October 17, 2024 • 26 mins
Pitmaster Christie Vanover just got back from judging the 2024 Jack Daniel’s World Championships. Find out what she thought about the entries she judged and what trends she saw.
Girls Can Grill Rubs Coming Soon!
https://shop.girlscangrill.com/
Buy her new books on Amazon now!
Holiday Grilling: https://amzn.to/4eKkVko
Steak Cookoff Score Sheet Log Book: https://amzn.to/46q7xPl
Competition BBQ Scores Log Book: https://amzn.to/3xPJMUe
Links mentioned in this episode:
Pastrami Beef Ribs Recipe: https://girlscangrill.com/recipe/beef/smoked-pastrami-beef-ribs/
Digital KCBS Calculated Scores Spreadsheet: https://mailchi.mp/girlscangrill/kcbs-scores
Full Results from the Jack: https://mms.kcbs.us/members/evr/view_scores.php?org_id=KCBA&evid=46689855
Prefer to watch this podcast?
Subscribe to the Girls Can Grill YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/girlscangrill?sub_confirmation=1
-------------------------
Visit her website for even more BBQ Tips and Recipes: https://girlscangrill.com/
Sign up for her weekly newsletter: https://girlscangrill.com/subscribe/
GCG Merch: https://girls-can-grill.myshopify.com/
-------------------------
Follow Girls Can Grill:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/girlscangrill
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girlscangrill
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@girlscangrill
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/girlscangrill
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/girlscangrill
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/girlscangrill
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@girlscangrill
About Girls Can Grill:
Champion pitmaster Christie Vanover is the girl behind one of America’s top BBQ websites GirlsCanGrill.com. The site, which was launched in 2015, includes hundreds of recipes for your charcoal, pellet, gas or electric grill or smoker along with thousands of BBQ tips that will make you crush it behind the grill. Christie has won multiple BBQ championships and competed on Food Network’s BBQ Brawl.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What's up everybody?
Welcome to another episode of the BBQTips Podcast.
I'm Christie Vanover, champion pitmaster,
the girl behind one of America'stop barbecue websites, Girlscangrill.com,
and a contestant on FoodNetwork's BBQ Brawl.
I'm here to bring you some quick barbecuetips to help you up your barbecue game.
All right, guys, one more week of metalking about the Jack.
And then we'll move on tosome Thanksgiving turkey tips next week.
(00:24):
But I've got to give you guys a wrap upof everything that happened in Lynchburg,
Tennessee this past weekendfor the 35th annual
Jack Daniel's WorldInvitational Barbecue Championships.
It was another amazing weekend.
It actually didn't rain, which is amazingfor the Jack because it usually rains
every year,but it was actually hot, sunny, beautiful.
The crowds turned outbecause the weather was so fantastic.
(00:46):
I got there on Wednesday and I was therethrough Sunday, so I'm going to walk you
through all of the fun and excitementthat I had while I was down in the hollow.
So starting on Wednesday,I flew into Nashville,
drove down to Lynchburg, and immediatelyheaded to Miss Mary Bobo's.
That's where they heldthe annual Champion’s Dinner.
This is the third yearthat they've held this dinner.
The first year
it was Tuffy Stone, and then it was BradLeininger from Gettin’ Basted,
(01:09):
this year's champion Pitmaster chefwas Chris Schaefer from Heavy Smoke.
He won the Jack a couple years ago,and he cooked up a phenomenal meal.
He smoked up some prime ribthat was Certified Angus Beef.
He also smoked up a pork belly and cookedit kind of like a brisket.
So it was nice thick slices.
That was Compart Duroc pork.
It was fantastic.
(01:29):
Along with all of that, we hadall of the sides from Miss Mary Bobos.
That fried okra.
I just, I if you haven't ever had it,your life is not complete.
You've got to go to Miss Mary Bobo'sand get that fried okra.
It's so good.
But going to Miss Mary Bobo's is awesome
because you basically sit in a roomwith ten different people.
Some of them you may know, some of themyou may not.
And you just sit around the tableand break bread
(01:50):
before the fun, exciting weekend.
So that's how I started things off.
We had a little cocktail hour to start,and then we had that wonderful meal
at Miss Mary Bobo'sthe next morning, Thursday.
I had so many butterflies.
I was so excited because that'swhen I got to sell my ribs and my cookbook
for the first time at the general storeright there in Lynchburg, on the square.
The turnout was amazing.
(02:11):
The best part is that I got to talk toso many people from around the world.
Some of them were cooks,some of them were judges,
but a lot of them were just people comingto the distillery to tour Jack Daniels.
There are so many peoplewho just come to Lynchburg
specifically for the distillery tour,and some of them didn't even know
it was barbecue weekend.
But once they got there,
they got excited to see everythingthat was going on with barbecue.
(02:31):
And I'm proud to saythat I sold out of my cookbooks,
and I sold almost all of my rubson that first day.
I don't know how they didthe rest of the weekend.
They might be sold out by now,I'm not sure, but it was a big success.
They were received really well.
People really enjoyed the flavor profilesand that means so much to me.
You can pick up my cookbook on Amazon.
It's already an Amazon bestseller.
It's available in softcover and hardcover.
(02:51):
I'll put the link in the show notes.
Also, my rubs have been shippedto the fulfillment center,
so they're going to be online so, so soon.
I know I keep saying that.
This process is really lengthy,but once they are available,
I will let you guys know.
I will share all the linksso that you guys can go
ahead and start ordering those
and use them for your competitioncooking or your backyard barbecue.
First thing Friday morning,I headed back to the distillery
(03:14):
for the shaken and stirredcocktail contest.
Team Girls Can Grill wonthat championship in 2022
and then B Mackin’ won it last year,so I was excited to see what the different
teams were going to mix up.
I believe there were seven teamsthat mixed up cocktails.
A couple of them did,like a margarita style,
where they did, like, citrusjuice and syrup mixed with some whiskey.
There was also
(03:34):
a couple different old fashioneds,and ultimately it was an old fashioned,
that one.
It was created by Nathan at 333 BBQout of Canada.
I watched as he prepared it,and not only was he great at telling
the story of what he created,he talked about the details of the recipe.
He created a simple syrupwith a reduction of cherry and Dr.
(03:54):
Pepper,and just the syrup alone was amazing.
But then he continued that cherry profilethroughout the cocktail.
He used cherry wood and added some cherrywood smoke.
He also added a cherry insideof his old fashioned.
It was justit was just very well presented.
I could tell between his charisma,the way he was talking
to the judges and his knowledgeof the cocktail he was creating,
(04:15):
that as long as his cocktail tasted great,he had a really good chance at winning.
And because I was in the judging areaafter the three judges tasted
the cocktail, I had the pleasureof taking a sip of that cocktail
and it was phenomenal.
