Each entry judged on 3 criteria ... Appearance, Taste, Texture
Appearance
The box should be clean on the outside ... mucky fingerprints or sauce splashes on the box ... inside or outside are marked down. Bits of garnish or meat sticking out of the side of the box are marked down. The meat displayed ... should look appetising, a coating of sauce is fine, big puddles are a no-no ... there should be enough for the judges to have a good selection ... remember less content means that the judge might pick up piece that isn't so good ... also the contents get cold much faster if there isn't much of them. Box your meat up at the last minute, close the lid and wrap it in a warm towel or blanket ... some boxes turned in last time were stone cold ... we can tell the difference between something that was boxed hot and has cooled down to something that was luke warm or cold when boxed. Finally, please use the box the right way up ... in the USA if you use the box upside down then it will be turned over so that the box is correct even if the contents are not. The Base of the box is the larger side with the slot ... the lid sits over it and the lid tucks into the slot.
Taste
Each judge has their own opinion on taste / flavour .... this is just mine, fellow judges please feel free to add your own ... just one tip ... don't try and please every judge for 2 reasons, firstly their taste maybe different to everyone elses and secondly your box might end up on another table anyway!!
Personally, I don't like an oversmoked flavour, it's bitter and nasty ...
Chicken ... please make sure it's cooked properly, we won't taste undercooked chicken as we don't want to spend the evening on the loo. Try not to get soggy skin ... there are ways ... other than that just try to get as much flavour into it as possible.
Ribs ... please make sure the membrane is removed (I walked round to every team last time and mentioned this and yet some people still turned in ribs with the membrane on) ... the ribs need a good depth of flavour ... I personally like a sticky sauce finish (ie., brush with sauce and put back into cooker to set it). Display nicely in your box .. TIP: the more air between the ribs the quicker they get cold and dry out.
Pork ... should be pulled into reasonable size chunks and tossed gently in sauce so that it is lightly coated (it dries out really fast if you don't do this and I haven't yet met a judge who likes the pork without sauce). If you are going to slice some of your pork then make sure you just slice a single muscle ... cutting it up like a Sunday roast just doesn't work. TIP: USE SAUCE !!!!!
Brisket ... there is a lot of skill (and luck) involved with getting your brisket right ... but when putting it into your box don't slice to thick or too thin and just try and make it taste good!! (ok I know you're all trying)
Texture
Tough, chewy or rubbery meat is not nice and loses points ... make it tender, but not too sloppy ... work out a method where you know how the meat needs to feel and look when it's ready and go with it. Gentle saucing prevents meats drying out ... if you want to use sauce on the brisket use it on the back of the slice so that the unsauced side is facing up. If you get your chicken skin nice and crisp then think hard before covering it in sauce ... it makes it go soggy. Temperature of the meat has a lot to do with texture ... if it's cold will have dried out more.
Finally, taste everything yourself and ask yourself honestly, is it really good and could I sit here and eat a whole plate of it ... if you're not sure about it, do you think we're going to love it?
I've said enough for now, but hopefully this info will get you thinking a bit ... feel free to comment or argue if you wish
all judging is done blindly so I won't be able to down mark you for commenting even if I wanted to !!! Thanks all and remember I'm only saying all of this to try and help you all ... (ok and to make tasting more pleasant
)
