(Editor's Note: Francis Dutton will be writing a series of 6 guest columns on a variety of Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) topics, from the perspective of a contest organizer, and a KCBS Master BBQ Judge. This is the second column in the series. Enjoy!)
When you took the class to be a KCBS Certified BBQ judge, the majority of class was spent on learning to judge by the rules & standards for each category. How you judge directly effects each team competing at a contest. It is the difference between a team winning or losing. The rules and standards are there for a reason: To make sure you judge each meat category correctly, and to protect the integrity of the judging process.
I am not going to go in depth about each meat but I will talk mostly about what to look for when it comes to Appearance, Taste & Tenderness.
On page 6 of the Official Judges Certification book, under KCBS Judges Code Of Conduct it states: “I will judge each entry on its own merits in keeping with the KCBS standards.” It also states: “I will be true to my own taste and will not attempt to impose my own personal taste on other judges.”
These are the two things among others I'd I like to focus on in this article, along with other things I think are very important to remember when judging.
We judge entries by Appearance, Taste & Tenderness. Lets talk about Appearance. When it comes to this standard we all know we eat with our eyes first. So when it comes to appearance, you ONLY look at the meat presented in the box and score it accordingly. Meaning, the meat is the MOST important thing on which to focus.
So one might say, “What about the garnish?” To that I say this, garnish is NOT part of your score for appearance only the meat. Most always the meat fills the majority of the box, so I never really feel it necessary to check garnish closely. Also, now a days, most competition cooks are using less and less garnish in their box and we very rarely see cooks use an illegal garnish in their presentation. Judges also need to take a couple of seconds at this point to look for foreign objects, sculpted meat, pooled sauce or an incorrect meat sample in the box. It really only takes a couple of seconds. Remember, the meat is always your main focus when scoring
appearance.
Next is Taste and Tenderness. These go hand in hand and are two of the most important aspects of judging an entry. It is very crucial, with all entries that are presented to be judged, that we DO NOT COMPARE. In my opinion, this is by far the hardest thing for a judge not to do when seated at the judging table. I have adopted the following trick to make sure that I never, ever compare entries.
Once I have scored for appearance, when all 6 portions are on my judging plate, I am now ready to judge taste and tenderness. I take a few seconds, close my eyes,
visualize each piece by itself, open my eyes. Then I am ready to judge the first piece.
Does it have good flavor or does it lack flavor? Is the flavor profile appealing or does it leave a bad taste in my mouth? Can you taste the meat as you chew the bite fully? Does it also have a nice smokey flavor or is it bitter from being over smoked?
As you sample the entry for taste, you are also sampling it for tenderness. Is it moist or dry? Does it have a nice chew or is it tough or mushy, and does it disintegrate in my mouth? Then you score the entry and move on to the next entry.
Here is where I close my eyes again, take a few seconds to clear my mind of the previous entry and move ahead. This technique allows me to strictly focus on each entry by itself. You can do this for each entry on the judging plate. Also remember to clean your palate between entries. You do not want to move on to the next entry with any taste of the one before it.
This leads me to another aspect of judging. ONLY judge what is in the presentation box from the teams. You can not judge what is not in the box, or what you wish was in the box.
I hear lots of judges say lots of things about boxes either before the judging starts or after they have judged one of the categories. What they wish or would like to see in the box. That tells me that they possibly scored the entry differently based on their personal likes or dislikes of what was presented, and did not score it according to the standards of what was actually in the box.
I hear it more often than not and it makes me wonder. I ask myself the question “do they always judge that way?” If so, you are doing a great disservice to the teams and the
integrity of the judging process.
One of the last things I would like to address is talking in the judging area. There is a decorum judges should use once the first entries come into the judging area. All judges should at that time stop talking, gather themselves and wait quietly for their entries to come to their particular table. Please give the other judges the respect of being quiet so they may hear what their table captains are saying to them (so they can begin judging). There is nothing worse than not being able to here your table captain when he is only a couple of feet from you.
Once you are thru judging any category, use your inside voice very quietly to discuss the entries at your table. More often than not, tables talk to loud and once everyone starts talking that loud it is not quite enough for those who need time to finish judging at their tables. It is a respect issue and a judge should always be respectful of other judges who need to finish completing their judging for that category. You would want the same respect of being quite so you could finish judging. So please be very respectful of your fellow judges! It is the right thing to do.