So I was really excited to seewhen 333 BBQ
got their championship call and they arethe 2024 Shaken and Stirred champions.
After that contest,unfortunately I missed the
(04:37):
I Know Jack contest, which is really funbecause that's
when you get those mystery boxesand people have to whip up meals.
There were five teamswho competed in that,
and the Shed took homeGrand champion for that.
I'm so sorry I missed it.
If you follow Brooke on Instagram,she did share some videos.
So you can go back and you can watchand see what they turned in.
But it was really exciting to see themget that first place call as well.
(04:58):
After all of that, it was time for meto head up to Barbecue Hill,
because that's where I was preparinga nice little beef sample
for all of the cooks and judges and VIPswho were coming up for the celebration.
So we got up to the hillearly, got everything situated and set up.
And as I mentioned in my previous podcast,we did smoked beef pastrami ribs
with a pickled red onion topping,along with a brown butter
(05:20):
honey mustard sauceand some dill pickle chips.
And they were a hit. The line was insane.
The amount of peoplewho came up to BBQ Hill, I don't know,
I think they're estimating like 700,which is a couple hundred more than usual.
The lines were so long, but I think it'sbecause the weather was just phenomenal.
The sunset is always gorgeous outthere, and I had such a fun time
(05:41):
because that gave me even moreof an opportunity
to meet all of the teams, different judgesand just talk to people, introduce
my rubs again.
And I was really pleased with the feedbackI got.
Everybody really seemed to enjoythose smoked pastrami beef ribs.
We use Certified Angus Beef,so of course there's quality there.
But it was.
I was just told that everybody thoughtit was a really good bite.
So that means a lot if you want to knowhow I made them, go back
(06:03):
and watch my previous podcastbecause I share the full recipe there.
You can also find the recipeat GirlsCangrill.com.
And of course Saturday was the big day.
That is competition day.
So I did a little bit of walking aroundbefore the competition.
The Hunsaker drums that were broughtthis year were gorgeous.
So Hunsaker is the type of barrel cookerthat I cook on, and every year
for the past few years,they've created custom
(06:24):
Jack Daniel's World Championship drumsand they donate those
to the international teamswho fly in from abroad
so that they can havesomething to cook on.
Because of course,
you can't really travel with your smokersall the way from Australia or Belgium,
so they let those teams
use those drums for the competitionand then they sell them afterwards.
I picked up a drum, I think it was in 2022and it was matte black
(06:45):
with some whiskey like metallic painton the smokestack and some other areas.
And then of course, the Jack Danielslogo on the logo plate.
Well, this year's drums were actuallythat metallic whiskey
colorfor the whole barrel, the whole drum.
And they were just so stunning.
If I would have driven to Lynchburg,I would have brought another one home.
That's how beautiful they were.
They had ten, I think, and I'mpretty sure they're all sold out.
(07:07):
If not, visit the Hunsaker Facebook groupand go in there
and see if there's any more available.
And you could pick one up,because I believe whatever was left over,
they brought back to their locationin Missouri.
After walking around,it was time to head into the judges tent.
I will say the judges tentwas a little bit different this year.
A lot of the barbecue Hall of Famersor other big names in barbecue
weren't in the tentthis year for various reasons.
(07:29):
I think Chris Lilly hadsome other obligations.
Dr. BBQ and Leanne,they were down in Florida
and obviously the hurricane just happened,so they didn't make it up.
So when that came aroundand they asked people to raise their hands
for how many people have been judgingthe Jack for the first time, I would say
was probably 25 to 30% of the judgeswere judging the Jack for the first time.
Now, that doesn't meanthey were first time judges.
(07:50):
It just meantthat was their first time at the Jack.
So I don't really know the proportion
of how many of the judgeswere first timers versus that.
But it was definitely kindof a mix of people in there compared to
some of the years that I've judged before.
When you're in the judgestent, it's pretty fun.
We all get a signatureapron from that year's Jack.
Everybody goes around
and they autograph each other's aprons,just like the teams go around
(08:12):
and have everybody signtheir barrel heads.
And then we get situated at our table.
They remind us of the rules.
They play the standard KCBS recording,and then we all raise our hand
and do the oath,
you know, in the name of barbecuethat we're going to give our best,
most honest feedback for the resultsthat we get.
First category up was sauce.
And I loved this categorybecause people changed things up.
I've been talking about wantingto see change in barbecue for so long,
(08:35):
so all of a sudden we get a honey mustardsauce and I was stoked.
I was like, yeah,somebody is breaking barriers.
They're trying something new.
So we had one
that was kind of like a sweet chili sauce,almost with barbecue overtones.
And then the rest were prettymuch red Kansas City style.
And then we had the honey mustard.
The only thing with that honey
mustard sauce, it was just lackinga little bit of flavor and balance.
(08:57):
I feel like it needed tomaybe be cooked down
just a little bit longer,but kudos to whatever team turned that in.
I appreciatethat you are mixing things up.
Congratulations also to Black ForestBarbecue out of Germany.
They took home the first placetrophy for sauce and I was so excited.
As soon as they wonand they were walking off the stage,
they turned to me and thanked mefor the BBQ Tips podcast about sauce.
(09:19):
They said that that helped them
really fine tuneexactly what they were going to turn in.
So that means a lotthat my podcasts are making a difference.
Thank you guys so much.
I actually heard that a lot this weekend,
especially for the new teamswho've never cooked the Jack.
They were really appreciativeof the information
that I was sharing,and they felt that it kind of
helped thembe on more level of an even playing field.
So thank you guys, and congratsto Black Forest Barbecue.
(09:42):
Moving on to Chef's Choice.
The entries this year were crazy.
In years past there were no restrictionson size of platter.
Then they kind of got too big.
So they the Jack put the restrictions downto like 18 by 18 platters.
It's kind of hard to fit 6 or 7 portionson that size platter.
So they removed that restriction again.
(10:02):
It just had to be carried by one person.
But some of these platters were enormous.
Like one was as big as like my wingspan.
And there's no way I could have lifted itbecause it also had a pole
with a hanging tomahawk on it.
And then it had like,I think a surf and turf kind of mixed in.
I later found out thatthat was the Shed entry.
They always go big or go homeand congratulations to them
(10:23):
because they actually took homesecond place.
They tied for first place,they had a perfect 180.
Both first and second hadthe exact same scores from all six judges,
but they walked home with second place,first place was Bill Gillespie
of Smoking Hoggzand he turned in chili dogs.
So it's crazy because you think surf andturf and all of these elaborate dishes.
(10:44):
And he turned in what looked to be simplechili dogs.
I'm sure they tasted phenomenal.
He used Snake River Farm's hot dogs,I believe he posted online.
So the flavors had to be therebecause he got a 180.
