Marjorie Dillon - Barbecue judge extraordinaire!

Offer a new summer sermon series with the theme of barbecue and what happens the first week? You discover you have a certified barbecue judge in the congregation. Marjorie Dillon, who would have thought.

This marks her third year as a judge in barbecue contests. She is not just a judge but a certified judge, and only four contests away from being a master judge. That means to date, Marjorie has judged 26 contests, and cooked in one. And that translates roughly into something like more than 700 big bites of chicken, pork, beef brisket and pork ribs. And lots of frozen leftovers.

 

Marjorie Dillon



“Other than all the barbecue, I’m mostly a vegetarian,” Marjorie said.

Marjorie got her start in judging when she signed up on the Lenexa city website to judge the Lenexa Chili Challenge. “It sounded like fun,” she said, “and I like chili.” A fellow judge suggested that she try becoming a barbecue judge, and well, that sounded like fun too, so Marjorie decided to give it a shot.

She took a class through the Kansas City Barbecue Society, where she learned the history of KCBS, and the hows and whys and wherefores of judging. There’s an actual oath that judges must swear to at the beginning of each contest, with right hand raised, and it goes like this: “I do solemnly swear to objectively and subjectively evaluate each Barbeque meat that is presented to my eyes, my nose, my hands and my palate. I accept my duty to be an Official KCBS Certified Judge, so that truth, justice, excellence in Barbeque and the American Way of Life may be strengthened and preserved forever.” This is serious stuff.

At a sanctioned contest, there are six judges per table. Judging criteria are taste, appearance and texture, with appearance being completed first. Marjorie said she usually judges appearance fairly strictly, even though it’s only a small percentage of points. Once the judges have seen the entry, laid out in a standard white Styrofoam box, they each take a portion to place on their plate. There is to be absolutely no finger-licking during this transfer, according to the KCBS rules, though paper towels or unscented wipes are allowed.

The rating scale is from 9 (excellent) to 2 (inedible.) If you get a number 1, that means disqualification. “For example, if the meat is undercooked, and you can tell it’s blood rather than juice,” Marjorie said, “then it’s disqualified.” Another example, she explained, would be if a judge takes his or her portion but it hasn’t been sliced properly and is still stuck to another portion. And yet another, if the cook takes more than the allowed eight minutes to turn in his or her meat.

Each judge eats six samples of each of the four categories. “Sometimes there’s a fifth category,” Marjorie said. “It could be chili or dessert or both. Or salmon.” It could also be something like snake. “One judge did have rattlesnake once,” Marjorie said, “and he said it tasted just like rabbit.” Marjorie was more than happy to take his word for it. She added that between each sample, she eats a bite of parsley, because that cleanses her palate the best.

Prizes are usually monetary, though not always. “I judged one contest in Mesa, Arizona,” Marjorie said. “The grand prize was a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The second-place prize was a smoker.” As for the judges, their prize is to take home the leftovers of the portions they judged. “It takes us a while to eat it all,” she said, referring to her and her husband, Ron, “especially over the summer when there are more contests.” Ron is always a sport about helping with the leftovers, Marjorie said, except for chicken, of which he’s not particularly fond.

Marjorie’s first judging contest, and also her favorite contest, is the Shawnee Great Grillers Blues and Barbeque State Championship, held in late September each year. “The barbecue is usually really good at that one,” she said, “because by then the cooks have it figured out.” She said she’s never judged a really bad contest, though has had to work her way through some meats where the sauce was too salty or bitter, or the texture was off, or the meat wasn’t readily identifiable.

She encourages anyone with an interest in barbecue contests to give it a try. Marjorie said that for her, the car trips through Kansas and Missouri to reach a contest's location are particularly nice because of the beautiful scenery. Also, she enjoys meeting a variety of people.

Marjorie said she'll continue to judge as long as she's able. She has judged fewer contests these past few weeks because of a granddaughter's wedding. And on the gift list? A barbecue grill, which of course Marjorie and Ron are happily supplying. "I'm thinking about including a note," Marjorie said, "that says, 'When you get good at this, we'll come over and have barbecue with you.'" Now that sounds like a challenge!