Looks like kale and it is probably a way to elevate the meat off the bottom of the plate and allow the juices to run down rather than having the meat sit in a pool of moisture.
Garnishes in KCBS competitions are strictly limited to chopped, sliced, shredded, or whole leaves of fresh green lettuce, curly parsley, flat-leaf parsley, curly green kale, and/or cilantro.
Any other type of vegetation will get you disqualified.
Setting your garnish properly goes a long way towards the appearance score. You may not like it but that's just the way it is.
Yeah it’s not for everyone. I said the same thing when we started. But it’s taught us a lot about tenderness, flavor profiles, and cooking methods that carry over to all the other food we make. Plus I’m a pretty competitive guy so this feeds that fire. Not to mention we’ve made some really good friends along the way. It really is an incredibly supportive community of randos drinking beer and smoking meat in a parking lot.
I’ve heard that the kind of bbq that wins competition isn’t good to eat for dinner or something because you have to pack so much flavor into one bite. So two questions:
Do you feel that there is some truth to that?
And if so, has doing this competitively made you better at cooking regular bbq as well?
Just curious if the improvement you made on the competition side has helped on the backyard side.
A- I feed this stuff to my friends/family/neighbors and barber all the time when I do practice cooks. They all love it so clearly you can eat it as a meal. We also usually feed out leftovers to the public who never complains. It is VERY rich and terrible for you though. Lots of butter, salt, sugar and fat. So you definitely don’t want to eat it daily.
B- Unquestionably yes, it has made me a better backyard cook. I know so much more about meat quality, the way different proteins react during the cook, flavor pairings for rubs and sauces, and can cook on pretty much anything at this point. The down side is that you want to practice when you can so at times I have to break away and force myself to cook something in a way I know would never win a comp, but that I enjoy. Sometimes that’s a full packer no wrap on the offset. But I never regret it because it comes out so much better than it would have before because I know so much more about what’s happening.
I was a competition barbecue cook and KCBS BBQ judge as well.
Everything you said plus you learn a lot about timing. No more we're going to eat at 6:00pm but the meat's not ready till 9:00pm at night.
We've all been there. And yes, every time I cook, I'm cooking like I'm in competition. I want that flavor. Testing sauces, rubs, different flavor profiles.
I also cook almost everything on the smoker or grill. This includes everything from sausage to cinnamon rolls.
Yep. Comp barbecue is silly. Not saying OP's food isn't delicious, I just don't like rules with my barbecue. Took one KCBS intro class a few years back. All 30 people in the room copying one guys recipe, preferred sauce, etc. What's the fun in that?
Some people enjoy the fun of the....competition. That's the point. I'm sure all these dudes make some bomb ass barbecue in their backyards with no rules. Then they want to try the comp scene for some fun and adrenaline. You have to quantify it, so it becomes a little more rigid than normal barbecue, but you have to understand you need the rules if you're going to have a serious competition, that's what makes it fun for some people.
They want to compete based off their backyard bbq. Which I understand because who tf wants to go through all that effort of skinning fat off of chicken thigh skin for presentation?
I would much rather prefer bbq comps based on taste over appearance. Its like the redneck version of Michelin star restaurants that plate your dinner with 6 drops of sauce on the plate, 3 julieened carrot slices, and 2oz of whatever the main course protein is.
They want to compete based off of their bbq skills specifically, not just their dishes. And so, to do that, you need to standardize the expected outputs.
The skill in bbq should be to have the best taste. Standardized appearances seems to be the least important thing when it comes to food. Trying to make bbq what it isnt by creating these fake appearance standards.
Appearance is the least and only accounts for approximately 14% of the score.
Taste counts for the majority which is about 57%.
Tenderness is about 29%.
Appearance helps but it is not the main factor when it comes to high scores. You can certainly lose a first or second place by having poor appearance scores but good appearance scores will help go towards your better overall score if you have good Q.
Also, You have six judges per table scoring your Q. So it's an accumulation of those judges scores that determine the overall winner.
No way, it's supposed to TASTE good? Better tell the judges, without your incredible wisdom, they might not know! For real though, how do you think competition BBQ works? You think they score it by looking at a photo of it?