But it's just so fascinating to seethat you can go with comfort food,
or you can go with like high end,expensive, fancy food and even comfort
food can take it homeso you don't have to do that surf and turf
(11:06):
and lobsterand spend $1,000 on your entry.
You can do somethingthat's a little more simple,
a little more familiar,and the judges are going to still love it.
So congrats to you, Bill, on pulling offa chili dog victory at the Jack.
All right.
Next up are the big four meats.
Chicken, ribs, pork and brisket.
I'm going to talk to youabout the entries that I saw at my table.
And just kind of give you my perspectiveof what I was judging.
(11:28):
So first up was chicken.
We had five turn ins with thigh meatas their dark meat and one
with legs, and that leg box was beautifulthe way that it was laid out.
It was it was just stunning.
I had not seen a box like that before,and it looked beautiful.
In the white meat category,because with the Jack
you have to turn in dark and white meat,we had five that had wings,
(11:49):
and then one of the thighshad breast meat.
And I will say we did have a mix.
So as I talked about before with chickenyou have to turn in seven pieces.
You can choose to do
six white and six dark,or you can do like six dark and one white.
And we had several who only turned in 1or 2 wings,
or 1 or 2 pieces of breast meat,as opposed to six and six.
(12:11):
And I'm proud to say that I believethe judges gave honest opinions about what
meat they tasted.
I don't think anybody docked down forsaying, oh, well, that judge got a wing.
I didn't get a wing.
I didn't hear any of my judgestalk like that at my table.
So I appreciate that because that'sthe way it's supposed to be judged.
You're supposed to just be judgedwith what you're presented.
So teams definitely took a riskby not providing meat to every judge.
(12:35):
But then they also maybe made a calculateddecision because maybe that wing
or maybe that piece of breast meatwasn't quite on top.
So they really wanted the judgesto focus on their dark meat.
Whatever your strategy, congrats!
The chicken at our table, for the mostpart was really, really good.
We had one box that was had a little bitof too smokiness of a flavor.
Something happened with the pit there,I could tell,
(12:56):
but most of the bites were fantasticwith chicken.
Moving on to ribs.
The ribs boxes were even better.
Like all of them tender to a tee.
Not over, not under flavor.
Profiles were so balanced,but they varied.
So like I got onethat was a little more peachy.
One that was a little bitmore like Apple, one
that was more cherry,one that was like Chipotle.
(13:18):
So there was a nice varietyof flavor profiles,
but the cook on allbut one were like, spot on.
I believe I probably gave the most ninesin the rib category,
so kudos to all of those cookswho turned in some phenomenal ribs.
When it came to pork, it was definitelya money muscle game there.
Every single box had money muscle in it.
Of course,some boxes had only money muscle.
(13:40):
I think we had two, maybe threethat had some pulled strands in there.
One of them did have chunks,but the chunks were definitely a money
musclethat was just cut up into chunk pieces.
It wasn't like chunks from the hornor another part of the pork itself.
But the money muscles were all good.
They were all really tender, not mushy,not, you know, not over, not under.
(14:02):
And again, a good varietyof flavor profiles that were balanced.
One word of caution on pork.
I was on the verge of questioning
whether or notone of the entries needed to be DQed.
As a reminder, KCBS rules saythat you can have chunks in your sauce,
but they have to be
less than an eighth of an inch,and there was one that was turned in.
(14:22):
It had pulled meat,
and it had some sort of sauce that lookedlike it had chunks of fruit in it.
I want to say pineapple,maybe like a marmalade something.
But the chunks were pretty big.
I don't know that they were overan eighth of an inch big.
I'm not going to like pull up my ruler.
But I will saythat it was close to being a DQ.
(14:43):
They were that large.
I'm not going to DQ somebodyat the Jack over something like that.
So I just let it be.
And I tasted the meatand the meat tasted phenomenal,
and I judged it based on that.
I didn't judge it based on chunk sizes.
But just a word of cautionto remember that rule.
Be cautious.
If you have a sauce that's really chunky,maybe strain it.
Or at least look at your turn in box.
(15:03):
And if you see some pieces like thatthat are just a little bit too chunky,
get some tweezers or something
and just pull them off of thereso you don't risk that DQ.
Other than that though, again,pork boxes were really good at my table.
Moving on to brisket.
This is my favorite category,but it's also my least favorite category.
I love smoked brisket.
I think we all pretty much lovea smoked brisket.
(15:25):
I don't love competition brisket.
I think five of our briskets,at least five, were cooked hot and fast
and that's fine.
I cook hot and fast in competitionbarbecue myself,
but they didn't have the texture
and they didn't have the pop of flavorthat I want out of a brisket.
The texture for most of themwas just a little bit over,
(15:48):
just a little bit too tender.
And because of the way that I believethey were probably braised,
they were just a little almost onthe mushy side.
Just not not as desirable, but moreso than that.
I mean, tenderness is tenderness was nineand eight among most of my briskets.
Eights for most of them going over,I only had one
(16:10):
that was just a little bit under,but taste.
I think most of my tastes were eight also,because they were just missing that pop.
They tasted like beef,which is great, but they were just missing
that extra little layer of flavorthat just puts them over the top.
Except for like one.
One had all the flavor profilesthat needed to.
It had just a touch of sauce.
(16:31):
Not like overly sweetbecause I don't like my brisket sweet,
but it had just enough sauceto give it some interest.
And wow.
And then they also hit itwith some kind of like,
you know, finishing
dust at the end that also gave itthat little, just extra little oomph.
So it just didn't taste like boiled beefbecause that's what
some of them tasted like.
I will saythat two people turned in burnt ends,
and those burnt ends were money like,delicious,
(16:53):
full of flavor, perfectly tender,not fatty.
Those were the best biteson the whole placemat.
Except one team turned and burnt,ends and flat,
and their flat was tightand their burnt ends were perfect.
Had they left the flat off, which I knowtakes balls to do at the Jack,
and just turned in a burnt ends box,they would have had three nines from me
(17:14):
for sure for that burnt end bite,because it was so delicious.
The other one that had a burnt endalso had a flat.
I think that one actually got 999because the burnt end was perfect
and the flat was perfectbecause the flat on that one
actually had a little bit of popand flavor to it.
So that's what made it really goodindependently stand out on its own.
Again, the rest were just,
(17:35):
just likeboiled flavored and just lacking smoke,
lacking like barbecue flavorand just lacking a pop of interest
that I just missevery time I taste competition barbecue.
But I have to say, kudos to LC BBQ,because not only did he take
first place in brisket, he got triplenines from every single judge.
He got a perfect,perfect on brisket at the Jack.
(17:58):
So I don't know what that man is doingwith his brisket cook.
I'm going to have to startchecking his website
a little bit more on his Facebookpages, a little bit more,
but he must have nailed it.
I don't know if he cooks hot and fast.
