Grudge match part deux: SL spares

[DaveD]

Hey folks, next in my set of comparison experiments, going to run a pair of St Louis spare rib racks tomorrow. Hopefully the outcome will be better than the first grudge match with the chuck roasts... welp, could scarcely be worse, so I've got that going for me! Nowhere to go but up.

In this corner, we have a rack of Duroc spares from Creekstone Farms from the sale they had early this year. And over here, in the white trunks, we have a rack from our local Wegmans that is labeled "BRISKET BONE REMOVED." I'd not heard of a brisket bone in pork ribs before, anyone know what that might be about?


Salted for overnight brine. Can't see it in the pic, but I slid a wooden toothpick into the Wegmans rack to keep track of which is which (it's the one on the bottom in this view).


In my first grudge match, with two chuck roasts, they turned out awful, totally dry. I rested them in the FC for a couple of hours, the only difference from four earlier smashing successes. So no rest this time. My game plan is to have sides that can hold so that we can eat these as soon as they come out of the smoker and sit for 10 min or so. I'll be smoking at 250F/121C after coating with Memphis Dust, and anticipate it taking 4 to 5 hours, so they'll be going on about 1pm-ish. Y'all come on by for updates in the afternoon

[bbqLuv]

The one looks like they removed the Brest Bone, reminds me of partly trimmed spare ribs. I bought some ribs at Fred Meyer's (Kroger's) labeled St Louis spare ribs. For those, I trimmed to St Louis. Just my opinion.

[Panhead John]

Damn Dave…again? I stayed home from the strip joints last weekend just to watch your Chuck grudge match. Now you’re asking me to stay home 2 weekends in a row? Damn man, the girls are gonna think I died or something.

[WI Bubba]

And if the ladies find out it was Dave keeping you home, they'll probably reward him with a special prime strip.

[DaveD]

Yep, and on the Memorial Day weekend no less. But you have an easy out: Just tell the girls it was all DaveDD's fault.

[Panhead John]

They ain’t fallin fer that DaveDD crap again, I don’t think.

[Mosca]

A full rack of spares has a big bone about the size of a garden trowel. Wegman’s sells either St Louis cut, or full spares with that bone cut out, but with the "tips" still on. (The tips are bony, but really excellent.)

Wegman’s ribs are usually from Hatfield, and they’re damn good IMO. I read somewhere they are a Yorkshire/Duroc cross. Hatfield is pretty highly regarded. You might be surprised.

[Mosca]

(2) As for the breed, I was surprised that there was some really, really deep information posted in the shallows of Google. Deep like "My best guess is that they are using the PIC C22 sow combined with a PIC 380 boar." Then, Google each of those and C22 is a Yorkshire, 380 is a Duroc.

[DaveD]

Wow! That's some good sleuthin' right there. Thanks!

[rlozinak]

I like wegmans ribs

[Mosca]

Also, I have some ribs with the brisket bone still in. I’ll post a photo next time I’m out by the freezer.

[rlozinak]

Good luck

[DaveD]

Ribs are all dusted up, and after I get back from the errand I need to run here shortly, will be firing up!

[DaveD]

Alrighty, ribs are in the smoker at 275F/135C. I re-read the Troutman Treatise on ribs and am adopting much of that approach, such as the run temperature, spritzing a couple of times until the bark is set (which I've done fairly often before), wrapping with butcher paper for an hour or so after that, then play by ear as to whether they go back in the smoker unwrapped until they're ready. I don't plan to glaze or rest them. As always, I have the water pan filled in the bottom of the chamber (so will also play by ear on the spritzing given there will be some ambient humidity).

Same orientation as before, with the Creekstone rack on top and the Wegmans below. And they're off...!

[DaveD]

Here we are at T+1 and +2 hours. Spritzed at both times. Everything seems nominal. One more hour and then wrap, assuming the bark is set...

[DaveD]

A little under 4 hours in, and I wrapped them in butcher paper right after this photo. Temps already near 200F/93C, so dropped the set point to 225F/107C and will pull the ribs after 30-45 more minutes. Both racks were nice and bendy when I took them out to wrap. Cautiously optimistic.

[Panhead John]

That top rack of ribs looks done to me! Beautiful.

[CaptainMike]

The only thing that's wrong with those ribs is that they're a continent away from my belly!!

[DaveD]

Oh yeah babe, these were RIBS. After half an hour wrapped at the lower temp, took 'em out of the smoker and let sit on the counter for about ten minutes, then carved 'em up and plated with ears of corn. Messy but good!

My lovely bride, who was in the blind the whole way, immediately named the Creekstone Duroc as superior, and she wasn't wrong. The Wegmans was very good indeed. If there'd been nothing to compare to, we would have said "Those were great!" But the other rack was just better all around - ribs were meatier, juicier, and the flavor difference was very apparent. Both racks were done just right - tug off the bone, a very nice bite. Sorry no pics of a bitten rib, no way I could touch the phone...!






I'm certainly going to do the 275F/135C thing again, and the spritzing certainly didn't seem to hurt... A good experiment.

[CaptainMike]

And nekkid, too! Just like I like 'em.

[DaveD]

Yep, so far I've done sauce tableside only, and had some with these too. Outstanding! Perhaps in a future experiment I'll do sauced vs nekkid comparison...

[CaptainMike]

I actually do like a nice sauce from time to time, but still prefer nekkid about 80% of the time.

[Jfrosty27]

Nice work Pitmaster! Yum, yum, yum.

[Mosca]

I promised this photo, but it took this long to dig into the freezer.

You can see fairly well where the ribs end and the tips start; it’s that line of fat. Then there is about an inch of tips, then everything above that is a big bone, shaped kind of like a garden trowel, depending. I used to cut this to a StLouis cut, but I really enjoy tips, so now I leave the tips on. There’s a piece of cartilage that runs perpendicular to the ribs that is kind of disconcerting the first time you cut these, in a "What the hell is THAT!?" way. That’s holding the tips together, just cut it when you cut the ribs at the end of the cook.

This is a two-pack, so each photo is a different rack. But you get the idea.

[DaveD]

Thanks!

[Mosca]

Here is one each with the bones, and one prepped for the grill. All the trimmings, I either grill them as my Boneless Rib Bites, or slow cook them for add-ins for beans etc.

[DaveD]

That looks great! I don't believe I've seen a full untrimmed rack before, it would seem...