Costco Baby Back Ribs

[milkmoron]

Anyone cook Baby Backs from Costco before? Usually I just buy them from my grocery store but haven’t been able to get any recently. They are always out of them.

I noticed Costco is 3 racks of ribs that equal about 10lb total. I read that bigger racks are less tender and sometimes they don’t trim all the loin meat is this true?

[theroc]

We've cooked many racks of Costco baby backs. And yes, they tend to have a fair amount of loin meat on them, so cook accordingly. I'll always wrap the Costco ribs to get that loin meat tender without drying them out. Another option would be to trim the loin meat and cook it separately, but kind of shame to have to do that, IMHO.

[Rod]

Yep

[ecowper]

What theroc said .... the typical back ribs are 2.75 lbs per rack. Costco’s are 3 to 3.25 lbs per rack. The difference is how much meat is left on them. Normally I figure 3.5-4.0 hours for back ribs, but the costco ones take more like 4.5 hours and then I wrap and hold in the oven for an hour at 170.

[milkmoron]

What time do u wrap the ribs at? Do you think if I don’t wrap the loin meat will be dry? I usually don’t wrap my ribs.

[Dewesq55]

Loin meat is lean ("the other white meat") and gets dry after about 145° IT. It doesn't get better by cooking to a high IT like butt or ribs. If you wrap, it will have a braising effect which might soften the loin meat while keeping it a bit moister. As far as timing of the wrap, I have no clue.

[milkmoron]

I’ll make sure to add liquids and fat then while I wrap it and upside down.

[milkmoron]

What theroc said .... the typical back ribs are 2.75 lbs per rack. Costco’s are 3 to 3.25 lbs per rack. The difference is how much meat is left on them. Normally I figure 3.5-4.0 hours for back ribs, but the costco ones take more like 4.5 hours and then I wrap and hold in the oven for an hour at 170.

I’ll try this out then. Hopefully it turns out good. My smoker can go down to 175 so I’ll just hold it there.

[ecowper]

Let me know how they come out!

[Jfrosty27]

I do these all the time. I do not wrap. I just spritz with apple juice every hour until they’re done. Never dry. Always moist and tender.

[Parkin]

Same thing here...they just take longer. I just did a pack @225. Took me around 6 1/2 hours, but were tender, and moist. Spritz every hour! I'm going to try the Trigg method this weekend just to see if I like them better.

[Jfrosty27]

Yup. About 6.5 hours every time. Being retired, I have nothing BUT time, so that's OK.

[Rod]

Or there is this method.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/the-pit-mastery-program/porknography-ribs-pulled-pork-ham-etc/398047-blasphemy-ribs

[GolfGeezer]

+1 on Blasphemy ribs. Mark has several recipes using this method.

https://blasphemyribs.com/

[jfmorris]

My wife and daughters prefer the ribs this way now! The only draw back is it takes more space on the cooker if they are cut up like that.

[Rod]

The biggest benefit to me is you can have great tasting ribs in 2.5 hours. No longer have to wait for the weekends if you're still in the workforce

[bbqLuv]

I joined Cosco because of their meat department. The ribs from there are of good quilty and the best looking rack is always on top of the 3 pack. To bad pork is not graded as beef, Select, Choice and Prime.

[HawkerXP]

I like Costco ribs as well. If you dig around you my find some under 9lbs for a 3 pack. Try the St Louie, that's my go to for wibs.

[bardsleyque]

I agree with the St. Louis's!

[Spinaker]

I am a big fan of Costco ribs. They are always great quality when I have cooked them. Generally, I shoot for the St, Louis Style ribs but I will occasionally do the baby backs and I have always been satisfied with what I have purchased at Costco.

[jfmorris]

I've cooked hundreds of racks of "loin back" aka baby back ribs from either Costco or Sam's club, in those 3 packs. As others have said, the thick loin meat on them makes them take longer to cook than the thinner slabs you might get from the grocery store, but they are always good.

I used to do the 2-2-1 method with those, where they smoke for 2 hours, run 2 hours wrapped in foil, then 1 hour unwrapped and sauced. Family loved them that way. These days I tend not to wrap, but I am wondering if it would help with that loin meat.

I did Saint Louis cut spare ribs on Sunday that were stellar, and juicier than the last thick loin/baby back ribs I made. I am probably going to start buying those more often, just the full spare ribs, and trimming myself, as I like the rib ribs and flap meat as treats...

[GolfGeezer]

jfmorris Did you wrap the Louis? Time and temp?

[jfmorris]

GolfGeezer I normally wouldn't wrap, but dinner was planned to be between 5 and 6, and around 4pmthe ribs were not where I wanted them, so I wrapped in foil for an hour, then unwrapped at 5pm, sauced, and let then go until 6pm. They were just about perfect. Cook started around 12:30-12:45. Entire cook was at 250.

[GolfGeezer]

jfmorris Thanks. I have a rack in the freezer. Need to give this approach a try.

[klflowers]

+1 on Jim's post. I had been ordering spares from Creekstone, but with the shipping delays lately I'll have to go back to Costco. I am on the buy spares and trim to St Louis cut train; I treat the trimmed pieces like burnt ends.

I have never wrapped, but I think I am going to try Henrik's like Johnny Trigg method next time:

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...e-johnny-trigg

[jfmorris]

Yeah, I am liking this approach too. We finished the ribs last night, but I had the rib tips from one slab as my lunch today, and they were like candy - maybe I will pre cut them into little peices like burnt ends before cooking next time.

[fzxdoc]

I just smoked loin back babyback ribs on Sunday, one was 3lbs 2oz and the other 3lbs 6 oz. Prairie brand. Not injected.

Did the Johnny Trigg method on the larger one, thinking that wrapping it would hasten the cook time some, but that was a no go. It actually hit a pretty significant stall after I unwrapped and sauced it. It was at 163°ish when it came out of the wrap. The method calls for keeping it wrapped for only 1 hour though. Next time I'll do 2 hours in the wrap, I think.

Did the smaller one my usual method--cook to probe tender, no sauce.

WSCGC in kamado mode was about 250-260°. Smaller one took 5 hours, larger (wrapped) one took 5 hours 50 minutes.

Both racks were perfectly cooked, and the loin meat was juicy and tender. There was enough fat in and around it, close to the bone as it is, to keep it from drying out.

Kathryn

[ecowper]

Spinaker The meat buyer at Costco that set up their pork ribs program is a good friend of mine. He is also a BBQ guy. He basically designed the cryovacs of SLC and Back ribs to be exactly what he wants. Remind me to thank him again for that one :-)

[HawkerXP]

But please tell him thanks for the prime packers. They showed up a year or so ago. Made me very happy
We do see preseasoned tri tips....

[ecowper]

HawkerXP Rob def loves to hear this kind of thing and I pass it along to him. He avoids food and cooking forums for obvious reasons.

[Parkin]

We get both the un-seasoned and seasoned Tri Tips here in AZ

[Jfrosty27]

Ok all this rib talk and I HAD to make a run to Costco to get some. 3 pack of BB’s, 9.1lbs, $2.99 per pound. A visit to pork heaven is on the horizon! Thanks for the inspiration everyone!!!!