I'll have to. I'll have to ask him.
But whatever he did to his brisket,the judges loved it.
I wish it was at my table.
I don't think it wasbecause I don't recall, like
all of the judges afterwards being like,oh my God, this one was amazing.
(18:21):
And we didn't have that conversationwith any of our briskets.
So, I don't think it's at my table,but I would love to try his brisket
because whatever he did, he did it right.
And the judges loved it.
All right.
The last category.
After all that meat,we were in a total meat coma.
The last category was dessert.
And this year was insane.
So many teams turned in dessert.
Like, usually as a judge, we'll get two,maybe three desserts.
(18:45):
My table had five desserts to judgeand I walked around and I took pictures
of all of the other dessert entries.
And all of the tableshad like 4 to 5 dessert entries.
So way to go, teams.
You really pulled out the dessertsthis year.
Tons of cheesecakes, of course.
But so much other variety.
And it was just so fun.
The vibe in the tent after all the meat,when all the desserts comes in
(19:07):
every judge is just so excitedbecause there's so much creativity,
even though it's cheesecake.
But the just
the displays, the presentations,the variety is just so, so, so cool.
So we had like a lemon blueberrycheesecake with this blueberry sauce.
We had, like a turtle cheesecakewith caramels and pecans.
We had the spooky Halloween type
chocolate orange, some other kind of cakewith crushed cereal on top.
(19:31):
Like it was just it's just fun.
It's just really, really funto see everything
that everybody turns in for desserts.
And this year was crazyat the award ceremony
because as I mentioned previously,in 22 and 23, there was like 7 or 8 180s
in 2024 at the Jack,there were 13 180s in dessert.
They actually called down to 13th placebecause that's how many perfect scores
(19:53):
there were for dessert.
In the end, it was Bill Gillespie againwho took home that first place
barrel head in the dessert categoryfrom Smokin Hoggz.
He turned it a raspberry swirl cheesecake.
That one wasn't at my table,but the judges loved it.
He took home that 180and that barrel head.
As for chicken,it was Hot Coles who took first
and then Razor RacksBBQ took home first in both ribs and pork,
(20:16):
and they had a perfect 180in both of those categories.
So when it came down to overall,I was honestly expecting Razor Racks
to take home that victory.
Two first place calls, both with 180s.
I thought for surethey were going to be the grand champions.
As they started rattling off the results,I got to say
congrats to my boySmitty from Arizona Loot N Booty Barbecue.
He took home fifth place overall,so it was exciting to see that.
(20:39):
But then Razor Racks got called third,which blew my mind
because again,I thought they were going to be GC.
In the end.I looked at their score sheets.
They got a little bit of a dropin that brisket score,
and that'swhat knocked them down to third.
Second place was Janky Leg BBQand first place was Scuffletown Smokers.
Super cool story about Scuffletown.
They've been competing for ten years.
This is their first year actually gettingthe draw and making it to the Jack.
(21:02):
And on their first yearthey took home that GC.
So that's super exciting.
Congratulations to you.
Congratulations to all the teams.
All the teamsthat heard their names called
and all the teams who just showed upand actually
got qualified, got their bung drawnand made it to the Jack.
Now a few teams have reached out to meabout judges scores.
They do see the judges score sheetsand they see they get 999,
(21:24):
and then maybe they get
a couple sevens or even a couple sixes,which is just unheard of at the Jack.
But it happens.
And so I want to talk to you a little bitabout that before I close things up.
So if you got a score at the Jack thatyou have questions about, pay attention.
There are a couple thingsthat you need to do.
First, look at your score sheet.
Look at that judge.
(21:45):
Whether it's judge 4, judge 3, whatever.
Look at that judgeand look at how you averaged on the table
with that judge alone.
It's possible that that judgeis just a low scoring judge.
And then look beyond that.
Let's say you were at table 977and it was judge number three
who was scoring low for you.
Go and find every other category.
Look for table 997.
(22:06):
Look for that judge that scored lowand see if they scored low consistently.
If so, that's just what happened.
You landed on a table with a judgethat just tends to score low.
And that happens at the Jack.That happens at all competitions.
And if you're curiouswhat the scores were for those other teams
that had that same judge,you can go to my calculated score sheet.
I'll put a link in the show notes
(22:27):
and it'll tell youwhen you see the overall score
of like 34.73, whatever the number is,you can go to my Excel spreadsheet
and then you can seewhether that was like a 998 or a 989.
It'll show you that.So I'll give you the link to that.
And it makes things a lot easier for you.
So you can tell if those teamswere scored down in appearance
and taste or in tenderness.
And perhaps that judge just consistentlydoes that.
(22:50):
If however, that judge consistentlyscores average or above average
and you happen to get a really low scorefrom that judge and other judges
gave you higher scores at that point,you may want to reach out to the reps.
It's possible that there was an oversight.
Me for instance,I do my sevens by drawing a seven
and putting a line through it,and I have been told by table captains
(23:12):
they prefer thatI don't put the line through it
because it might appear to be a ninewhen it's actually a seven.
I do that because I don't want a sevento look like a one.
But same thing, like a 6may look like an 8 somehow,
or maybe an 8 can look like a 9, likeif they make the bottom part too skinny.
So there's a lot of thingsthat can happen.
So if you do feel like your scoresas they were reported on the printed score
(23:36):
sheet is really far off
based on how that judge consistentlyjudged throughout the competition,
based on how the other scores were fromthe other judges,
feel free to reach out to the reps
and ask them to just doublecheck the score sheet
and make sure that it was enteredcorrectly.
I have confidence that the Jackprobably double triple checked the results
because of after what happenedat the Royal several years ago.
(23:58):
I know last year
that they triple checked thingsbecause they did not want to make any
clerical errors.They wanted it to be straight up.
So I have a I have a feeling I haveconfidence that they did that again.
But again, if it'll help you sleep easyat night to just know that
everything was actually entered correctly,and then maybe it was just the judge.
Go ahead and reach out.
I will say though, when it doescome to the Jack,
(24:19):
one thing that can be frustratingand the same thing with the Royal
is you're not going to get comment cards.
If it's a smaller competitionand you get a seven or a six, a table
captain may take the time to say, hey,can you please fill out a comment card?
Can you explain why this is a sixand that doesn't happen at the Jack?
It doesn't happen at the Royal.
The competitions are too big.
They are flowing too fastbecause there's so many teams pulling
(24:41):
in, you know, all sorts of meatthat have to make it to dozens of tables.
So it just doesn't happen.
And it's an unfortunate componentof competing in larger competitions.
But it is what it is.
That'swhy you always got to cook your best
and then also hopethat you land on a good table.
It's kind of kind of how the game goes.
But again, I just want to saycongratulations to all of the teams
(25:01):
who made it to the Jack.
