Judge My Box

CHICKEN - BOX 52

9/21/2011

When scoring this BBQ Competition box, please use the KCBS scoring system below. Team names are kept confidential.

9-Excellent, 8-Very Good, 7-Above Average, 6-Average, 5-Below Average, 4-Poor, 3-Bad,, 2-Inedible, 1-DISQUALIFIED (give reason)

TO POST SCORE: Click on BOX # in title of post above photo and fill out the LEAVE A REPLY form with the following information:

1) State if you are a Certified BBQ Judge or not.
2) Score the entry.
3) Leave any additional comments you would like to communicate to the cook.
4) Your score and comment will appear after it has been approved by the admin.

18 Comments

BenderQ

9/21/2011 12:36:26 pm

7

CBJ

Pieces on the right appear much larger than the left two. Garnish hanging over the box edges is distracting. Grill marks are nice, but brush marks take away from it. I like the color.

BJ Hoffman

9/21/2011 12:36:33 pm

CBJ-KCBS

Solid 8. The sizes of the portions are not very equal. I like the darker color and the grill marks show the BBQ artistry. Nice

Bryan

9/21/2011 12:47:58 pm

6

Competitor/CBJ

I like the color. Although, pieces are not uniform in size. Are those grill marks or did you use butchers string to keep the shape? Lines look more like indentations than grill marks. One on the bottom left looks like it could be under cooked. Sauce looks like it has been painted on, need to smooth out the brush strokes. It looks like there is sauce all over the garnish, which could be cleaned up to present better.

buzz--cbj

9/21/2011 01:02:55 pm

think it is a nice 8!! At least from pic.....

@Bryan you can tell a pc has been undercooked from a jpg?? And if it was raw inside that doesn't come in to play until you take a bite---this is just appearance

Ray

9/21/2011 01:22:43 pm

6- brush marks on sauce, garnish is overlapping. Besides, it looks grilled and this is a BBQ contest not a grilling contest.

Bryan

9/21/2011 01:26:40 pm

@buzz, fair question. After cooking hundreds (thousands?) of competition thighs, this was a gut reaction, yes the sense was this one wasn't cooked all the way. I wasn't assessing if it was raw, but not finished enough, it almost looks like there is no skin, which isn't a factor, but there is something odd in the appearance of these.

Let's face it all judge's intuitively are affected by personal preference based upon past experiences. I wish this wasn't the case, but we might as well just be honest about it.

kieran link

9/21/2011 01:30:52 pm

Damn, y'all are harsh. Looks like a nice 8 to me... make those two on the left a little bigger and I'd give it a 9.

KCBS

elkski

9/21/2011 01:50:48 pm

KCBS
8
the top 3 and right lower one look great the other two look like tamales.

Geoff

9/21/2011 03:03:42 pm

CBJ/Comp Cook

7

Nothing special. Doesn't make me want to jump out and eat it. Bit above average though.

Scott Simpson - KCBS CBJ

9/21/2011 04:52:33 pm

7

Looks like the sauce was brushed after it had been set. Super deep brush strokes. Went with a 7 because they were at least all going in the same direction.

Dick

9/21/2011 05:00:40 pm

Score 7. Too much sauce and brush marks are very distracting. Box looks sloopy with the garnish hanging out on three sides.

Peter

9/21/2011 10:16:04 pm

Looks great. gets an 8.
cbj

Hance - MIM/MBN/GBA CBJ and cook

9/22/2011 01:17:00 am

7

On the good side, the chicken has a nice appetizing/attractive color to it. The grill marks are ok. I like that they still look like thighs. The arrangement/placement of the meat is clean and attractive. Basically they look pretty good.

On the needs improvement and takes away from the overall appeal side, theres the garnish forest when is distracting (not judged, but a distraction). It may be the picture, but some of the pieces seem to have almost burned ends on them. The brush marks are so deep and defined they really take away from the overall appeal. To remove the brush marks, consider dipping the chicken in sauce. If you get rid of the brush marks and trim the shrubs, I think this is a solid 8 pushing 9.

mkevenson

9/22/2011 04:15:21 am

CBJ/Comp Cook

7

9/22/2011 08:54:52 am

KCBS CBK

7

I would be wondering if I was the first or last judge to get a choice here - and the lower left is a little smaller.

Abel CBJ link

9/22/2011 11:26:18 am

Meat seems large and untrimmed, I'm not a fan of large grill marks and sauce strokes. Not a horrible box, but needs some work for sure.

I give it a 7

CBJ

Kendall

9/22/2011 04:06:14 pm

CBJ

I'd give it an 8.

Tom (CBJ - KCBS, MBN, NCPC - & cook)

9/23/2011 06:01:18 am

Score = 8
Reasons = chicken looks pretty appetizing! REMEMBER, this is for Appearance of the MEAT ONLY!
Suggestions = try to use 6 same size pieces; soften the brush strokes; pack the greenery a bit better; ALL of these suggestions are fluff, but may help make the meat more appetizing.

Archives by Group

Famous Dave Interview

READ THE REVIEW

Online BBQ Judge Sign-up

You are REQUIRED to register as a BBQ Critic Online Judge to be allowed to judge boxes on this site. Click here to sign up now.

Posting Instructions

CERTIFIED BBQ JUDGES:
Please score this BBQ Competition box using the KCBS scoring system below.

9-Excellent
8-Very Good
7-Above Average
6-Average
5-Below Average
4-Poor
3-Bad
2-Inedible
1-DISQUALIFIED (give reason).

Click on BOX # in title of post above photo. Fill out the "LEAVE A REPLY" form and use the following format to TITLE each section in your post:

NAME FIELD ON FORM:
State name/CBJ Organization (i.e, Tom - CBJ/KCBS). CBJ=Certified BBQ Judge

EMAIL FIELD ON FORM:
You must be a "registered" BBQ Critic Online Judge in order to judge boxes on this site. Proof of registration is your email. All registered judges are required add their email to the email form field. Emails are kept private and not published. If you do not list your email, your score/post will not appear on the site.

SCORE/REASONS FOR SCORE: Score this entry and give reasons for your score. DO NOT mention garnish or smoke rings in your reasons for scoring. We judge meat only.

SUGGESTIONS: Feel free to offer any suggestions on how to improve the box (keep separate from reasons why you scored the box). You can mention anything here such as garnish suggestions.

Submit a Box

Want to submit a pic of your BBQ competition box? Click here.

Purpose

The purpose of BBQ Critic's JudgeMyBox section is to provide feedback to competition cooks. Certified BBQ Judges who visit this site will score the photo of a contest box (using KCBS judging rules) and may optionally leave a comment explaining their score.

The idea is to allow the cook to get inside the mind of a judge (judges do have varying opinions) so they can use this information to help improve scores on APPEARANCE.

In turn, the BBQ Critic editorial team will provide feedback on some judge scores and commentary that stray from the KCBS rules. This will help our judges become better judges and keeps everyone on the same page. Judges may also encounter some fun challenges at times (click for example).

Comments about boxes or judges scores may be discussed in our online FORUM in a respectful manner.

Please be mindful that scoring photo boxes may not be as accurate as scoring the box in person. Lighting, glare, angles, etc may affect the overall score. Judges also have more time to stare at your box, so that means we may get very detailed about the good and the bad.

Have fun, judges! Oh, and cooks? Please send us your boxes. We love to judge Q here at BBQ Critic. ;-)