Page 16 - Barbecue News Magazine May 2022

President
Kim Stanfield, kstanfield@nebs.org
Treasurer
"Open Position" treasurer@nebs.org
Recording Secretary
Sarah Geehan sgeehan@nebs.org
Vice President
Paul Dahlstrom, pdahlstrom@nebs.org
679 Washington St.; Unit #8-170; South Attleboro, MA 02703
NEBS Board of Directors Jim Morey
Anissa Ladd Craig Kimberley Mic Stanfield Mike Leger Pete Kelleher Adam Dufresne Geoff Mullen Kathy Trainor Ben Piela John Egan Bill DeKing Michael Lane
www.nebs.org
A View from the Judges Table
Like many judges, I started my journey in the BBQ world by going to backyard cookouts or stopping by at the local BBQ joint or watching some of those famous BBQ TV shows.
My interests in BBQ started to grow, and I knew that I wanted to become a better cook and be able to
eat some more delicious food. I searched
out places that could help me and an in-
ternet search led me to NEBS. The Northeast Barbecue Society is a local organization in my area that promotes the BBQ lifestyle. I saw that NEBS was offering several classes and I de- cided to take advantage of them. A few years later and a few pounds more, I have enjoyed some great tast- ing BBQ.
The one thing I have found after be- coming an active judge for NEBS, is
that I have met a lot of great people
that also enjoy the BBQ world. Judg-
ing is on the unique side of the BBQ family. We are not out in the open
where all the cook teams are, we
don’t get to be in on the 9:22 or the
team hijinks, or even get to sample the other foods that some teams are making for themselves. We are off on the side with our own group waiting for the turn-ins.
When a judge goes through the training process it is stressed many times that the cook teams spend a lot of time and money, on food, supplies, & equipment to be in a competition and that we as judges, need to remember that
By: John Egan we must be as fair and objective when scoring each turn-in.
As we sit 6 to a table and wait in anticipation for that 9 x 9 Styrofoam box and the juicy morsel that lies in it, the judges
will tell stories of past judging events and bond. They discuss how far they are from being a Sea-
soned or Master judge and talk always cen- ters around some new change to the
judging rules, which sometimes leads into some heated discussions.
About an hour before turn-ins, there is the judges meeting where we get the low-down on what categories we will be judging and specific rules that need our attention during the judging process. We find our tables and meet our table captains. After setting up the table with plates, scorecards, napkins, water and crackers, there is always somebody who asks for a pencil with an eraser. They are quickly reminded that you can only put one score down so take your time thinking about that score you are about to write.
In the air we start to get a whiff of the turn-ins as the runners bring the boxes
to our table captain. The Table Captain arranges the boxes by number and then
starts the presentation process, which then turns into the selection of each delicious sample that we will
be judging.
The judges sit in silence, looking, tasting and enjoying each tasty tidbit on their plate, but in the back of their mind
BarbecueNews.com - 16
MAY 2022