Thank you to everyone at the Jack.
You guys are amazing.
You always are so hospitable to me,allowing me to sell in the barbecue store,
giving me the opportunity with CertifiedAngus Beef to cook on Barbecue Hill.
All of that was a dreamand I loved judging again.
I hope to be back on the competitiontrail early next year so I can earn my own
GC in my own bung because I am itchingto cook the Jack again.
(25:25):
That's it for this week guys.
Next week I think I'm going to startdiving into Thanksgiving meals.
We're going to take a breakfrom competition barbecue for a while
and get into that.
So until next time you knowyou can find thousands of barbecue
tips and hundreds of barbecue recipesat GirlsCangrill.com.
You can also find me on all the socials@girlscangrill.
If you have any more questionsabout the Jack,
(25:45):
feel free to shoot me a comment, a DM.
Look me up somehow.
I'll be happy to help answerany questions that you may have.
Until next time guys, happy grilling!
What's up everybody?
Welcome to another episode of the BBQTips Podcast.
I'm Christie Vanover, champion pitmaster,
the girl behind one of America'stop barbecue websites, Girlscangrill.com,
and a contestant on FoodNetwork's BBQ Brawl.
I'm here to bring you some quick barbecuetips to help you up your barbecue game.
All right, guys, one more week of metalking about the Jack.
And then we'll move on tosome Thanksgiving turkey tips next week.
(00:24):
But I've got to give you guys a wrap upof everything that happened in Lynchburg,
Tennessee this past weekendfor the 35th annual
Jack Daniel's WorldInvitational Barbecue Championships.
It was another amazing weekend.
It actually didn't rain, which is amazingfor the Jack because it usually rains
every year,but it was actually hot, sunny, beautiful.
The crowds turned outbecause the weather was so fantastic.
(00:46):
I got there on Wednesday and I was therethrough Sunday, so I'm going to walk you
through all of the fun and excitementthat I had while I was down in the hollow.
So starting on Wednesday,I flew into Nashville,
drove down to Lynchburg, and immediatelyheaded to Miss Mary Bobo's.
That's where they heldthe annual Champion’s Dinner.
This is the third yearthat they've held this dinner.
The first year
it was Tuffy Stone, and then it was BradLeininger from Gettin’ Basted,
(01:09):
this year's champion Pitmaster chefwas Chris Schaefer from Heavy Smoke.
He won the Jack a couple years ago,and he cooked up a phenomenal meal.
He smoked up some prime ribthat was Certified Angus Beef.
He also smoked up a pork belly and cookedit kind of like a brisket.
So it was nice thick slices.
That was Compart Duroc pork.
It was fantastic.
(01:29):
Along with all of that, we hadall of the sides from Miss Mary Bobos.
That fried okra.
I just, I if you haven't ever had it,your life is not complete.
You've got to go to Miss Mary Bobo'sand get that fried okra.
It's so good.
But going to Miss Mary Bobo's is awesome
because you basically sit in a roomwith ten different people.
Some of them you may know, some of themyou may not.
And you just sit around the tableand break bread
(01:50):
before the fun, exciting weekend.
So that's how I started things off.
We had a little cocktail hour to start,and then we had that wonderful meal
at Miss Mary Bobo'sthe next morning, Thursday.
I had so many butterflies.
I was so excited because that'swhen I got to sell my ribs and my cookbook
for the first time at the general storeright there in Lynchburg, on the square.
The turnout was amazing.
(02:11):
The best part is that I got to talk toso many people from around the world.
Some of them were cooks,some of them were judges,
but a lot of them were just people comingto the distillery to tour Jack Daniels.
There are so many peoplewho just come to Lynchburg
specifically for the distillery tour,and some of them didn't even know
it was barbecue weekend.
But once they got there,
they got excited to see everythingthat was going on with barbecue.
(02:31):
And I'm proud to saythat I sold out of my cookbooks,
and I sold almost all of my rubson that first day.
I don't know how they didthe rest of the weekend.
They might be sold out by now,I'm not sure, but it was a big success.
They were received really well.
People really enjoyed the flavor profilesand that means so much to me.
You can pick up my cookbook on Amazon.
It's already an Amazon bestseller.
It's available in softcover and hardcover.
(02:51):
I'll put the link in the show notes.
Also, my rubs have been shippedto the fulfillment center,
so they're going to be online so, so soon.
I know I keep saying that.
This process is really lengthy,but once they are available,
I will let you guys know.
I will share all the linksso that you guys can go
ahead and start ordering those
and use them for your competitioncooking or your backyard barbecue.
First thing Friday morning,I headed back to the distillery
(03:14):
for the shaken and stirredcocktail contest.
Team Girls Can Grill wonthat championship in 2022
and then B Mackin’ won it last year,so I was excited to see what the different
teams were going to mix up.
I believe there were seven teamsthat mixed up cocktails.
A couple of them did,like a margarita style,
where they did, like, citrusjuice and syrup mixed with some whiskey.
There was also
(03:34):
a couple different old fashioneds,and ultimately it was an old fashioned,
that one.
It was created by Nathan at 333 BBQout of Canada.
I watched as he prepared it,and not only was he great at telling
the story of what he created,he talked about the details of the recipe.
He created a simple syrupwith a reduction of cherry and Dr.
(03:54):
Pepper,and just the syrup alone was amazing.
But then he continued that cherry profilethroughout the cocktail.
He used cherry wood and added some cherrywood smoke.
He also added a cherry insideof his old fashioned.
It was justit was just very well presented.
I could tell between his charisma,the way he was talking
to the judges and his knowledgeof the cocktail he was creating,
(04:15):
that as long as his cocktail tasted great,he had a really good chance at winning.
And because I was in the judging areaafter the three judges tasted
the cocktail, I had the pleasureof taking a sip of that cocktail
and it was phenomenal.
So I was really excited to seewhen 333 BBQ
got their championship call and they arethe 2024 Shaken and Stirred champions.
After that contest,unfortunately I missed the
(04:37):
I Know Jack contest, which is really funbecause that's
when you get those mystery boxesand people have to whip up meals.
There were five teamswho competed in that,
and the Shed took homeGrand champion for that.
I'm so sorry I missed it.
If you follow Brooke on Instagram,she did share some videos.
So you can go back and you can watchand see what they turned in.
But it was really exciting to see themget that first place call as well.
(04:58):
After all of that, it was time for meto head up to Barbecue Hill,
because that's where I was preparinga nice little beef sample
for all of the cooks and judges and VIPswho were coming up for the celebration.
So we got up to the hillearly, got everything situated and set up.
And as I mentioned in my previous podcast,we did smoked beef pastrami ribs
with a pickled red onion topping,along with a brown butter
(05:20):
honey mustard sauceand some dill pickle chips.
And they were a hit. The line was insane.
