A first-time judge's story (in other words, which way to the free 'Q?)

By SCOTT BARENSTEN, Barbecue judge
Updated April 21, 2002

The other day, I had the pleasure of serving as a judge at a BBQ contest.  I want to tell you about it, and hopefully, encourage you to volunteer as an alternate judge, or to become a certified judge, as I hope to do.  

Email the contest coordinator to volunteer

I didn't start out wanting to judge, in fact, I wanted to compete.  Unfortunately, my Q'n buddies were too busy to get the team together.  So, still wanting to participate, I e-mailed the contest coordinator and volunteered to help out as an alternate judge.  Now, just to clarify, alternate judges are not "Certified BBQ Judges" and may not be asked to actually judge if there are enough "Certified" judges present.  I did happen to be asked though, and so there I was, sittin' at the table with a bunch of 'Q veterans, waiting to be served up some fabulous grub.

Absolutely free of charge, and more fun than competing

Now, here's the first major secret that I'm going to tell you, absolutely free of charge .  .  .  It's more fun to judge than to compete.  Yup, it's true.  Think about it – a BBQ judge gets to sleep all night (in his or her own bed if they so choose), take a shower in the morning, and most importantly, eat some fabulous 'Q for free.  Competitors get to spend a bunch of money on wood, meat and contest fees, plan for days and travel sometimes great distances, pull an all-nighter watching the smoker until they can't hardly see straight, and then maybe find out in the end they didn't win. On the whole, it's more fun to judge.  Of course that doesn't mean it's all fun and games.

Fun but serious

In fact, judging is a deadly serious business.  So serious they actually make you swear an oath, (right arm to the square) which goes --

I do solemnly swear to objectively and subjectively evaluate each barbeque meat that is presented to my eyes, my nose and my palate.  I accept my duty to be an official KCBS Certified Barbecue Judge, so that truth, justice, excellence in barbeque and the American way of life may be strengthened and preserved forever.

Wow!  Wonder if they say that stuff about the American way of life in foreign countries? 

Anywho, given the amount of money, suffering, desire, and just plain heart that goes into any 'Q contest, the judge's job is quite a serious one.  I have to confess after swearing the oath I felt a little nervous.  What the hell did I know about BBQ?  I'd had a smoker for a couple of years, competed in a single contest, and made a lot of home 'Q, but . . .

Was I worthy?

Well, yeah, I was worthy.  What a judge does, in a word, is evaluate.  Bring your taste buds, your nose (flavor is 90% aroma after all), a lifetime of eating and a serious approach to the job, and you're pretty much good to go.  If you get familiar with the rules, listen hard to the instructions, and know good 'Q when you taste it, you'll do right by the competitors.

Learning the rules:  "a bug hunt"

Doing right by the competitors means following the rules.  KCBS rules demand that judges assess the quality of an entry in three areas, appearance, taste and tenderness.  In the scoring, taste is worth twice as much as tenderness, and tenderness twice as much as appearance.  Since every entry begins with three nines in each category, judging is basically what we call in the software industry, a "bug hunt".  In other words, you're looking for defects, (too salty, too bitter, over smoked, too tough, too dry, etc.).  

Each entry is evaluated independently by each judge and separately from all other entries.  They are also evaluated on their own terms.  If you are served an Indian spiced chicken, the question is not whether it favorably compares to some ideal of BBQ'd chicken that exists in your mind, the question is does it taste good?  Is it the best Indian chicken you've had?  Can you find any defects or off-notes?  In other words, you don't mark it down merely because it tastes of Indian spices.  This becomes very important when evaluating regional styles of BBQ.  

• Vinegar or mustard sauces are not defects.  
• Lousy vinegar or mustard sauces are.

Only after the judging is complete are you allowed to discuss the entries with the other judges.  This last part of the judging experience (comparing notes with other judges) was quite valuable and leads me to the second "secret" I'm going to tell you.  If you want to win a 'Q contest --

Become a judge first

In my view, the experience of judging will increase your odds of winning more than any single thing you can do.  It will educate you about what makes for winning BBQ and clarify the goal you're shooting for.  Knowing the objective (in fact having tasted it) is something that without judging may take you years to figure out, particularly if you weren't raised in a BBQ tradition.  

If your mother brought you up on beer boiled ribs, you will have a completely wrongheaded idea of what outstanding 'Q is.  

To win, you have to tune your palate (and thus your technique) to the tradition.  Judging helps do this.  It will also help you understand presentation.  Contests are won or lost on this alone.  And, it will acquaint you with the rules (helping to prevent you from breaking one).

Tight scores

Statistically speaking, contests are designed to be close.  Although the possible scores range from 1 to 9, scores lower then 7 are almost never awarded (unless the entry was disqualified, in which case it earns a 1).  The most common score (the mode) is probably an 8.  Eight's are easy to give because there are so many things that can go wrong with a bit of BBQ, and only a few ways it can go perfectly right.  And since you're feeding six judges with every entry (and thus six unique palates), you must be consistent within a meat category (meaning that every single rib or slice of brisket is exceptional).  A single sub par rib may cost you a victory.

Consistency usually wins

You must also be consistently good across meat categories.  You can't win Grand Champion or Reserve Champion without doing well in pork shoulder, pork ribs, beef brisket and chicken.  In fact, contests are won more by consistency then they are by winning top honors in each category.  This is not to say that if you won all the individual meats you wouldn't also win the title. You would, but this is quite rare.  The amount of luck required to sweep an entire contest is just too great.  

What's more common is to do well in each category (earning points for each), but not necessarily win any meat.  The one-hit wonders of the 'Q world do great in a single meat (winning brisket say, by a few points), but lose that ground when it comes to the other categories.  This is in marked contrast to the Memphis-in-May (MiM) rules, which require you to focus on a single meat category, shoulder, ribs, or whole hog.

Try judging

In parting, I want to say, try judging.  You'll have fun, eat some good BBQ (and possibly some bad), and learn a lot about the craft of BBQ.  The contest organizers out there need competent judges.  Be one.  You'll be glad you did.