Hit 500 comps judged last Saturday, that number snuck up on me

I've been judging KCBS events off and on for about 6 years now, and last weekend in Tulsa I realized it was my 500th table. That just blew my mind because I never kept a tally, it was just one weekend at a time. The thing that got me is how much my palate changed without me noticing, I used to be all about heavy smoke and now I find myself docking for acrid burn on the back end. I also started catching myself noticing how a single overtrimmed brisket point throws off the whole turn-in box, something I never saw in my first 100. 500 is a weird milestone because it means I've eaten a ton of pork and chicken, but honestly it made me question if I'm too picky now for casual backyard cooks. Has anyone else hit a certain number of judges or comps and suddenly realized their baseline moved on them? Maybe I need a reset, or maybe that's just the natural path.

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clairem3812d ago

Man, this hits home. I judged my 300th last fall and had the same thing happen, I used to hand out 9s for chicken like candy and now I'm sitting there picking apart rubbery skin and uneven sauce. My wife laughs at me because I can't just eat BBQ anymore without ranking it in my head. The palate thing is real, it just keeps moving on you whether you want it to or not.

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