The amount of peoplewho came up to BBQ Hill, I don't know,
I think they're estimating like 700,which is a couple hundred more than usual.
The lines were so long, but I think it'sbecause the weather was just phenomenal.
The sunset is always gorgeous outthere, and I had such a fun time
(05:41):
because that gave me even moreof an opportunity
to meet all of the teams, different judgesand just talk to people, introduce
my rubs again.
And I was really pleased with the feedbackI got.
Everybody really seemed to enjoythose smoked pastrami beef ribs.
We use Certified Angus Beef,so of course there's quality there.
But it was.
I was just told that everybody thoughtit was a really good bite.
So that means a lot if you want to knowhow I made them, go back
(06:03):
and watch my previous podcastbecause I share the full recipe there.
You can also find the recipeat GirlsCangrill.com.
And of course Saturday was the big day.
That is competition day.
So I did a little bit of walking aroundbefore the competition.
The Hunsaker drums that were broughtthis year were gorgeous.
So Hunsaker is the type of barrel cookerthat I cook on, and every year
for the past few years,they've created custom
(06:24):
Jack Daniel's World Championship drumsand they donate those
to the international teamswho fly in from abroad
so that they can havesomething to cook on.
Because of course,
you can't really travel with your smokersall the way from Australia or Belgium,
so they let those teams
use those drums for the competitionand then they sell them afterwards.
I picked up a drum, I think it was in 2022and it was matte black
(06:45):
with some whiskey like metallic painton the smokestack and some other areas.
And then of course, the Jack Danielslogo on the logo plate.
Well, this year's drums were actuallythat metallic whiskey
colorfor the whole barrel, the whole drum.
And they were just so stunning.
If I would have driven to Lynchburg,I would have brought another one home.
That's how beautiful they were.
They had ten, I think, and I'mpretty sure they're all sold out.
(07:07):
If not, visit the Hunsaker Facebook groupand go in there
and see if there's any more available.
And you could pick one up,because I believe whatever was left over,
they brought back to their locationin Missouri.
After walking around,it was time to head into the judges tent.
I will say the judges tentwas a little bit different this year.
A lot of the barbecue Hall of Famersor other big names in barbecue
weren't in the tentthis year for various reasons.
(07:29):
I think Chris Lilly hadsome other obligations.
Dr. BBQ and Leanne,they were down in Florida
and obviously the hurricane just happened,so they didn't make it up.
So when that came aroundand they asked people to raise their hands
for how many people have been judgingthe Jack for the first time, I would say
was probably 25 to 30% of the judgeswere judging the Jack for the first time.
Now, that doesn't meanthey were first time judges.
(07:50):
It just meantthat was their first time at the Jack.
So I don't really know the proportion
of how many of the judgeswere first timers versus that.
But it was definitely kindof a mix of people in there compared to
some of the years that I've judged before.
When you're in the judgestent, it's pretty fun.
We all get a signatureapron from that year's Jack.
Everybody goes around
and they autograph each other's aprons,just like the teams go around
(08:12):
and have everybody signtheir barrel heads.
And then we get situated at our table.
They remind us of the rules.
They play the standard KCBS recording,and then we all raise our hand
and do the oath,
you know, in the name of barbecuethat we're going to give our best,
most honest feedback for the resultsthat we get.
First category up was sauce.
And I loved this categorybecause people changed things up.
I've been talking about wantingto see change in barbecue for so long,
(08:35):
so all of a sudden we get a honey mustardsauce and I was stoked.
I was like, yeah,somebody is breaking barriers.
They're trying something new.
So we had one
that was kind of like a sweet chili sauce,almost with barbecue overtones.
And then the rest were prettymuch red Kansas City style.
And then we had the honey mustard.
The only thing with that honey
mustard sauce, it was just lackinga little bit of flavor and balance.
(08:57):
I feel like it needed tomaybe be cooked down
just a little bit longer,but kudos to whatever team turned that in.
I appreciatethat you are mixing things up.
Congratulations also to Black ForestBarbecue out of Germany.
They took home the first placetrophy for sauce and I was so excited.
As soon as they wonand they were walking off the stage,
they turned to me and thanked mefor the BBQ Tips podcast about sauce.
(09:19):
They said that that helped them
really fine tuneexactly what they were going to turn in.
So that means a lotthat my podcasts are making a difference.
Thank you guys so much.
I actually heard that a lot this weekend,
especially for the new teamswho've never cooked the Jack.
They were really appreciativeof the information
that I was sharing,and they felt that it kind of
helped thembe on more level of an even playing field.
So thank you guys, and congratsto Black Forest Barbecue.
(09:42):
Moving on to Chef's Choice.
The entries this year were crazy.
In years past there were no restrictionson size of platter.
Then they kind of got too big.
So they the Jack put the restrictions downto like 18 by 18 platters.
It's kind of hard to fit 6 or 7 portionson that size platter.
So they removed that restriction again.
(10:02):
It just had to be carried by one person.
But some of these platters were enormous.
Like one was as big as like my wingspan.
And there's no way I could have lifted itbecause it also had a pole
with a hanging tomahawk on it.
And then it had like,I think a surf and turf kind of mixed in.
I later found out thatthat was the Shed entry.
They always go big or go homeand congratulations to them
(10:23):
because they actually took homesecond place.
They tied for first place,they had a perfect 180.
Both first and second hadthe exact same scores from all six judges,
but they walked home with second place,first place was Bill Gillespie
of Smoking Hoggzand he turned in chili dogs.
So it's crazy because you think surf andturf and all of these elaborate dishes.
(10:44):
And he turned in what looked to be simplechili dogs.
I'm sure they tasted phenomenal.
He used Snake River Farm's hot dogs,I believe he posted online.
So the flavors had to be therebecause he got a 180.
But it's just so fascinating to seethat you can go with comfort food,
or you can go with like high end,expensive, fancy food and even comfort
food can take it homeso you don't have to do that surf and turf
(11:06):
and lobsterand spend $1,000 on your entry.
You can do somethingthat's a little more simple,
a little more familiar,and the judges are going to still love it.
So congrats to you, Bill, on pulling offa chili dog victory at the Jack.
All right.
Next up are the big four meats.
Chicken, ribs, pork and brisket.
I'm going to talk to youabout the entries that I saw at my table.
And just kind of give you my perspectiveof what I was judging.
(11:28):
So first up was chicken.
We had five turn ins with thigh meatas their dark meat and one
with legs, and that leg box was beautifulthe way that it was laid out.
It was it was just stunning.
I had not seen a box like that before,and it looked beautiful.
In the white meat category,because with the Jack
you have to turn in dark and white meat,we had five that had wings,
(11:49):
and then one of the thighshad breast meat.
And I will say we did have a mix.
So as I talked about before with chickenyou have to turn in seven pieces.
