Baby back rib comparison cook

[ronbrad62]

I have a competition coming up in a few weeks and I wanted to get my flavors down, so since today is the nicest day of my two days off, I decided to fire things up.
Publix has baby back ribs BOGO this week and I have noticed that they often carry Prairie Fresh (not the primes, but they look good), so I grabbed a rack, and I occasionally see Duroc baby backs in Kroger, so I asked the manager to order some. I usually do St. Louis ribs for comps, but if the flavor of either of these impresses me, I won't hesitate to change. Our selection of top shelf pork around here is limited, so I hope one of these does the trick.
Here are the two racks, I could tell right away that the Duroc looked the most appealing. I will be cooking them exactly the same and will render my decision at dinner.

 

[sudsandswine]

I'm a big fan of Prairie Fresh as far as commodity pork is concerned. They may not be better than your other slab, but I doubt they'll be bad.

 

[cowgirl]

I volunteer to be a taste tester! :-D
Bet they're both delicious!

 

[ronbrad62]

Here are the finished ribs, top two are Duroc, bottom two are Prairie Fresh. I would have to give the edge to the Duroc because they were moister, and while both were very good, well above my success rate with baby backs, I would gladly use either in a competition if my preferred one wasn't available. My only concern is that every time I have tried any heritage pork ribs, the bone "blows out" on the underside (in bottom picture). If anyone has any advice regarding that, I would appreciate it. All in all, these were very tasty ribs so either will give you a good meal.

 

[bschoen]

those all look great.

 

[Stingerhook]

Either way you have a winner Ron.

 

[bowhnter]

They look good Ron.

 

[oldgfbbq]

On behalf of your friends and neighbors, more testing should be done. Much, much more testing with a variety of opinions from those you don't normally consult. You might even consider delivery to some of your Brethren, even those residing in western Mass :-D

 

[bbqwizard]

They both look excellent! When you wrap, leave one end open a smidge. This will alter the steaming affect slightly, and give you a better chance of not having blowouts.

 

[4ever3]

They both look great Ron!

 

[TC Smoke & Que]

I use Baby Backs always in comp, they are meatier and have a sweeter flavor. Plus you can have a more varied flavor profile with different rubs and glazes.
I would enter either one of those racks, They Look Great.
Did you wrap?, plus something added to keep moisture in the wrap? That helps avoid the "Bone Blow Out".

 

[Mike Twangzer]

Was in Walmart the other day and perused the meat department. Picked up a couple of the Prairie Fresh spare ribs, untrimmed, as the it was fairly inexpensive.

 

[BruceB]

Believe it or not, when I wrapped ribs in competitions, I always placed 3 or 4 slices of bacon on the bone side of each rack, and then wrapped. Bone blowout was very minimal.

 

[Colorado0321]

I use Baby Backs always in comp, they are meatier and have a sweeter flavor. Plus you can have a more varied flavor profile with different rubs and glazes.
I would enter either one of those racks, They Look Great.
Did you wrap?, plus something added to keep moisture in the wrap? That helps avoid the "Bone Blow Out".

The way the membrane comes off of baby backs is way more satisfying too.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Those look Great Ron. I would be happy with either one. I like BB Ribs

 

[TC Smoke & Que]

The way the membrane comes off of baby backs is way more satisfying too.

Yes, much easier to remove the membrane on B Backs. I also trim off some of the fat from the face side. to help the rendering, and get a better Smoke Ring, Flavor Profile.

 

[Mike Twangzer]

So what was your final opinion ? They both look good ....

 

[1MoreFord]

OP, your ribs with the exposed bones look like both membranes have been pulled. There are usually/always two membranes on ribs. Sometimes the heavier, outer membrane is already pulled when you buy them. If so you will probably go ahead and pull the second one too without realizing what you are doing. You might even grab and pull both at the same time somehow. Regardless of what happens your pic is what the result looks like.

The outer membrane is heavier and normally easier to pull. The inner is somewhat like paper and tears easier. The inner is usually harder to separate and start the pull.

 

[ronbrad62]

OP, your ribs with the exposed bones look like both membranes have been pulled. There are usually/always two membranes on ribs. Sometimes the heavier, outer membrane is already pulled when you buy them. If so you will probably go ahead and pull the second one too without realizing what you are doing. You might even grab and pull both at the same time somehow. Regardless of what happens your pic is what the result looks like.

The outer membrane is heavier and normally easier to pull. The inner is somewhat like paper and tears easier. The inner is usually harder to separate and start the pull.

That is exactly how it looked on the Duroc rib, there was only about half of the regular, firt-layer membrane on that one, but the blow-out has been a common occurrence for me with any heritage pork.

 

[ronbrad62]

So what was your final opinion ? They both look good ....

Thanks, I found the Duroc to be moister and I will give them another shot this weekend and see if a couple of the suggestions will help with the blow-out. If so, I will consider using them in my comp.