Thats one of the reasons I really like IBCA, the judges have varied palettes and taste buds. You only judge the meat and that includes presentation of meat not sauces and lettuce, on last nights show (an old rerun) they showed how the teams slathered heavily with sauces and ???.
I've seen it over and over in IBCA that at the end of the day in almost every case the best bbq meat still wins after it filters through enough people. I say in almost every case because there may be occassions where you just happen to hit a table where your meat scores low enough to not go the next round, maybe the "group" of judges on that table have similar tastes ,and are all family or buddies, I've seen it.
Well thats where its kinda weird..there were some notable teams there but i dont think the BEST in tx were there..I think that was the weekend b4 in austin. Now as to ur comment on Sauces and lettuce..We were told at the Judges table NOT to look at anything but meat..What was on bottom didint matter..So it coulda been tin foil or the standard kcbs presentation..as for Sauce..It was like any other Comp..Ur stuff can be Sauced but no sauce can be pooling in the Container which i believe is standard in all Ruling bodies that ive read so far..as for the family and friends aspect..The kcbs people made it a point to split up anyone that was related or married so as to make sure all the judges at the table were as fair as can be. I saw 3 couples split so that they wouldnt be at same table..I have yet to cook and IBCA event or a gulf coast que from my own end, But i do remeber that people were laughing at the idea of using Knives and Forks at judging...LOL...they were of the opinion that real que is eatin with ur fingers...heh..Overall i had a great exp and i hope to compete/judge in more events soon...
