Creekstone Farms Ribs & Pork Butt

[Slamdunkpro]

mine were last september. My comp season hasn't started yet this year. If they changed them, that's great. I complained last year and basically got the response that they are what they are and if you don't like it don't use them. So I didn't

Yeah they had a bit of an attitude about them last year. That's changed. They changed the spec early this year.

 

[bigdogphin]

I got a shipment earlier this year. Ribs were great so I reodered for the next couple of comps. The butts where smallish for me but had great flavor but not that much more noticeable than the seaboard I have been using.

 

[Roast Beast]

I just got a case in the mail and while they are frozen from what I could tell in looking at them closely all 8 racks were thick though for competition and very well marbled. Took a few racks out for a test cook early next week.

Mine are scheduled for delivery tomorrow. Glad to hear they arrived frozen. I was hoping to keep some frozen for later. Are they individually packaged?

 

[Slamdunkpro]

Are they individually packaged?

Yes they are.

 

[Right on Q]

Thinking about pulling the trigger on an 8 pack of St louis ribs. With the brethren discount, they are about 5-10% more $$ than Kroger ribs. For Duroc pork i think it's worth a shot. Especially seeing that they are producing a more consistent product now.

These kind of discussions are why i love this site

 

[cpw]

I just got a case in the mail and while they are frozen from what I could tell in looking at them closely all 8 racks were thick though for competition and very well marbled. Took a few racks out for a test cook early next week.

did you get the st. Louis cut or the full spares?

 

[bam]

Had planned on ordering some for a party.Glad to hear they listening to the customers.

 

[Roast Beast]

My box of St. Louis cut arrived earlier today. One rack was 2 lb 6 oz and all the rest were between 2 lb 10 oz and 2 lb 14 oz, so very consistent weight. If these work out, I might consider the full spares next time so that I can trim them to a "squarer" St. Louis cut than the pre-trimmed, which are pretty rounded/tapered on the rib tip side. Nice thickness and marbling. Some racks had nice, straight bones. Others were pretty crooked, but that doesn't really bother me. Arrived partially thawed. Im looking forward to doing a side-by-side with some commodity Costco ribs this weekend.

 

[Right on Q]

Im looking forward to doing a side-by-side with some commodity Costco ribs this weekend.

Post pictures and results after your cook if you can

I'd love to see how they turn out

 

[Roast Beast]

Post pictures and results after your cook if you can

I'd love to see how they turn out

I'll try to do that, you just might have to look past the general mediocrity of my cook to see any difference between the two varieties....:thumb:

 

[Roast Beast]

Post pictures and results after your cook if you can

I'd love to see how they turn out

I put some pictures up on my Facebook page. As far as results, the Duroc had a great flavor, but they were more . . . slender than I personally prefer for comps. I have six more racks in the freezer and some of them are thicker than the ones I tested today, so maybe those will give results closer to what I'm looking for. I will say that the pack of commodity ribs I tested them against was much better than average.

 

[rtboswell]

did you get the st. Louis cut or the full spares?

I got the St. Louis cut.

 

[rtboswell]

I put some pictures up on my Facebook page. As far as results, the Duroc had a great flavor, but they were more . . . slender than I personally prefer for comps. I have six more racks in the freezer and some of them are thicker than the ones I tested today, so maybe those will give results closer to what I'm looking for. I will say that the pack of commodity ribs I tested them against was much better than average.

I cooked some myself yesterday and I cooked the smallest racks I received as well. There were definitely a few bones that couldn't have been turned in due to lack of meat coverage, but we had at least 10 bones between the two racks that would have been fine for turn-ins. The two racks I cooked were a little narrower than most commodity pork I've cooked and they were on the thinner side in a few spots. The one's in the freezer are all a bit wider and look to be thicker as well. Not sure what I'm going to cook this weekend in Cornelia.

 

[Podge]

To RabidDog and Rtboswell.. So, it seems you all had some decent competition quality racks out of the group of racks you had sent to you.. My questions are: what percentage of these ribs were competition quality, and does that higher price justify that then?

 

[rtboswell]

To RabidDog and Rtboswell.. So, it seems you all had some decent competition quality racks out of the group of racks you had sent to you.. My questions are: what percentage of these ribs were competition quality, and does that higher price justify that then?

