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One judge told me my bark was 'too pretty' and it messed with my whole process
Competed in a small local comp outside Nashville back in May. My brisket got a 7 for appearance and the feedback sheet said the bark looked 'too uniform, like it was painted on'. I always trimmed fat super clean and used a fine rub so it comes out looking almost glossy. That comment stuck in my head for weeks. I went home and started using a coarser rub and stopped over-trimming the fat cap. Honestly the flavor did get better because the fat renders into the meat more, but I still feel like I'm chasing some ideal that nobody actually explained. Has anyone else gotten weird judge feedback that made you change your method even though you didn't fully agree? What did you do about it?
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evan_wilson181mo ago
That Nashville judge probably meant well but judges like that forget bark is just the outside. I had a similar thing happen at a KCBS event in Memphis where a guy told me my ribs had too much smoke ring, said it looked like I injected cure. I spent three months second guessing myself and changed my whole wood setup, then a different judge told me my new bark lacked depth. The truth is you cant please everyone because they each want something different, and the good ones are looking for texture and flavor over looks anyway. I finally went back to my original method except I started pulling the brisket at 203 instead of 201 and that actually made a bigger difference than any bark change. Keep doing what gives you the best bite and let the weird comments roll off, because half these folks are just putting words to a gut feeling they cant explain.
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