How To Make A Parsley Bed

[The Big Pig]

Like it or not, good garnish techniques can really help appearance scores at a KCBS contest. Although the judges are not supposed to judge your garnish, they do. All of the top teams I am familiar with use garnish so there must be something to it. And, if you read some of the judging comments on other forums, it is quite apparent that garnish will influence your scores.

Our goal in presentation is to highlight the entry. We want the garnish to help the judges focus on the entry, not distract them. If successful, the judges will look at the meat instead of the garnish or lack of garnish. To accomplish that, we try and make boxes that are balanced and symmetrical. The greens should frame the entry but never obscure it.

For our first 6 years of competing, we used lettuce beds and sometimes accented with parsley. Our presentation scores were consistently mediocre with occasional high points. Once we started using parsley beds in the entry boxes, our appearance scores improved dramatically. We frequently average over 8 on appearance for our entries and have scored the occasional all 9's in appearance since we started using parsley beds.

I wish we had learned about parsley beds sooner in our competitive career. One of the reasons we operate this site is share information so it only seems fitting to start the conversation here. There are other techniques and some may be quicker and better. Please feel free to share your experience.

1) The hardest part in making a good parsley bed is finding good quality greens. Good looking curley parlsey in particular is difficult to find. We sometimes go to several supermarkets before finding the right stuff. We typically use 2 small heads of green leaf lettuce and 3-4 bunches of curley parsley per box. When selecting parlsey, look for bunches that contain a lot of really curley (think frilly) leaves as opposed to flat leaves.



2) Cut the green leaf lettuce head into 3/8" strips. Try and keep the round disc shapes intact as it is easier to place in the box.



3) Place as many of those discs into the bottom of the styrofoam clamshell as you can. Pack them tightly with the edges vertical.



4) Cut off your choice parsley heads (curley and consistent in color) with a 3/8" stem. Place the stem in between edges of your lettuce bed. Pack the parsley in as tight as you can, keeping the height about 1/4" below the lip of the clamshell. Loose parsley will not support your meat and may stick to it when the judges pick it up.

This part takes a lot of time. Plan to spend 30-45 minutes per box, maybe longer at first. It doesn't really matter where you start or finish. Just focus on keeping the tops level in the box. If you see a piece of parlsey that doesn't match in color, or has leaves noticeable flatter, remove it and replace. Focus on the edges and corners of your box since that is what the judges are going to see.



Once your parsley box is complete, place a wet paper towel on top of the parsley and place it in a cooler. Pull it out as you are preparing your entry.

[The Big Pig]

In our last contest, a couple of our parsley beds were too high causing our entries to make contact with the top of the box. So I thought I'd experiment a little making a multi-level parsley bed with the center slightly depressed. I decided to try iceberg lettuce instead of green leaf for this experiment because iceberg is more rigid and I figured the lettuce discs could be shortened.

Here's what I did.

I slice 2 heads of lettuce into a few discs that were between 1/4" and 3/8" tall.



I then crammed 4 of those discs into a clamshell.



I filled in the parsley bed, using shorter pieces for the center. I also did not fill the center as tight as the edges and corners.



And lastly, I tried it out with some spare ribs.



It worked. The lid closed just fine. Although the iceberg is a little harder to work with, it does add considerable weight to the box.

[wheatcountry]

Great feedback. Pictures assist your "challenged" teammate. I like the wetpaper towel to keep moist.

[Petite]

arent there some comps that dont allow garnish's?

[swamprb]

I tried this with leaf lettuce and thought it was a little too flimsy and will give the iceberg a shot next time. I had judged a couple comps that had parsley beds and the meats were very heavily sauced and the sprigs had to literally be wiped off some thighs. I'm new and asked the Table Captain about it and we were instructed to just judge the meat and not the garnish. Some cooks I talked to swore off Parsley, I just took it into consideration when I did mine. It does take a little longer but it sure does look nice! Thanks for the tip Paul!









Second Place Tri-Tip

Second Place Chicken

[The Big Pig]

arent there some comps that dont allow garnish's?

Yes. As far as sanctioned contests, I believe the ICBA does not use garnish. The entries are placed on a sheet of foil inside the clamshell. There may well be other sanctioning bodies that do not allow the use of garnish too but someone else would have to answer that. And some unsanctioned contests restrict garnish as well.

However, any KCBS sanctioned contest follows the same garnish rules:

9. Garnish is optional. If used, it is limited to chopped, sliced,
shredded or whole leaves of fresh green lettuce, curly parsley,
flat leaf parsley and/or cilantro. Kale, endive, red tipped
lettuce, lettuce cores and other vegetation are prohibited.
(Improper garnish shall receive a score of one (1) on

Appearance)

[The Big Pig]

I tried this with leaf lettuce and thought it was a little too flimsy and will give the iceberg a shot next time. I had judged a couple comps that had parsley beds and the meats were very heavily sauced and the sprigs had to literally be wiped off some thighs. I'm new and asked the Table Captain about it and we were instructed to just judge the meat and not the garnish. Some cooks I talked to swore off Parsley, I just took it into consideration when I did mine. It does take a little longer but it sure does look nice! Thanks for the tip Paul!

That tri-tip and chicken look great! Thanks for sharing those pictures.

Our chicken and pork entries are heavily sauced. If the parsley beds are not tight enough, the chicken in particular will look like a Chia Pet when picked up. I noticed this once when trying to rearrange a practice box at home...almost every piece or underlying parsley was pulled right out of the lettuce bed. Now, we pack the lettuce and the parsley as tight as we can get it and that seems to work.

[BrooklynQ]

Wow. To put in 30 to 45 minutes to arrange a bed of parsley is wild. I hope the presentation scores are worth it. I would never have thought to use the lettuce bed. I assumed that the parsley beds were just tightly packed parsley.

As a judge it bothers me that the cooks are spending so long on something we're not even supposed to notice. Personally, you see one bed of parsley you've seen them all.

As an occasional cook, it bothers me even more! I don't have the patience to do that.

[wheatcountry]

I understand your point - but regardless of what our mind tells us what we are supposed to judge, that overall presentation will make an impression.

We all know men will react differently with a "drop dead" gorgeous chick .... than a haggard old broad - they just can't help it - I've been told. I honestly think that plays into the overall scores just by nature.

And that's my contribution to the team effort - making sure the presentation is as top-notch as possible. .... plus making sure the guys aren't checking out the babes...

[jon]

.... plus making sure the guys aren't checking out the babes...

Babes!? Where????