Podge-

That's what I'm debating now. I used Prairie Fresh ribs last year with decent success and when we didn't score it definitely wasn't the ribs' fault. I was trying to avoid the "middle rib" in the pack and having to drive to RD which is about an hour from me. Last year it was 25 minutes.

The Duroc did have a much better taste, but I think by the time you factor in that there will be culls in any case I'm not sure its worth it. I'd say 6 of 8 were definitely competition thickness/width. The marbling on all of the racks was great.

 

[egorham]

This site is fantastic. I asked a simple question about Creekstone pork and I get a ton of great responses and two members do tests that put Consumer Reports to shame. Just fantastic and helpful.

Rabidawg, the pictures look great.

Thank you all for the insight.

 

[Podge]

Podge-

That's what I'm debating now. I used Prairie Fresh ribs last year with decent success and when we didn't score it definitely wasn't the ribs' fault. I was trying to avoid the "middle rib" in the pack and having to drive to RD which is about an hour from me. Last year it was 25 minutes.

The Duroc did have a much better taste, but I think by the time you factor in that there will be culls in any case I'm not sure its worth it. I'd say 6 of 8 were definitely competition thickness/width. The marbling on all of the racks was great.

This is what will be interesting. I spend about $105 for 9 racks of ribs at Costco to get 4 decent ones.. that's about $25 per rack per contest.. It'd be interesting if this cost per rack of competition ribs, is around $50 or so per rack, per contest.

 

[Roast Beast]

To RabidDog and Rtboswell.. So, it seems you all had some decent competition quality racks out of the group of racks you had sent to you.. My questions are: what percentage of these ribs were competition quality, and does that higher price justify that then?

I'd need to run through a few cases before I'd be comfortable using them at a competition. My cull rate was about the same as Randy's, so on a per-rack basis that's about $19.50. The flip side of that for me is that the Costco Swift racks run about $35 for a three-pack. If I get two good racks from each pack, that's $17.50 per rack. If I get lucky on the middle rack, that's under $12 a rack for ribs that generally meet my other requirements.

Restaurant Depot ribs have been a nightmare for me (50%+ cull rate when they're 3 or 4 packs; better in 2-packs), with a nice sprinkling of stinky ribs in there for good measure. I'd take Creekstone any day of the week over those. But since I'm lucky enough to be within a 20-minute drive of four Sam's Clubs, three Costcos, and various other places selling decent commodity ribs, the convenience of hand-picking the ribs is probably going to win out for me.

 

[J&B'sBBQ]

I'd need to run through a few cases before I'd be comfortable using them at a competition. My cull rate was about the same as Randy's, so on a per-rack basis that's about $19.50. The flip side of that for me is that the Costco Swift racks run about $35 for a three-pack. If I get two good racks from each pack, that's $17.50 per rack. If I get lucky on the middle rack, that's under $12 a rack for ribs that generally meet my other requirements.

Restaurant Depot ribs have been a nightmare for me (50%+ cull rate when they're 3 or 4 packs; better in 2-packs), with a nice sprinkling of stinky ribs in there for good measure. I'd take Creekstone any day of the week over those. But since I'm lucky enough to be within a 20-minute drive of four Sam's Clubs, three Costcos, and various other places selling decent commodity ribs, the convenience of hand-picking the ribs is probably going to win out for me.

I went ahead and ordered a case of them, thanks to this thread, and I'm going to compare them to what I can get at Costco as well. I ran into the same issues with RD ribs at the end of last season, so we've been buying just from Costco thus far, but that darn middle rack has been crud each time. I'll let y'all know what we think of the box we end up with when it shows up.

 

[J&B'sBBQ]

I put some pictures up on my Facebook page. As far as results, the Duroc had a great flavor, but they were more . . . slender than I personally prefer for comps. I have six more racks in the freezer and some of them are thicker than the ones I tested today, so maybe those will give results closer to what I'm looking for. I will say that the pack of commodity ribs I tested them against was much better than average.

Now that I've looked at the pictures (more than once), did you notice any differences in moisture or texture between the two types? Did the Duroc cook more quickly than the commodity ribs?