Competition chicken texture, who's actually right?

Last month at a local comp in Austin, I turned in thigh meat that was tender but had that slight bite to it, and one judge called it undercooked while another gave me a 9 for texture. Then last week I watched a pitmaster from a top 10 team insist competition chicken should be fall-apart soft, which totally goes against what I've been told for 3 years. Is there any real consensus out there, or is it all just regional preference dressed up as rules?

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parkerh3828d agoMost Upvoted

You ever get the feeling some judges are just grading based on whatever they ate last weekend? I've been there, man. That flip-flop between "slight bite" and "fall apart" is the most frustrating part of this hobby, because it means you can do everything right and still catch a bad draw. I think the honest answer is there's no real consensus, it's just whoever's sitting at that table that day and what their grandma cooked. Solidarity, though, cause I've lost sleep over the exact same thing. Keep cooking it the way you believe in, and eventually the scores even out.