Notice of Proposed Change to the Pork Rule

Member Notice of Proposed Change to the Pork Rule.


At the May 25, 2021 Meeting of the KCBS Board of Directors, The Board had discussions as to whether the Pork Rule which was amended in 2013 needed serious review and updating.
The Modernization of cooking techniques and the ever increasing expense of competing were factors along with critical areas of the rules that are left open for broad interpretation and unenforceable.


The consensus of the BOD at the meeting was to refer to the Rules Committee to review and revise the existing rule on Pork.
The Rules Committee has spent considerable time and communication concerning revisions to the rule and will, submit a proposed new Pork Rule for consideration and adoption by the BOD for the 2022 Contest Season which begins November 1, 2021.

As Chairman of the Rules Committee, I am submitting this proposed Revision of the Pork Rule for the Board as a Motion to Approve.

Should you have any comments, email rules@kcbs.us  with your suggestions, support, or opposition.

The Board will consider it at the July 27, 2021 Monthly BOD Meeting.

The Report of the Committee and Proposed new language is presented below.

Thank You,
Stan Dobosenski, Rules Committee Chair.
 
KCBS Rules committee – Pork Rule change
 
Purpose: 
The Rules committee was tasked by the Board of Directors (BOD) to rewrite the Pork rule.  The committee requested the BOD to state the goal of the pork category in context of the entire cooking competition.  The BOD chose not to provide this but rather requested the new rule be:
 1.Something simple and clear.
2. A rule that is realistically enforceable.
 
 
Background:
The pork rule has been revisited by the Rules committee each of the past four years.  It has been modified numerous times over the past 10 years and is the longest of the KCBS Master series meat rules.  Originally the goal of the KCBS Master series categories was to have cooks demonstrate his or her ability to cook meats that do not take long (chicken and ribs) and those that do (pork shoulder and beef brisket).  To meet these goals, size had been a consideration for the meat requirement in the pork category.
Current rule:
PORK: Pork is defined as Boston Butt, Boston Roast, Picnic and/or Whole Shoulder, weighing a minimum of four (4) pounds at the time of inspection. After trimming, pork shall be cooked whole (bone in or bone out). However, once cooked, it may be separated and returned to the cooker at the cook's discretion. It may be turned in chopped, pulled, chunked, sliced, or a combination of any of those.
Proposed rule:
PORK: Pork is defined as Boston Butt, Boston Roast, Picnic, Collar (aka Cellar) and/or Whole Shoulder. 
Rationale of changes:
  1. Removing the weight requirement, the trimming option and the cooking limitations makes this simple and clear.
  2. Removing these three things also makes the rule more enforceable.  As this will now allow for the meat to be cut in any manner the cook desires prior to cooking, it will be nearly impossible to distinguish cuts from the shoulder verses the collar at inspection so there is no sensible way to exclude the collar.
  3. Removing how pork can be turned in was done to avoid redundancy in the Rules as this is already stated clearly in Rule 16 for chicken, pork and brisket.
 
 
The Rules committee thinks it has met all the requirements from the BOD for its directive in rewriting this rule.  We did discuss and are therefore including the following expected reactions to this change:
  • Teams may and some probably will cook only the money muscle from multiple shoulders.  For those teams who also cater or own restaurants, this is not an expensive option as the rest of the cut will not go to waste.
  • Teams may cook a regional cut from the shoulder or collar, i.e. pork steaks.
  • Teams will now be able to start their cooking process later with the largest cut now potentially being a trimmed brisket flat.  This may result in requests to check-in the contest early on the day of turn-in.
  • Teams may see this as an easier gateway from Backyard to Master series as removing the large cut may be an incentive to make the move.
The committee also thought that these and other reactions may be short-term unless any prove to be successful, then those will be more widely adapted as is always the case with new techniques.