What are the Judges looking for NEED INPUT PLZ!!!!!

[BBQProdigy]

MY name is Mike and im the stepson of BBQMAN, and head chef+Manager @ BBQMAN Inc. Im going to do a BBQ comp. later on in the year down here in Florida. I have been to quite a few Comps. and have cooked at a few as well. I will be doing ribs and was wondering if anyone was a judge or knows one and could spare some knowledge at to what the are looking for. Any Pointers???

[Sa-Mokin]

Hey Mike, we all hear you are pretty good stock, welcome to the Smoke Ring!

Who is sanctioning the contest you are planning on doing?
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Sa-Mokin Competition Barbeque
Sa-Mokin Barbeque Sauce
http://www.Sa-Mokin.com

[mds2]

Yeah, i'd like to know what the judges are looking for too!
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The Saucy Lads BBQ Team

[mutha chicken bbq]

Welcome to the Ring Mike,

Is it a KCBS or MIM contest?
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The only thing consistant in BBQ is, it is always the Judges fault!

KCBS CBJ
www.galvinell.com
www.realdealbbq.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUcTvhyof8I&feature=related

[BBQMAN]

Hey guys, thanks for giving Mike the warm welcome!

He doesn't always have the immediate access to a computer that I do.

He probably doesn't know how quickly the good folks here will try to point you in the right direction!
_________________
BBQMAN
"I Turned A Hobby Into A Business".
Providing "IMHO" Since 2005.

[Sa-Mokin]

If it is a KCBS sanctioned contest, here is some info that may help...

One of the most important thing to remember about ribs is, be SURE there are a minimum of six SEPARATE ribs in the box. One of the biggest DQ's for ribs is the cook just putting 6 ribs in the box and not getting a couple of the ribs completely cut. Make sure you have your ribs completely cut before they go in the box.

The three judging criteria are...

APPEARANCE: What can I say, make your ribs as appealing as possible when assembling your box. Garnish is optional. We were taught to not count off if there was no garnish and I make a conscious effort to not judge lower if there is no garnish, but in reality my guess is that some judges probably do. Use ONLY green leaf lettuce, parsley or cilantro for your garnish. No kale or red leaf lettuce is allowed. Nothing but the ribs and garnish should go in the box. Ribs can be sauced, but the sauce cannot be "puddled" or "pooled" in the bottom of the box.

TEXTURE: In the judging class I took, we were taught that the ribs should be moist, not dry. When you take a single bite off the side of the rib, the meat should easily come clean from the bone, ONLY where the bite was taken and the bone should go from gray to off white where the bite was taken. If more meat comes off the bone than where the bite was taken the rib is over done.

TASTE: This area is SO subjective (and regional) I won't really go into this very far. You guys know what a good tasting rib is. We were taught to judge the entry as it was presented by the cook. If the cook uses a hot sauce on the ribs, judge it accordingly. In other words, if the entry is spicy and you don't like spicy, you should not count off due to this.

I hope this helps some guys. Even though I have judged some, I compete more that I judge. I am still trying to figure out how to please the judges myself.
_________________
Sa-Mokin Competition Barbeque
Sa-Mokin Barbeque Sauce
http://www.Sa-Mokin.com

[FairWeatherSmoker]

I have judged a few contest here in Texas, along with my wife. The whole thing is a crap shoot. Some like falling apart, suck off the bone, some like a little bite, some like it hot, some don't.

My wife has judged some at 4, while I thought they were a 10, an vice versa.

1) If you win, most liked it.

2) If you didn't, more didn't like it.

3) Cook it like you like it & see.

4) Don't take it seriously.

5) IF you cook long enough, the same way you like it, you will win sometimes.

My 2 cents worth.

[Big Tom]

Young Mike is in search of that same 'holy grail' the rest of us competitors are looking for: What the judges really want

Sa Mokin - summarized the way the KCBS judges are instructed which will be very helpful as you will kind of have an idea of what characteristics they look for.

The next nugget of information is to practice your timing to achieve the ideal texture after the ribs have cooked, been handled for the turn-in and sat for 10-15 minutes in a turn-in container before the judges actually start to sample.

All that lag from when the ribs come off the cooker to the time the judge takes that first look and then the bite; will have an effect on the texture and flavor of the rib that you turned in.

Best of luck!
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Big Tom
Pigs-R-Us Cooking Team
Owensboro, KY / Corinth, MS

[Ranucci's Big Butt]

Always inject, don't listen to the old man.
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Alex

Ranucci's Big Butt BBQ
www.ranuccis.com
www.bigbuttbbq.com

[mutha chicken bbq]

[Water Tower BBQ]

As stated earlier, you have to have at least 6 ribs for the entry, but put 12 ribs in the box. Put 6 in 2 rows. This will really help your appearance score and should wow the judges. Use garnish if you want to score well in appearance. It's a must.

For texture, the goal is to get the meat to pull away from the bone at the location where you took the bite with little resistance, but not have the whole rib meat fall off the bone. As a competition cook and a judge, i always make sure to error on the side of having them slightly more tender than less. Ribs that you have to tug at to eat will kill your score.

We finished 4th place in ribs in the KCBS contest we cooked in last summer out of 39 teams.

Good luck and have fun!

[mds2]

[Water Tower BBQ]

mds2,

didn't take any pictures. wish that we had.

lay 6 ribs (or really as many as you can fit across the width of the box) on the bottom of the box, near the back of the box. then lay the next row on top of them but place these toward the front of the box.

this will give you 2 rows of 6. you can't actually see all of the ribs on the bottom row, but you will see the ends. if you can't fit 6, fit 5 across.

i can tell you that as a judge, it just looks better when that box is full of ribs (all meats for that matter)

picked up this tip from the cancersuckschicago.com team at a cooking school last spring. they won the jack that year.

[BBQMAN]

So Alex, you are injecting ribs these days?

Thanks for the input guys- I'm no pro at comps either!

Wish I had more time to do a few more comps, but that will probably wait until Mike does take over the business, and I am able to semi-retire. Comps happen in Florida during my busy season, and I'm trying to make a buck as opposed to spending them!
_________________
BBQMAN
"I Turned A Hobby Into A Business".
Providing "IMHO" Since 2005.

[mds2]

[DawgPhan]

I'll throw in my 2 cents...

Since you will probably be cooking in either florida or south GA I would say order you some homebbq.com rib rub and sauce. Use those 2 products on your ribs. You can doctor everything a little bit if you need to, but I pretty much use them straight up. This way you can take the taste out of the competition. That is a proven flavor combo that wins in florida...just look at homebbq.com to know that it wins and the first time I used the combo in GA I took first place.

Now you can focus all of your practice on cooking perfect ribs and appearence, which really isnt that difficult. Just dont be sloppy and make it look good.

The cooking part is about knowing your cooker and practice.

But I would certainly say that you should start out with a commerical rub and sauce and take that out of the equation and focus on tenderness.

[Teleking]

[CrazyChef]

OUCH!!!
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"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits" - Albert Einstein

[BBQProdigy]

The FBA will be sanctioning the event. I thought about using a commercial rub and sauce but there is no heart or passion in that. the real joy is creating something uniquely yourown and having that be victorious. i just know that at all the events ive been to the unique or unconventional sauces and such always lose. i believe that most judges like a KCMacterpeice type of sauce but thats just my opinion. So basically what the judges are looking for is a conventional tender, moist rib. Ive competed with Swinebucks at Memphis and their coffee rubbed and coffee sauced ribs didnt place anywhere near a respectable level(for competition) thanks for all the great info guys.

[SIMPLE Q]