Smithfield ribs

[taffenhoffsbbq]

So, I got these Smithfield St. Louis ribs at Walmart because they’re fairly cheap compared to my local Costco and Safeway. Man, those ribs were the best ribs I’ve ever cooked. Fatty and juicy. I don’t know if this was just a luck of the draw or what, but it did say "preferred by bbq competitors" or something to that effect. I am very grateful because my rib game was sad. Any of you guys had similar experience with Smithfield?

[Mr. Bones]

My two local grocery chains, HyVee, an Dillons (Kroger), carry Hormel Always Tender, an Smithfield, respectively...

I have had great luck with both, would consider em same same...

Never been disappointed that I bought Smithfields, when they was on sale...

[mrteddyprincess]

I'm a fan of Smithfields too.

[Richard Chrz]

I’ve cooked about 15 racks of Smithfield’s in the past few weeks, and doing 4 more on Friday. So far I am satisfied. Here are last weeks 4 ribs.

[bbqLuv]

Those look fantastic.
You done PBR good.

[Steve R.]

I like Smithfield usually. But I was shopping for some SLCs at Walmart a few days ago, and the Smithfield ones they had had bones in only about half the slab. And the boneless half was so thin I could literally see through it.

Nope. I'm good.

I went home and immediately started thawing some excellent Creekstone Farms Berkshire ribs I had been sitting on for awhile.

[ecowper]

I’ve got two racks of Crowd Cow Berkshires in the freezer calling my name, but I’m not sharing those with the masses that won’t appreciate them :-)

[Steve R.]

Yep, ecowper the masses get mass produced stuff and they still love it. Win/win. 🙂

[Troutman]

I agree, the commodity ribs like Smithfield are hit and miss. When you buy the 3 packs the middle one is always shiners and fat. Much prefer to spend a little more and get quality Berkshire or Duroc. But I'm cooking for a small audience generally so the few extra dollars don't matter.

[ecowper]

THese racks were all Swift and came out great, for what it’s worth

[ecowper]

Richard Chrz I think one of the keys to it is buying full spare rib racks and trimming to SLC yourself. That trimming is actually really important to getting the right amounts of meat, removing excess fat, etc.

[Richard Chrz]

ecowper absolutely, I think. That much of bbq is in the pre cook work. JMO though.

[Steve R.]

I'm at the point where brand name means less that it did before. I really need to have my eyes and hands on the stuff in grocery stores these days.

[DJ DeSpain]

Smithfield at Walmart’s is my go to when I have a last minute desire for smoking ribs. Pretty much what I get if not last minute.

[Bob's BBQ]

I've also had very good results with Smithfield.

[texastweeter]

commodity pork seems to be about the same in my opinion. Like what Steve R. said above. I like to buy the single packs and be sure to get my hands on them personally.

[Mosca]

I do pretty good with the Hatfield brand we get locally.

[Steve R.]

I found some of those at Kroger last year and they were definitely better than the store brand they normally have in stock.

[ecowper]

Now I’m hoping that there is also a McCoy brand.

[Spinaker]

Yep! They have good stuff. I am a huge fan of Smithfield and Swift. (Of course they are both my customers in my real job, but Hey, I am allowed to be biased when it come to meat.)

[radiodome21]

I bought a three single packs of Kroger store brand ribs once for a party when they were on sale. Keyword is once. Only ribs I’ve ever struggled with removing the membrane because they were in the slimmer side. Swift and Smithfield are the only ones I use simply because there really my only options. But since I like those two brands I don’t really look for anything else.

[Clark]

For the last year or so I have had consistent success with Swift Premium ribs. Unfortunately, Reasors, the local chain with a monopoly, has switched to some cheaper, lower quality brand. Even my butcher shop has some off-brand.

[klflowers]

I find it hit and miss with Swift and Smithfield ribs. So I have been going with Porter Road lately - they sell spares that I can trim down to St Louis myself.

[Dadof3Illinois]

I'm with klflowers....a couple years ago I was cursing Smithfield because of all the fat and extra subpar meat they were leaving on the ribs. I could only find Smithfield last weekend so cooked up a couple racks of the extra tender back ribs and they were awesome!!! Just hit and miss I guess.