KCBS-CBJ class well worth the time

Brett · February 2004

Dear all, [p]Well, Max and I are now officially certified judges, complete with name tag, judge's shirt (coming in the mail soon), and secret handshape! The class is very worthwhile for anyone thinking of competing. And, I think that being a judge will be a great way of sampling a lot of top bbq, which will make us better cooks whether we compete or not. [p]For those of us here who do compete, the new scoring system will be a challange. Judges now start at 5 on a 9 point continuum, and score up or down from there depending on what they see and taste. The biggest differece from last year is that you have to give judges reasons to grade you up to 9, rather than reasons not to mark you down from 9. I think it means that cooks may need to be a little more aggressive with presentations and seasoning the meat. If what you turn in merely has not negatives, it will probably only get you a 6 or 7, whereas last year it might have gotten a 9. That is my impression anyway. [p]Other things worth mentioning:
1. Chicken skin: Even when you crisp it up before hand in, the skin will steam and soften in the box. Making sure that the fat is fully rendered from the skin. That will help to keep it from feeling rubbery, which will get you marked down. Some of you may want to experiment with skinless thighs. Most people hand in chicken with the skin, but if you can find a way to produce delicious and moist skinless pieces then you may be ahead of the game. [p]2. How to test for a perfectly done brisket: Take a slice and pull gently from both ends. If it tugs a bit and then separates, it is perfectly done. That is what the trainer said anyway, and it seemed to work out in practice during the training. I would be interested to know if anyone has a different method or opinion on this. [p]3. Ribs: About 80% of the ribs handed in at contests these days are baby backs. Not sure why this is, since I think loin ribs have more fat and flavor, but there it is. Maybe it is because they look better.
3. Factoid: Tables will judge six entries at a time. All 6 are judged for appearence. Then, each judge gets one piece from each entry. Only after every judge has all six pieces before him do to judges taste and assign scores. Judges are silent until all of finished scoreing. Then, and only then, may they discuss the entries. [p]4. Regional differences in taste. regional differences in taste preferences are real. The people around us liked the sweet bbq sauce a whole lot, while I was scoring those down a bit in favor of the more pungent sauces that are favored down South (including Virginia, where I live). Folks who compete up and down the east coast may want to adjust their sauces and rubs to local tastes. [p]Well, those are the big takeaway messages from my experience in the class. I can recommend taking the CBJ training course to everyone interested in cooking better bbq. [p]Brett Brown, CBJ
Free Range BBQ

drbbq · February 2004

Brett,[p]Last week the instructions were to simply use the whole scale. There was intentionally no direction on where to start.[p]Are you sure they said start at 5? If so who was the instructor?
[/b]

Brett · February 2004

drbbq,
I do not recall the name of the instructor. He did mention that the folks in KC called him up at 9 PM the night before and told him to pull the scoring sheets that had 5 actually labeled as average and use forms where you just wrote the score in. But we were still instructed to start at 5 as average (defined as what is average "to you," not average for the contest), and go from there. There is also a CD with instructions on it that they played for us. This is supposed to be played at every contest in the coming year. I do not remember if it said the same thing on it or not, but I expect it did and suggest you have a copy sent to you and check it out first hand. In the "KCBS Official Judges Certification Program" that we were given it specifically says that 9 is excellent, 5 is average, and 2 is bad. [p]I thought the soring system worked out pretty reasonably, at least in the training session. Telling people just to use the whole range sounds like a step backward to me, and we will end up with the same scoring we had before. Well, Lakeland proved that good cooks will float to the top in any case, so I guess it doesn't matter that much. Let me know what you find out. [p]Brett[p]

Shelby · February 2004

Brett,
Does anyone have a list of the dates/locations for classes this year? I couldn't make any last year.[p]Thanks!

