How to Become a KCBS Certified Judge
Founded in 1986, the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) has a mission of honoring and preserving the art of barbeque. It's received notoriety over the years and is often called on to sanction and judge BBQ events throughout the country. KCBS judges undergo specific training and are bound by the judge's oath, which promises to preserve truth excellence and justice in barbeque, thus preserving the "American Way of Life." KCBS judges are among the most respected in American barbeque culture.
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Instructions
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Register for a judge class. KCBS offers classes nationwide throughout the year. Updated schedules can be viewed at the KCBS website. Cost of attendance is roughly $80 as of 2010.
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Attend the two-hour discussion class. Review the KCBS handbook and learn about the three criteria a KCBS judge will rank contest entries on: taste, appearance and tenderness. Among many other things, in this section of the class students learn that when chicken is smoked, some meat may remain pink. To test if the meat is done, students are instructed to check for clear juices. Students also learn that smoke rings can be artificially placed on meat, so visually noting the marks doesn't indicate a smoking process has occurred while cooking.
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Attend the two-hour interactive class. Apply instruction from the discussion to real food. KCBS judges are invited to attend BBQ events across the country, so in this section, students are trained by "blind taste" method to score Kansas City, Memphis, Texas, Carolina and St. Louis barbeque styles. This prevents biased evaluation of entries among regional events.
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Take the KCBS judge's oath of conduct, which is the last step in the KCBS judge certification process. Each student must promise to objectively and subjectively evaluate each barbeque meat entry by sight, smell, taste and texture. The oath binds new judges to the KCBS mission.
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References
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