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  • JUDGEALERTS

Judging at Sam's Club

7/17/2011

3 Comments

 
This Fourth of July weekend I helped to judge a contest at the Sam's Club in Overland Park, Kansas.  I could have picked another contest for that weekend (in fact there was one about 12 miles from my step-daughter's house) but I looked at the list of teams cooking this one and out of 30 teams I knew 14 of them, 5 or 6 of them very well.  So I decided that this would be a great time to combine visiting with friends and judging what I just knew was going to be some top notch food into one great weekend!

One of the teams was hosting a pot luck that I got an invite to, so I showed up about 6:30 pm Friday with a large platter of various flavors of cheeses that I had cold smoked earlier that week.  There must have been 50 people or more who showed up and so many different foods that I lost track of who brought what - but it was all very good!  Every one had a great time eating, laughing, talking, and yes, having a beverage or two :>)

After the pot luck I wandered around visiting & meeting new friends untill about 11:30 pm.  Now, let me explain that KCBS rules say that there is to be NO fraternizing with the teams (or drinking) the day of judging until judging is over.    I take that to mean that I had better be gone from the comp area & on my way to my fifth wheel trailer by midnight; that's my personal deadline.  Anyway, I was pulling out of the parking lot right at midnight, heading for "home."

The next morning (Saturday) I was up & at Sam's Club a little after 9 am, well before the 10 am meeting.  I'm kinda on the large side and I like to grab an end seat if I can. It not only gives me more room but my fellow judges aren't so squashed together, either.  The weather forecast was just one word for Saturday: HOT!!!  And we were judging on an asphalt parking lot under a big tent with no A/C.  We did have two large fans set up, one at each end of the tent with one blowing air in & the other pulling air out. So we did have a breeze and that sure helped a lot!  Before we started the judging the organizer, Mike Lake, asked if I could help him roll up some of the tent side panels for more air - I was all over that :>)

Now, on to the judging.  Out of 30 teams there were at least 20 who had won a Grand Championship in the past and the quality of the food reflected that.  Almost every entry earned at least a 7 in each criteria: appearance, taste & tenderness/texture.  If I remember right I gave at least one perfect (9-9-9) score and quite a few got all 8s & 9s - this was a very tough field of cooks.  About the only really bad entry was one box of ribs that just had no flavor - kinda like most of the resturaunt ribs out there - and they left the membrane on!

All in all, this was one of the best comps that I've judged.  The cooking spots were decent sized, power seemed adequate and there was always someone coming around to pick up the trash or ask if you needed ice or anything.  There was plenty of room in the judging tent, the fans did a good job, lots of bottled water on ice.  The judges were all there on time, the meeting started on time, everything went just like it should ... which doesn't always happen :>)

-- Dave Compton
3 Comments
Tom
7/28/2011 11:41:08 am


This event sounds like it was a good time. Thanks for sharing, Dave.

Reply
Gary
8/14/2011 11:13:22 pm

Thanks for your insight to the working of a Sams club event. With that being said, as a competitor, I wonder why you could only think of 1 999 score your gave. With the quality of competition at this event, I would think that there would be more scores like that. I have heard that Master Judges tend to be more "BBQ CRITICS". Is this true? Thank you for any reply.

Reply
Dave Compton
8/20/2011 03:25:09 pm

Gary, I may have given more than one perfect score but I know that I did give at least one. There were a lot of 8s & 9s given out also and very few 7s. I can only think of one entry that I gave a 6 or lower to, and that was the ribs that I mentioned in the article.
As for the "BBQ CRITICS" question you might have a point there, although "BBQ Snob" might be a better way to describe us. Remember the first time you smoked something that turned out so-so good? You thought that it was one of the best in the world, right? Way better than the slop the local BBQ joint was putting out, right? And now you look back on that stuff & say "What the **** was I thinking?
Now that your cooking skills have increased and the product that you serve is waaaayyyy better, you kinda wonder how you could think that the first stuff was any good. When I first started judging I was very impressed with the overall quality of the entries because I hadn't yet seen / tasted just how high the quality could go.
Now I can better understand (after 55 or 60 contests) just how well a cook can make the flavors meld together, develop the "layers of flavors", how to make the rubs, brines, injections, sauces, etc, comliment each other and the meat. So yeah, I might be a BBQ Snob and now I might be a tad tougher to please enough to give 9s across the board - but when I'm served some excellent BBQ I'm going to reward it with 9-9-9.

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    Dave Compton
    June 5, 1948 - Dec 19, 2020

    Dave Compton wrote this blog prior to being elected to the Kansas City Board of Directors. Hope you enjoy reading Dave's thoughts and opinions on BBQ.

    When Dave passed away in 2020, it was sad to see him go. On a positive note, Dave is now with our Lord & Savior Jesus in Heaven.

    One day we will meet again, my friend. - HK

    DAVE'S BBQ BIO:

    KCBS Master BBQ Judge

    Competition Cook

    Judged over 100 BBQ Competitions

    KCBS Board Member and served on KCBS committees including
    Philanthropy and
    Rules Committee.

    Known as Judge#6

    Loved making Smoked Cheese and shared with judges & cooks.

    Big sense of humor
    Big Heart
    Loved by all!


    VIDEO: Dave Compton recites the Judge's Oath at a contest in Nevada, Iowa and judges his 100th contest.

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