Judging angelhog Guide


MBA and KCBS SCORING CRITERIA


  • MBA (MIM)~~Memphis In May
quiet-judging
    The following are the descriptions of the official scoring criteria to be used in the Championship Pork contest. Each criterion is multiplied by a factor relative to its importance to the WCBCC and Memphis In May Sanctioned Contest Network's view of barbecue in general. Contest Judges are briefed on these criteria.

    Championship Judging will be done in two rounds, preliminary and final. The three teams with the highest preliminary round scores in their respective categories will advance to the final round. Preliminary round judging consists of both blind and onsite judging. All sample turn in times, onsite judging time and judging location will be announced at the Cooks' meeting.


  • AREA AND PERSONAL APPEARANCE
da-nite
PPKLINE
    You will be judged on the appearance of your team members and your area. Scores will be based on the effort you have experienced to create a neat, clean and attractive area; not dollars spent on tents, rigs, table settings, or the beverages served.


  • PRESENTATION
 badbob
    Scored Onsite Only
    You will be evaluated on your explanation of the elements of your product. This includes the origin of the team; develoment of particular cooking method; design of barbecue grill; development of the sauce(s), marinades, and/or dry rubs; your introduction of the barbecue entry, and how you took the meat from raw to finished state. briefed on these criteria.


  • APPEARANCE OF ENTRY
hog
ribs
    Scored Onsite and Blind
    How appetizing does the sample appear? Has your team's skill brought the entry to its proper level of finish? The entry should be appealing to the eye on the grill, on the plate, and in the blind container. Judges will be instructed to accept a reddish smoke ring penetrating the surface of the meat.


  • TENDERNESS OF ENTRY
 Janice
    Scored Onsite and Blind
    Tenderness is a relative measure of the entry's texture. The entry should have some texture, but be moist and easy to chew; not soft and mushy or dry and stringy. It should pull easily from the bone, but retain body with moisture.


  • FLAVOR OF ENTRY
 Joe
    Scored Onsite and Blind
    Does the barbecue taste good? The meat entry may be tasted by inself to appraise the smoke and flavors cooked into the meat, then combined with the most complimentary sauce. Barbecue is normally thought of as the combination of meat and sauce, but scores are derived from what is served to the Judges.

    You may choose to present your entry with no serving sauce and judges will be instructed to accept this as your preference in serving and score the entry on that basis. Different regions may use different spices or different styles of sauce, and preparation may vary from region to region. The judges will be instructed to judge each entry on its own merits.


  • OVERALL IMPRESSION
 badbob
    Scored Onsite and Blind
    Overall impression is not the average of all the other judging criteria. It is a separate judging criterion measuring the judge's overall subjective experience of judging your team. Attention can be paid to all of the other factors that do not seem to fit anywhere else, since not every conceivable apect of barbecue can be scored separately.


  • BLIND JUDGING
  • During the cook's meeting, you will be informed on how you will get your containers for your blind sample, where, and at what time you will turn them in. The contest is responsible for getting your containers to you. Most contests require you to deliver your sample to the judging area or a specified area. You should have enough team members to accomplish this task.

    You are required to have your sample at a certain place, at a certain time, within a 15-minute window. The sample must be delivered on time, even if you have other judges still judging you from a previous category. If your sample is not on time this may result in disqualification.

    When you receive your container, it will have a label on the top that has your team name, the meat category and the time your sample is to arrive at the blind check-in area.

    Check your sample box (es) carefully to insure that you are putting your sample in the correct container – correct team, correct category. With your entry container, there will be two sauce containers with lids. You may send any combination of sauce, rub, marinade, or basting sauce. The cups you were issued MUST be used for your sauce. You will turn them in with your blind container. The check-in volunteers will put your code number on all the containers.

    You are not allowed to mark on the meat or sauce containers in any way. Hot sauces will be tagged by check-in volunteers only. If marks are on the container, your samples will be put in replacement containers.

    You may want to pay special attention to the way your meat is prepared for the blind judges. Remember, that there are no sharp knives in the judging area, so we suggest you cut your rib entries into small enough sections to easily fit in the container.

    You should pull, slice or chop your shoulder and whole hog entries into sizes the judges can easily manage with their hands. Teams may not place bones or skin into the whole hog blind box. Any other part of the whole hog is allowed. The team must place at least portions of the ham, shoulder and loin into the box.

    You cannot put other food items, garnish, or foil in the container. Anything other than the meat of the category being judged will be removed from the container, including anything cooked on the meat, such as pineapple on ribs. Foil wrapped around the container will be removed at the check-in. You may not arrange your blind sample in a distinguishable way in the blind box.

