in brisket, and was wondering where I may have gone wrong...

The problem with comment cards is that we've become a check box society and comment cards are like an essay question.

Maybe the thing to do is print up comment cards like:

Points were taken off for:

____ overcooked _____Undercooked

____dry _____tough _____greasy

Over / under salted ____________________________

Over / under spiced____________________________

Over / under sweet____________________________

Over / under heat______________________________

Perhaps this would give the judges some kind of framework?

MY IP! I thought of it first:biggrin: for licensing usage contact me directly - All rights reserved - Patent Pending - Copyright 2009

We came up with pretty much the same card in hopes that it would cut down the 'Mush/shoe leather' comments and give us some thing we could work with...

I should note that we talked about it over a week ago and have already applied for the copyright.... Sorry...

 

[swamprb]

I judged 2 KCBS comps and filled out comment cards in 2007 and their intention was explained by Jim Minion who presented the Judging class I attended and it is not an easy feat to do with the half hour turn ins and the placemat setting, but I thought it made me more accountable as a Judge and not a "BBQ eater".

The Pacific Northwest BBQ ASSN. (PNWBA) has One hour turn ins and each table entry is judged before before moving onto the next box. Comment cards are an important part of the proccess and "encouraging" comments are stressed. But either way-if I'm cooking or judging they leave me scratching my head in wonderment!

I am for them.

 

[SmokinOkie]

For 2009:

Judged a contest, these are the rules as provided by KCBS.

The lighter fluid is talked about. KCBS explains that a lot of smokers might be "oversmoking" and the creosote might give it a taste that less experience people might think is lighter fluid.

The comment cards are ONLY for low scores. KCBS explains not to put comments in for 7,8,9 as those scores are self explainatory (there is a word for each # on the card for the judge to refer to)

The card then is only for low scores, and the judges are supposed to fill it in after all score cards are complete. The reps "usually" check them. The problem with Table captains checking them for validaty is most contest don't have experienced TC's, as they put the CBJ's on the table first.

Russ

 

[Jacked UP BBQ]

I say do away with the comment cards. I believe everyone should have to work to learn. This is basically coaching.

 

[Alexa RnQ]

Scores are feedback, and the feedback of scoring detail is very important to us as a team. A brief explanation of a low score is simply a bit more detail on the feedback -- it's just giving the cook a direction in which to look, it's not telling them how to fix it. I agree that if comment cards are to be used, a judge should be obligated to leave an explanatory comment on any score lower than a 6 -- and that they should also be used to track patterns of anomalous scoring.

The only problem with a checkbox system is that it should be created from a judge's perspective, and not from a cook's. There are judges who simply don't cook enough to know HOW an entry got to be the way it is -- they can only evaluate the end impression as tough, dry, mushy, etc.