Continued from Page 2

Choosing the Entry

As time nears for prepping the entry, you must decide which of your butts is what you think will best please the judges. Teams have several methods used to choose. Usually, several members of the team will gather, taste those butts that have not been already knocked out because of defects, and settle on what they intend to enter. Sometimes the outer bark may be selected from one butt, the pulled pork from another. One thing to remember is that exposure to air will cool the meat quickly and dry it out. So the selection process should move swiftly. Meat is usually displayed with some bark, some meat pulled, some meat chopped and occasionally sliced. The contrast of colors from the dark outer skin, the pink "smoke ring" and the whiter interior should all be represented.

The Presentation Box

Memorize the rules on presentation written by the sanctioning body. Follow them exactly. Beyond that, choose the best pieces of meat and arrange them attractively in the box. In the shoulder/butt category, include some pulled and some chopped meat and include the gamut of colors from white to the dark brown bark. Count to make certain that each of the six judges can get a separate portion of each type of meat in the entry. Now a critical question arises: To sauce or not to sauce. Keep in mind that your goal is to satisfy the questionable palates of the judges, so not too spicy or exotic. If you believe that you meat benefits from the addition of your finishing sauce, by all means, use it. It should be applied evenly over the meat, not puddled, and it cannot be served up separately from the meat. Ultimately the overall flavor, sauced or not, will determine the taste scores. The choice is yours. So, sauced or not, close the lid tightly to prevent heat loss and take it hastily and carefully to the entry point.

Post Mortem

After you have sent the entry in, record the views and opinions of all the team members who were in the choosing process. Try to be specific in your impressions. Have each member rate each entry just like the judges are going to do. After all the entries are in and all the information is recorded, relax and have a cold one.

After the judging results are announced, get your copy of the scores and see how the individual judges scored each of your entries. By and by you will have a data base of scores for your entries in each category — those from the team and those from the judges. This can help direct you toward an end product that is consistently competitive. Don't be discouraged when some tasteless judge scores you low. See how the majority of the judges scored. You want to strive to reach the top five percent level and continuously refine your process. Don't make any great changes, just incremental adjustments.

Persevere and remember that the real reason you are doing this is to have fun. If, after all pots and pits are cleaned and the wagons have been loaded, you can honestly say that you had fun, then you have been successful.

Memorize the rules on presentation written by the sanctioning body. Follow them exactly. Beyond that, choose the best pieces of meat and arrange them attractively in the box. In the shoulder/butt category, include some pulled and some chopped meat and include the gamut of colors from white to the dark brown bark. Count to make certain that each of the six judges can get a separate portion of each type of meat in the entry.

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