Competition presentations

Hashmaker · September 2012

I need advice from those that have some competition experience. I'm competing for the first time this weekend. All contestants are cooking butts. The question I have is this... Do I present with or without sauce on the meat. I know not to present with sauce on the side but I'm torn. I have two types of sauce and prefer mine without but I just don't know which presentation method would be better. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

xraypat23 · September 2012

i do KCBS competitions. Porks a tough one. We usually cook 4 butts. One gets cooked till the money muscle hits 165 than it gets pulled from the cooker, that's the butt we take the money muscle off of and slice. Than we use nice big thumb sized "plugs" each showing some nice thick bark, smoke ring and the internal meat. All the pieces get dragged thru a pot of very hot(temperature) sauce. Than into the box.

SMITTYtheSMOKER · September 2012

I feel a bigger decision to make is what type of meat you want to put in the box. Sliced meat off the money muscle is the best, but to get sliced you need to under cook the portion (185) to get nice slices. I would put chunks in next, make sure all have bark showing in the box. I feel that all these would look nicer with a glaze of Blues Hog on the surface...nothing like a great shine when that box first gets opened.

I would resist putting any pulled meat in the box if you can.

Hope that helps, good luck. -Smitty

Hashmaker · September 2012

Please keep in mind... This is my first time so please be patient and forgive my ignorance!!

1. Why not pulled meat in the box?
2. What is the money muscle?

I am used to cooking a butt to 190-195 and pulling it all but that's for family and friends.

Now I'm really stumped!!

GreenhawK · September 2012

I do mine a lot like xraypat. I do the money muscle very similar with a thin glaze of sauce on it. Then I put pulled pork in the center with no sauce, and then have the sliced money muscle around it.

How you turn in your box is very regional on what the judges like. People from CA can come to AL and not do very well and vice versa. The same thing can go for saucing the meat or not. It can even vary from table to table in the judges tent.

I would suggest just to make what you make and see how you do. Don't get discouraged if you do bad because the next time you may score really well. I have placed a 5th out of 74 and 40th out of 50 with what I felt was equal product.

The Smoke Ring is also a great competition resource.

SMITTYtheSMOKER · September 2012

Here is an example of the sliced and chunked together. This picture was "lifted' offa nother site, they expressed they finished 10th with this box (?).

SamFerrise · September 2012

Wow, I'll take 2 to go!

Hashmaker · September 2012

Ok... So I've learned what the money muscle is and can now see the point of not putting pulled meat in the box. I would want the judges to see that it's not mushy and pulls well. Thanks for the input guys!

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