    When your container arrives at the judging area, the label will be removed and a code number assigned by the judging program will be written on the meat and sauce containers. When the judges actually get your sample, it will be in a container just like everyone else’s, with only a code number on it.

    The judges do not know what number any team is assigned before, during or after judging. The code numbers and corresponding team names are not published or divulged to anyone at any time.

    There will be four hungry judges at the table who will sample and compare your entry with up to 6 other entries per table. The first thing they will do is open all the containers and check for appearance before anyone begins to sample the entries. As they sample each entry, each judge marks their scorecard. Judges are instructed not to discuss any of the samples until all scorecards are completed and given to the Reps.

    Team members, friends of the judges, or the public are not allowed in the blind judging area during judging.

    COMPLETELY FILL YOUR CONTAINER


  • Both blind and onsite judging in each category will commence at the same time. Championship Final Judging will be held in the same category sequence as preliminary judging.
  • ANY ENTRY NOT TURNED IN BY THE DESIGNATED TIME WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.


  • ONSITE JUDGING
  • You will be judged in your cooking area during onsite judging, following the posted judging schedule for your category. You will be visited by three judges, one at a time. Pay special attention to your judge who will be giving you your score.
  • Judges are told they are not permitted to bring any guests into the team area with them. DO NOT insist that any guests enter your area with the judge as the breaking of this rule will cause the judge to be removed from future consideration as a Judge.
  • Judges are instructed to remain no longer than fifteen minutes in your area. The fifteen-minute time period begins when you greet the judge at your entrance to begin presentation. Plan your presentation so that you will not keep the judge more that the allotted 15 minutes.
  • Judges are precisely routed to complete each category's judging in a total of one hour. ANY TEAM THAT ATTEMPTS TO KEEP THE JUDGE PAST THE ALLOTTED FIFTEEN MINUTES WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.
  • As each judge enters your area, you will be presented with the scorecard stub that is the "judges evaluation form". A team member must look at this stub and verify that the judge is in the right location. DO NOT allow yourself to be judged out of sequence or by a judge not assigned to judge you.
  • The stub will have your team name and area number printed on it for identification. The stub also allows you to evaluate your onsite judge. You will answer some simple questions about your judge and make any comments you feel are appropriate.
  • Judges WILL NOT see the evaluations! Your comments and rating of your judges, either positive or negative, will have no impact on your scores. You owe it to yourself and your fellow competitors to complete these forms honestly.
  • Complete these forms after each judge leaves.They will be picked up by a Judging Official.
  • The three teams in each category receiving the higest preliminary round scores will advance to the final round. When preliminary round scoring in a category is completed, Judging officials will notify the finalist of the specific time to expect their final judges.


  • FINAL JUDGING
    finals
  • Final judging will begin (approximately) between 2:00pm and 2:30pm. Each category will take approximately an hour to complete final judging. Finalists will be given a more exact time upon notification of making the Finals.
  • Plan your final round product to be ready within these time frames.
  • Final Judging is performed by a group of four judges, accompanied by a Judge's Volunteer. The judges will visit all nine finalists, three from each category, and be seated as a group. The Judging Volunteer is an escort and a facilitator and WILL NOT BE SEATED WITH THE JUDGES. Each judge has his/her own score cards and will mark them independently. Final judging is conducted under the same rules as preliminary onsite judging. All rules, INCLUDING the fifteen minutes time limit, are in effect.


  • SCORING OF FOOD CONTESTS
  • Blind score cards are utilized in the following contests:
    Pork Championship
    Patio Porker
    Anything But...
    Barbecue Sauce
  • Onsite scorecards are utilized in the Pork Championship preliminary and final rounds and in the Patio Porker final round.
  • Whole Hog Teams must place at least portions of the ham, shoulder and loin in their blind judging container. They may NOT place bones or skin in their container. Any other part of the whole hog is allowed. During on-site and final judging, the teams must serve at least portions of the ham, shoulder ahd loin. Any other sections of the whole hog may be served at each team's discretion. Judges will be instructed to judge the sample as the team provides it, deducting if at least protions of the ham, shoulder and loin are not served.
  • Judges are instructed to compare ONLY the samples judged today, and ignore any previous tasting experiences, competitive or otherwise.
  • In all food judging, all criteria, except OVERALL IMPRESSION, are scored using a whole number scale from 5 to 10. The OVERALL IMPRESSION scale allows differentiation by tenths of points, within the sam 5.0 to 10.0 scale.
  • In order to minimize the impact of an inconsistent judge, low scores will be dropped, depending upon the judging round. Preliminary round scores will have the lowest score in each of the scoring criteria dropped. Final round scores will have the lowest scoring judging dropped.
  • No person affiliated with your team may be a judge. This includes team members, spouses, etc. Failure to adhere to this rule will be grounds for the team's disqualification.
  • All blind judging and cooks' meetings will take place in a single area.