You can choose to do
six white and six dark,or you can do like six dark and one white.
And we had several who only turned in 1or 2 wings,
or 1 or 2 pieces of breast meat,as opposed to six and six.
(12:11):
And I'm proud to say that I believethe judges gave honest opinions about what
meat they tasted.
I don't think anybody docked down forsaying, oh, well, that judge got a wing.
I didn't get a wing.
I didn't hear any of my judgestalk like that at my table.
So I appreciate that because that'sthe way it's supposed to be judged.
You're supposed to just be judgedwith what you're presented.
So teams definitely took a riskby not providing meat to every judge.
(12:35):
But then they also maybe made a calculateddecision because maybe that wing
or maybe that piece of breast meatwasn't quite on top.
So they really wanted the judgesto focus on their dark meat.
Whatever your strategy, congrats!
The chicken at our table, for the mostpart was really, really good.
We had one box that was had a little bitof too smokiness of a flavor.
Something happened with the pit there,I could tell,
(12:56):
but most of the bites were fantasticwith chicken.
Moving on to ribs.
The ribs boxes were even better.
Like all of them tender to a tee.
Not over, not under flavor.
Profiles were so balanced,but they varied.
So like I got onethat was a little more peachy.
One that was a little bitmore like Apple, one
that was more cherry,one that was like Chipotle.
(13:18):
So there was a nice varietyof flavor profiles,
but the cook on allbut one were like, spot on.
I believe I probably gave the most ninesin the rib category,
so kudos to all of those cookswho turned in some phenomenal ribs.
When it came to pork, it was definitelya money muscle game there.
Every single box had money muscle in it.
Of course,some boxes had only money muscle.
(13:40):
I think we had two, maybe threethat had some pulled strands in there.
One of them did have chunks,but the chunks were definitely a money
musclethat was just cut up into chunk pieces.
It wasn't like chunks from the hornor another part of the pork itself.
But the money muscles were all good.
They were all really tender, not mushy,not, you know, not over, not under.
(14:02):
And again, a good varietyof flavor profiles that were balanced.
One word of caution on pork.
I was on the verge of questioning
whether or notone of the entries needed to be DQed.
As a reminder, KCBS rules saythat you can have chunks in your sauce,
but they have to be
less than an eighth of an inch,and there was one that was turned in.
(14:22):
It had pulled meat,
and it had some sort of sauce that lookedlike it had chunks of fruit in it.
I want to say pineapple,maybe like a marmalade something.
But the chunks were pretty big.
I don't know that they were overan eighth of an inch big.
I'm not going to like pull up my ruler.
But I will saythat it was close to being a DQ.
(14:43):
They were that large.
I'm not going to DQ somebodyat the Jack over something like that.
So I just let it be.
And I tasted the meatand the meat tasted phenomenal,
and I judged it based on that.
I didn't judge it based on chunk sizes.
But just a word of cautionto remember that rule.
Be cautious.
If you have a sauce that's really chunky,maybe strain it.
Or at least look at your turn in box.
(15:03):
And if you see some pieces like thatthat are just a little bit too chunky,
get some tweezers or something
and just pull them off of thereso you don't risk that DQ.
Other than that though, again,pork boxes were really good at my table.
Moving on to brisket.
This is my favorite category,but it's also my least favorite category.
I love smoked brisket.
I think we all pretty much lovea smoked brisket.
(15:25):
I don't love competition brisket.
I think five of our briskets,at least five, were cooked hot and fast
and that's fine.
I cook hot and fast in competitionbarbecue myself,
but they didn't have the texture
and they didn't have the pop of flavorthat I want out of a brisket.
The texture for most of themwas just a little bit over,
(15:48):
just a little bit too tender.
And because of the way that I believethey were probably braised,
they were just a little almost onthe mushy side.
Just not not as desirable, but moreso than that.
I mean, tenderness is tenderness was nineand eight among most of my briskets.
Eights for most of them going over,I only had one
(16:10):
that was just a little bit under,but taste.
I think most of my tastes were eight also,because they were just missing that pop.
They tasted like beef,which is great, but they were just missing
that extra little layer of flavorthat just puts them over the top.
Except for like one.
One had all the flavor profilesthat needed to.
It had just a touch of sauce.
(16:31):
Not like overly sweetbecause I don't like my brisket sweet,
but it had just enough sauceto give it some interest.
And wow.
And then they also hit itwith some kind of like,
you know, finishing
dust at the end that also gave itthat little, just extra little oomph.
So it just didn't taste like boiled beefbecause that's what
some of them tasted like.
I will saythat two people turned in burnt ends,
and those burnt ends were money like,delicious,
(16:53):
full of flavor, perfectly tender,not fatty.
Those were the best biteson the whole placemat.
Except one team turned and burnt,ends and flat,
and their flat was tightand their burnt ends were perfect.
Had they left the flat off, which I knowtakes balls to do at the Jack,
and just turned in a burnt ends box,they would have had three nines from me
(17:14):
for sure for that burnt end bite,because it was so delicious.
The other one that had a burnt endalso had a flat.
I think that one actually got 999because the burnt end was perfect
and the flat was perfectbecause the flat on that one
actually had a little bit of popand flavor to it.
So that's what made it really goodindependently stand out on its own.
Again, the rest were just,
(17:35):
just likeboiled flavored and just lacking smoke,
lacking like barbecue flavorand just lacking a pop of interest
that I just missevery time I taste competition barbecue.
But I have to say, kudos to LC BBQ,because not only did he take
first place in brisket, he got triplenines from every single judge.
He got a perfect,perfect on brisket at the Jack.
(17:58):
So I don't know what that man is doingwith his brisket cook.
I'm going to have to startchecking his website
a little bit more on his Facebookpages, a little bit more,
but he must have nailed it.
I don't know if he cooks hot and fast.
I'll have to. I'll have to ask him.
But whatever he did to his brisket,the judges loved it.
I wish it was at my table.
I don't think it wasbecause I don't recall, like
all of the judges afterwards being like,oh my God, this one was amazing.
(18:21):
And we didn't have that conversationwith any of our briskets.
So, I don't think it's at my table,but I would love to try his brisket
because whatever he did, he did it right.
And the judges loved it.
All right.
The last category.
After all that meat,we were in a total meat coma.
The last category was dessert.
And this year was insane.
So many teams turned in dessert.
Like, usually as a judge, we'll get two,maybe three desserts.
(18:45):
My table had five desserts to judgeand I walked around and I took pictures
of all of the other dessert entries.
And all of the tableshad like 4 to 5 dessert entries.
So way to go, teams.
You really pulled out the dessertsthis year.
Tons of cheesecakes, of course.
But so much other variety.
And it was just so fun.
The vibe in the tent after all the meat,when all the desserts comes in
(19:07):
every judge is just so excitedbecause there's so much creativity,
even though it's cheesecake.