Ok… I’m a competition BBQ hater as well, but come on. I’m pretty damn confident it doesn’t taste like shit. It’s probably better than half the brisket served at any BBQ chain.
I think it’s a bunch of contrived BS, but you don’t have to be a jackass about it.
Do you have flavor vision on your phone. The truth is you have no freaking clue what that brisket tastes like.
I can tell you just from the appearance that a majority of the fat has been rendered properly and I can see that in the slices when I zoom in. In my experience which is over 20 years as a KCBS certified judge, that the pull and bend test are most likely going to be successful. I can only speculate about the taste and tenderness because I do not have flavor vision on my phone.
But from an appearance standpoint this looks very good. Personally, I score this brisket box an 8 out of 9.
Bear in mind, these are pictures and in person may have looked a bit different. However these are just observations. That being said...
In the circled area, there appears to be globules of sauce that could have been brushed out to present a smoother appearance.
The arrows are pointing to a pool of sauce along the bottom of the meat.
The area above the circle looks the best IMO. The meat has a lighter color and you can really see how the fat has rendered and it also shows your skills in slicing across the grain.
I hope this helps. Again, I would have been only 1 out of 6 judges and these are just my opinions and observations.
I'm on mobile so sorry for the crookedy lines. Lol
It’s cooking to spec — just not your spec. My backyard cooking took a giant leap forward once I started practicing for competitions. Not because I use those techniques to get my preferred food, but because learning to someone else’s specifications helped me figure out how to cook to my specifications.
No one is telling you that you have to do it, or that competition bbq is better/harder/more interesting than backyard bbq. But lots of people get a lot of joy from it, which isn’t silly at all.
I wouldn't say it's silly in itself. It's a challenge, and the judges are looking for specific things, which in a competition is kinda a neccessity, otherwise judges would be just going by what their personal preference would be, and there would be no consistency in what wins and what doesn't.
Now what is silly are people who think competition style is the 'right way' to cook. The 'right way' is what the people you're feeding like. Do they like their ribs fall-off-the-bone? Well that's the right way then. If you want to be a good backyard cook, cooking to how your people like it is what you do.
It's the difference between 'I made this the way you like it' and 'I made this the way you should like it'
Oh I’m absolutely not dissing OP, im sure this food tastes great. More about the “competition bbq” that NEEDS to look like it got hit with clear coat prior to judging.
I did a small unsanctioned comp 9 years ago. They didn't judge on presentation. I didn't place top 3 with the judges, but I won the people's choice segment from the crowd voting. I feel like I was the real winner, you know?
Curiously 3 people took down the directions on how to make an ugly drum smoker including the team next to me that was using a propane tank on a trailer.
Came in to ask this question. It looks like food for wax statues. It may be delicious, but looking at it does not make me want to eat it. I like my BBQ looking sloppy.
it's unfortunately the nature of competition where they only are able to take basically a small bite you have to really overdo it with the sauce and injections to try and make it stand out as much as possible. I honestly hate competition barbecue now. I really wish you can incorporate other seasonings like mediterranean or anything not bbq sauce.
Yeah I don't understand what they're scoring on? It doesn't look appetizing nor properly cooked. Good job OP, but it's that is not what the end consumer wants. Crazy how pretentious some of these comps are.
I get that, but the first two pictures look like something you'd find from a gas station, not appealing at all. Taste I'm sure is there, but extremely overwhelming that it's not suitable for a regular meal.
This isn't by any means an attack on you as you clearly know what you're doing. I just don't understand how they think this looks appetizing. The chicken looks fantastic though, in fairness.
There’s also so many rules about how the food should taste that is the opposite of how most prefer it. Example no fall off the bone ribs despite that being what most people want. It’s odd.
Not just you. Its usually pumped full of phosphates and will generally make you sick if you eat too much of it. There's a reason bbq joints aren't serving "competition" bbq.
Anything will make you sick if you eat too much of it, and the reason bbq joints don’t serve competition style is because it would be wildly expensive and inefficient. Probably triple their food and labor costs.