  • CONTEST MEAT CATEGORIES
    Barbecue is defined by the Memphis In May Sanctioned Contest Network as pork meat (Fresh and Uncured) prepared on a wood and/or charcoal fire. Other flammables (propane, compressed or liquid gas) may be used within the cooker ONLY to START the INITIAL fire. NO type of flammable may be used with the cooker once the meat has been placed there. Flammables may be used outside the cooker to make additional coals.

    Electrical devices may be used within the cooker as long as they do not directly generate heat. Approved devices include rotisseries, fans and delivery systems for approved fuels (e.g., Traeger grills). Electric smokers, holding ovens or other devices with heat producing electrical coils are not allowed.

  • WHOLE HOG - This entry is defined by Memphis in May as an entire hog, whose dressed weight is 85 pounds or more, prior to the optional removal of the head, feet, and/or skin. The entry must be cooked in on complete unit on one grill surface. No portion or portions of the hog may be separated from the ramainder and the returned to the grill at a later time.
  • SHOULDER - This entry is defined by Memphis In May as the portion of the hog containing the arm bone, shank bone, and a portion of the blade bone. The pork ham, considered a shoulder entry, contains the hind leg bone. Boston butts or picnic shoulders alone are not valid entries.
  • RIB - This entry is defined by Memphis In May as pork spare ribs or loin ribs. Country style ribs are not a valid entry.

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Kansas City Barbeque Society
  • Judging Procedures

Stephen Smith, with the Kansas City Barbecue Society, conducts a barbecue judging class for about 70 students from across the United States on Thursday at Inn on The Square as part of the kickoff for the Festival of Discovery.

Standing in front of about 70 attentive adults in a pair of blue Bermuda shorts and a blue shirt, Stephen Smith is in charge.

Smith has risen to the top in the world of barbecue judging, and the people who gathered Thursday at Inn on the Square came to learn the finer points of barbecue judging, according to the strict rules and regulations of the Kansas City Barbeque Society.


The official name of the course that Smith, who is an official KCBS master judge/instructor, is teaching is a Certified Barbeque Judging Class for the KCBS.

What Smith intended to do was introduce his students to the way the KCBS judges barbecue and send his students on their way.

Those who attended came to one of only about a dozen classes that take place every year to teach people how to judge a barbecue contest.

Some of Smith’s students are people who just want to learn to judge, while others are competitors who have come to learn what judges look for in a few of the 200 barbecue competitions that take place annually throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, so they can begin taking home some barbecue competition trophies. “We continue to increase our contests every year,” Smith said.

The first thing Smith tells members of his class, who might also be competitors in barbecue competitions, is never, ever, argue with a barbecue judge. “I may be wrong sometimes,” he told his class, “but things occasionally get hectic and don’t ever argue with me or any judge.”

Among the things the students learned from Smith is that chicken, pork ribs, pork and beef brisket are the four main KCBS meat categories and that garnish and sauce is optional.

The students also found out that all competition meat is inspected by the official meat inspector.

Every novice judge in the room discovered that each contestant must submit at least six portions of meat in a container, and brisket may be chopped, pulled, sliced or diced.

J.B. McCarty, one of Smith’s students, traveled to class from Charleston. “I cook competitively, and I just want to see what the other side of the world is looking at,” McCarty said. “Hopefully, this will give me a competitive edge.” C. Edmond Allen said he is taking the class because he likes to judge, cook and eat the barbecue he cooks. “I love barbecue,” Allen said. “I do a lot of cooking personally, and I just want to improve my techniques. I’m also a barbecue judge, and I just want to expand my horizons.”

The Four KCBS Meat Categories:

CHICKEN: Chicken includes Cornish Game Hen and Kosher Chicken.
PORK RIBS: Ribs shall include the bone. Country style ribs are prohibited.
PORK: Pork is defined as Boston Butt, Picnic and/or Whole Shoulder, weighing a minimum of five (5)
    pounds. Pork shall be cooked (bone in or bone out) and shall not be parted.
BEEF BRISKET: May be whole brisket, flat, or point. Corned beef is not allowed.

Review the complete rules, regulations, and procedures at: KCBS Judgings Rules and Regulations



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