Just remember, judging comes with great responsibility. Be respectful of other judges, judge and score each entry on it’s own merit, have fun and remember to always protect the integrity of the judging process.
- FRANCIS
I am not going to go in depth about each meat but I will talk mostly about what to look for when it comes to Appearance, Taste & Tenderness.
On page 6 of the Official Judges Certification book, under KCBS Judges Code Of Conduct it states: “I will judge each entry on its own merits in keeping with the KCBS standards.” It also states: “I will be true to my own taste and will not attempt to impose my own personal taste on other judges.”
These are the two things among others I'd I like to focus on in this article, along with other things I think are very important to remember when judging.
We judge entries by Appearance, Taste & Tenderness. Lets talk about Appearance. When it comes to this standard we all know we eat with our eyes first. So when it comes to appearance, you ONLY look at the meat presented in the box and score it accordingly. Meaning, the meat is the MOST important thing on which to focus.
So one might say, “What about the garnish?” To that I say this, garnish is NOT part of your score for appearance only the meat. Most always the meat fills the majority of the box, so I never really feel it necessary to check garnish closely. Also, now a days, most competition cooks are using less and less garnish in their box and we very rarely see cooks use an illegal garnish in their presentation. Judges also need to take a couple of seconds at this point to look for foreign objects, sculpted meat, pooled sauce or an incorrect meat sample in the box. It really only takes a couple of seconds. Remember, the meat is always your main focus when scoring
appearance.
Next is Taste and Tenderness. These go hand in hand and are two of the most important aspects of judging an entry. It is very crucial, with all entries that are presented to be judged, that we DO NOT COMPARE. In my opinion, this is by far the hardest thing for a judge not to do when seated at the judging table. I have adopted the following trick to make sure that I never, ever compare entries.
Once I have scored for appearance, when all 6 portions are on my judging plate, I am now ready to judge taste and tenderness. I take a few seconds, close my eyes,
visualize each piece by itself, open my eyes. Then I am ready to judge the first piece.
Does it have good flavor or does it lack flavor? Is the flavor profile appealing or does it leave a bad taste in my mouth? Can you taste the meat as you chew the bite fully? Does it also have a nice smokey flavor or is it bitter from being over smoked?
As you sample the entry for taste, you are also sampling it for tenderness. Is it moist or dry? Does it have a nice chew or is it tough or mushy, and does it disintegrate in my mouth? Then you score the entry and move on to the next entry.
Here is where I close my eyes again, take a few seconds to clear my mind of the previous entry and move ahead. This technique allows me to strictly focus on each entry by itself. You can do this for each entry on the judging plate. Also remember to clean your palate between entries. You do not want to move on to the next entry with any taste of the one before it.
This leads me to another aspect of judging. ONLY judge what is in the presentation box from the teams. You can not judge what is not in the box, or what you wish was in the box.
I hear lots of judges say lots of things about boxes either before the judging starts or after they have judged one of the categories. What they wish or would like to see in the box. That tells me that they possibly scored the entry differently based on their personal likes or dislikes of what was presented, and did not score it according to the standards of what was actually in the box.
I hear it more often than not and it makes me wonder. I ask myself the question “do they always judge that way?” If so, you are doing a great disservice to the teams and the
integrity of the judging process.
One of the last things I would like to address is talking in the judging area. There is a decorum judges should use once the first entries come into the judging area. All judges should at that time stop talking, gather themselves and wait quietly for their entries to come to their particular table. Please give the other judges the respect of being quiet so they may hear what their table captains are saying to them (so they can begin judging). There is nothing worse than not being able to here your table captain when he is only a couple of feet from you.
Once you are thru judging any category, use your inside voice very quietly to discuss the entries at your table. More often than not, tables talk to loud and once everyone starts talking that loud it is not quite enough for those who need time to finish judging at their tables. It is a respect issue and a judge should always be respectful of other judges who need to finish completing their judging for that category. You would want the same respect of being quite so you could finish judging. So please be very respectful of your fellow judges! It is the right thing to do.
Just remember, judging comes with great responsibility. Be respectful of other judges, judge and score each entry on it’s own merit, have fun and remember to always protect the integrity of the judging process.
- FRANCIS
RSS Feed