But the just
the displays, the presentations,the variety is just so, so, so cool.
So we had like a lemon blueberrycheesecake with this blueberry sauce.
We had, like a turtle cheesecakewith caramels and pecans.
We had the spooky Halloween type
chocolate orange, some other kind of cakewith crushed cereal on top.
(19:31):
Like it was just it's just fun.
It's just really, really funto see everything
that everybody turns in for desserts.
And this year was crazyat the award ceremony
because as I mentioned previously,in 22 and 23, there was like 7 or 8 180s
in 2024 at the Jack,there were 13 180s in dessert.
They actually called down to 13th placebecause that's how many perfect scores
(19:53):
there were for dessert.
In the end, it was Bill Gillespie againwho took home that first place
barrel head in the dessert categoryfrom Smokin Hoggz.
He turned it a raspberry swirl cheesecake.
That one wasn't at my table,but the judges loved it.
He took home that 180and that barrel head.
As for chicken,it was Hot Coles who took first
and then Razor RacksBBQ took home first in both ribs and pork,
(20:16):
and they had a perfect 180in both of those categories.
So when it came down to overall,I was honestly expecting Razor Racks
to take home that victory.
Two first place calls, both with 180s.
I thought for surethey were going to be the grand champions.
As they started rattling off the results,I got to say
congrats to my boySmitty from Arizona Loot N Booty Barbecue.
He took home fifth place overall,so it was exciting to see that.
(20:39):
But then Razor Racks got called third,which blew my mind
because again,I thought they were going to be GC.
In the end.I looked at their score sheets.
They got a little bit of a dropin that brisket score,
and that'swhat knocked them down to third.
Second place was Janky Leg BBQand first place was Scuffletown Smokers.
Super cool story about Scuffletown.
They've been competing for ten years.
This is their first year actually gettingthe draw and making it to the Jack.
(21:02):
And on their first yearthey took home that GC.
So that's super exciting.
Congratulations to you.
Congratulations to all the teams.
All the teamsthat heard their names called
and all the teams who just showed upand actually
got qualified, got their bung drawnand made it to the Jack.
Now a few teams have reached out to meabout judges scores.
They do see the judges score sheetsand they see they get 999,
(21:24):
and then maybe they get
a couple sevens or even a couple sixes,which is just unheard of at the Jack.
But it happens.
And so I want to talk to you a little bitabout that before I close things up.
So if you got a score at the Jack thatyou have questions about, pay attention.
There are a couple thingsthat you need to do.
First, look at your score sheet.
Look at that judge.
(21:45):
Whether it's judge 4, judge 3, whatever.
Look at that judgeand look at how you averaged on the table
with that judge alone.
It's possible that that judgeis just a low scoring judge.
And then look beyond that.
Let's say you were at table 977and it was judge number three
who was scoring low for you.
Go and find every other category.
Look for table 997.
(22:06):
Look for that judge that scored lowand see if they scored low consistently.
If so, that's just what happened.
You landed on a table with a judgethat just tends to score low.
And that happens at the Jack.That happens at all competitions.
And if you're curiouswhat the scores were for those other teams
that had that same judge,you can go to my calculated score sheet.
I'll put a link in the show notes
(22:27):
and it'll tell youwhen you see the overall score
of like 34.73, whatever the number is,you can go to my Excel spreadsheet
and then you can seewhether that was like a 998 or a 989.
It'll show you that.So I'll give you the link to that.
And it makes things a lot easier for you.
So you can tell if those teamswere scored down in appearance
and taste or in tenderness.
And perhaps that judge just consistentlydoes that.
(22:50):
If however, that judge consistentlyscores average or above average
and you happen to get a really low scorefrom that judge and other judges
gave you higher scores at that point,you may want to reach out to the reps.
It's possible that there was an oversight.
Me for instance,I do my sevens by drawing a seven
and putting a line through it,and I have been told by table captains
(23:12):
they prefer thatI don't put the line through it
because it might appear to be a ninewhen it's actually a seven.
I do that because I don't want a sevento look like a one.
But same thing, like a 6may look like an 8 somehow,
or maybe an 8 can look like a 9, likeif they make the bottom part too skinny.
So there's a lot of thingsthat can happen.
So if you do feel like your scoresas they were reported on the printed score
(23:36):
sheet is really far off
based on how that judge consistentlyjudged throughout the competition,
based on how the other scores were fromthe other judges,
feel free to reach out to the reps
and ask them to just doublecheck the score sheet
and make sure that it was enteredcorrectly.
I have confidence that the Jackprobably double triple checked the results
because of after what happenedat the Royal several years ago.
(23:58):
I know last year
that they triple checked thingsbecause they did not want to make any
clerical errors.They wanted it to be straight up.
So I have a I have a feeling I haveconfidence that they did that again.
But again, if it'll help you sleep easyat night to just know that
everything was actually entered correctly,and then maybe it was just the judge.
Go ahead and reach out.
I will say though, when it doescome to the Jack,
(24:19):
one thing that can be frustratingand the same thing with the Royal
is you're not going to get comment cards.
If it's a smaller competitionand you get a seven or a six, a table
captain may take the time to say, hey,can you please fill out a comment card?
Can you explain why this is a sixand that doesn't happen at the Jack?
It doesn't happen at the Royal.
The competitions are too big.
They are flowing too fastbecause there's so many teams pulling
(24:41):
in, you know, all sorts of meatthat have to make it to dozens of tables.
So it just doesn't happen.
And it's an unfortunate componentof competing in larger competitions.
But it is what it is.
That'swhy you always got to cook your best
and then also hopethat you land on a good table.
It's kind of kind of how the game goes.
But again, I just want to saycongratulations to all of the teams
(25:01):
who made it to the Jack.
Thank you to everyone at the Jack.
You guys are amazing.
You always are so hospitable to me,allowing me to sell in the barbecue store,
giving me the opportunity with CertifiedAngus Beef to cook on Barbecue Hill.
All of that was a dreamand I loved judging again.
I hope to be back on the competitiontrail early next year so I can earn my own
GC in my own bung because I am itchingto cook the Jack again.
(25:25):
That's it for this week guys.
Next week I think I'm going to startdiving into Thanksgiving meals.
We're going to take a breakfrom competition barbecue for a while
and get into that.
So until next time you knowyou can find thousands of barbecue
tips and hundreds of barbecue recipesat GirlsCangrill.com.
You can also find me on all the socials@girlscangrill.
If you have any more questionsabout the Jack,
(25:45):
feel free to shoot me a comment, a DM.
Look me up somehow.
I'll be happy to help answerany questions that you may have.
Until next time guys, happy grilling!
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd is a thought-provoking, opinionated, and topic-driven journey through the top sports stories of the day.