Brett · February 2004

Shelby,
There is a listing int he Bull Sheet, the newletter of the KCBS. Where do you live? I can give you the info on classes near you. [p]Brett

usa doug · February 2004

Shelby,
Try www.KCBS.US go to the judging class schedule.

mad max beyond eggdome · February 2004

Brett,
i think his name was jerry mallone. .. .he was definitely local to the phily/jersey area. . .and i can verify that he said start at '5' and work your way up or down accordingly. ..

YankeeBBQ · February 2004

That would be Jerry Mullane. Nice guy. Newly annointed judging instructor. He and his wife trained with Ed Roith during the Massachusetts Judging Class. They are also the KCBS reps for the Liberty Bell contest.[p]Steve

drbbq · February 2004

mad max beyond eggdome,[p]Thanks for the report guys. It seems there was a miscommunication somewhere. I'm not sure what to tell you. It is being disussed at the KCBS forum, not The BBQ Forum, but the forum at kcbs.us

[/b]

Unknown · February 2004

Brett,
I am the CBJ instructor from the Philly class and I am sorry if you misunderstood the way I presented the scoring system . The exact wording was as follows:[p]The KCBS scoring system has a range from 9 to 1.
9-Excellent, 5-Average, to 2-Bad.
All numbers between 2 and 9 may be used to score with 1(one) for disqualification.[p]This is the way it is worded on the CD that was played during the class, and this is the way it was read following that recording. [p]I hope this clears up any misunderstandings. When I said 5 was to be used as average, I said that it was to be what you, personally considered average and each person in the room would have their own idea as to what represents average to themselves.[p]Jerry

Shelby · February 2004

usa doug,
Thanks! I live in New Orleans and there's one in my area in early September. Unfortunately, there's also a home game for my national champion LSU Tigers that day. Talk about a conflict!
Thanks again for the info!

Shelby · February 2004

Shelby,
ooppss...that's cooking classes, not judging. Nearest judging class is in Oklahoma. Oh well...

Brett · February 2004

drbbq,
If the guy was wrong, then so were the official booklets that he and his wife were given to hand out. The written materials that they sent them to hand out clearly state that 5 is average. [p]While you all are discussing this over at the kcbs site, could you suggest that they put the instructions from the CD up on the site as a downloadable MP3 file? And, that they put a corrected judges booklet up as well that can be downloaded? That way I and the other newly trained judges can get them at home and get up to speed on what we are supposed to be doing when I judge. Oh, and I wanted to let you know that the trainers did a great job overall.
Thanks,[p]Brett

Brett · February 2004

Brett,
Oh, and for what its worth I made a mistake in my nomenclature. I refered to loin ribs when I meant to say spare ribs. Don't know what I was thinking.
Brett

Brett · February 2004

Jerry Mullane,
Yes, that is exactly the understanding that I walked away with from your class. Please see my first response to Ray below, where I go into the whole "what is average to you" thing in some detail. Also, please let me know if I am still not understanding this completely. I thought the class was great, and I am sorry if my message is causing problems. [p]Sincerely,
Brett

drbbq · February 2004

Brett,
The system that was used for years said that everything started as a 9 and was judged down as warranted. This resulted in mostly 9s and 8s.[p]5 is now named as "average", the misunderstanding is that you start at 5. They are not to give you a starting point. This is vague by design.[p]I'm not trying to defend this, I happen to find it confusing as well. That's why I pointed out that a brand new CBJ misunderstood. I have no doubt that Jerry did a good job. [p][/b]

WooDoggies · February 2004

drbbq,[p]With 5 being named as the average in the new KCBS rules, I can't help but start there and judge up or down accordingly.
For me, the only confusing part is finding "reasons" to score up from 5....... instead of the old way of thinking which was finding fault to score down from 9. [p]Looks like it's going to be a very interesting competition year and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it will all pan out.[p]John[p][p][p]

drbbq · February 2004

WooDoggies,[p]The score sheets from the first contest under these terms are on my website. They were pretty erratic.

[/b]

KCBS-CBJ class well worth the time

Comments

Categories