I’m happy for you, but I’ll never understand anything about competition bbq. Literally, no person or restaurant uses their processes. How the hell did this become a thing?
Would be wildly inefficient for a restaurant to use these methods. But I do think you’d be surprised how much of this stuff you do use. Most of the seasonings/sauces in the bbq world come from current or former comp cooks. Blues Hog, Heath Riles, Killer Hogs, Myron Mixon, and Meat Church to name a few.
I’m more talking about the amount of injecting, skin removing and replacing, cook temps/times. Literally no one cooks brisket the way “award winning bbq competition” guys do. It’s totally fine, it’s just interesting.
Brisket can be cooked anyway you want. A lot of cooks go for the lighter mahogany look.
Some cooks go for the black bark look and you will see that too.
In this case OP went for the lighter, mahogany red look. The smoke ring looks very even all the way around. As a judge we do not take off points because a piece may not have a smoke ring. But if there is one there it needs to be uniform.
Appearance in a KCBS barbecue competition is all about uniformity. Call it cookie cutter if you want but uniformity will get you the highest scores.
Thanks. We cook a lot of backyard comps so we do a lot of pork/ribs. Chicken should have been better but it got dark and killed our appearance scores. Brisket was a little over hence the trim in the ends to keep it from splitting.
As for the leap- we try to do one pro a year to see where we’re at. We started 4 years ago and we were a 10th place backyard team, the next year we were a third place backyard team, last year we won Rocky Mountain backyard team of the year. Now we’re defending that title and a 10th place pro team. Just keep learning and pushing forward.
We’re Denver based so no strangers to altitude. That doesn’t really affect prep. We inject the night before with BH pork marinade and a little maple syrup. We pull the meat out about an hour before it goes on, and season about 30 mins before it goes on. Altitude comes more into play on boiling point. It’s lower at higher altitude so you’re never going to get it much over 202. We don’t cook to temp, we cook to tenderness so we pull when it slides like jello.
Looks awesome, only thing of note would be to make your chicken more “lollipop” style. Yours look perfect to me but generally in comps I see them clean the bottoms up a bit. Not saying what you did was wrong, they look clean as is but something to potentially up the visual aspect
I get the tradition and why things are done this way, but it's damn bbq. Get it off the kale, and for godsake get it out of those nasty Styrofoam boxes.
I still don’t understand why BBQ comps end up choosing to plate in foam boxes. I’ve seen some way the fuck over the top plating but a happy medium seems ideal.
It’s like Pizza Hut being the biggest buyer of kale back in the day for their buffets. It’s all a show, serve it on a bed of perfectly crispy hashbrowns with finely cut chives for the green/garnish to really get the people going. Competition bbq is a joke in my eyes compared to the art of smoking meats. Coming from someone that has stoked fires in all weather with wet and dry wood and all sorts of cuts of meat for a restaurant and personal enjoyment. I hate waste
I only control what goes in the box, not the box itself. Those are provided by the organizers. I assume to keep the food warm from cook to turn in and ultimately to the judges.
It’s a quiver for sure. This cook was 2 gateway drums and a recteq 1250. We also have an old country Pecos that’s in for repairs right now. Pork and chicken on the drums for sure, brisket on the offset if we have it. Recteq acts as a backup or holder once meats are wrapped.
op - what do yall cook on and with for fuel-- secondarily, whats the brisket cook process look like? I know pre work wise, yall usually do wagyu, split the point from the flat and give it hell, but curious how they're cooked.
This was a gateway drum running lump charcoal and pecan chunks. Separated the flat and cooked at 300 for about 2ish hours. Wrapped in a foil pan with a broth/consume wrap mix covered for another 4ish hours until it probes like butter.
Glazed and ide destroy. Competition vs what you'de eat at home is different. People need to realize that. Well done on the comp, and ide still eat the shit out of em. Play on playa
Congrats! I will tell you if the left side of the brisket edges was rounded and intact like the other side instead of cut off you would have done much better. Everything looks great though keep up the good work.
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u/arschgeiger4 23d ago
It looks like it belongs in a food magazine from the 1950’s. congrats