Smithfield Extra Tender

I somewhat prefer the prime butts, and can say that once we switched to those last year our pork got a lot better. Same with the Ribs, but when they're not cooked right they're pretty tough, when cooked properly they're top 10 all day.
 
jaestar said:
You would be suprised how long some of the top rib cooks have been keeping the use of enhanced ribs a secret. It really wasn't until last year with the Smithfield program that teams started publicizing that they use them. I can say from my personal use, my scores in ribs went up significantly since I started using ET ribs. There were were a few times last year I had to use regular ribs and did not have near the success I do when cooking ET's.
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I've used them before they were the popular thing. Farmland ET ribs were all I could get locally for years. While everyone bashed enhanced ribs I just cooked them and have always done well with them.
 
So without giving away the double secret probation hand-shake ...what's the major change in process then? Just reducing the sodium in your regular prep?

I will have to try them again, but my first attempt was so disastrous (just a test run - not a comp) that I wrote them off.

I've had a decent amount of success with ribs given my limited competition cooking including a couple first place finishes, but I'm always looking to try something different.
 
Hammy for sure.. I think less salt for sure. Maybe injecting some sweet to balance out that hammy taste?
 
jasonjax said:
So without giving away the double secret probation hand-shake ...what's the major change in process then? Just reducing the sodium in your regular prep?

I will have to try them again, but my first attempt was so disastrous (just a test run - not a comp) that I wrote them off.

I've had a decent amount of success with ribs given my limited competition cooking including a couple first place finishes, but I'm always looking to try something different.
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I've never had them taste hammy and I use same rubs and sauces many teams are using on non-enhanced. It's in the cook process that is different than products used on them. They cook different.

If you are having success with what your are currently using, why change?
 
We used the Smithfield ET butts for the first time at the Royal and they didn't disappoint. We cooked just a regular Smithfield 2 pack at the Jack and got 7th and ET's at the royal moved us up to 5th in the open. That makes it hard to argue with the brand. I do agree that you have to be careful with the ET butts as they could get a little soft in the money muscle if you over cook them.
 
Smithfield has left a very bad taste in my mouth from my business with them on the retail level. I'm not a fan of Smithfield. Equally, I do not shop at Wal-Mart. However, I've noticed come comments on Facebook about Smithfield Extra Tender butts and ribs and I wanted to give them another peek so I stopped at my local Wal-Mart in Harrisonburg, VA, last evening to check them out.

The butts were nothing special that I could tell. They ranged form 7 to 9lbs, but the money muscles seemed very small. Some of the money muscles on the butts seemed to have been cut or trimmed. Not a lot of fat cap on these butts which is not really a bad thing, but makes me question the marbling inside the cut. Lots of blood, or red something, inside the packs which I'm not used to seeing in packaging from IBP or Swift.

On the St. Louis ribs I actually saw straight bones. There were about 10 packs of ribs on the shelf and all but about 2 of those packs had straight bones worthy of competition BBQ. But they were thin. Not much meat on those bones. When selecting my racks for competition I've always looked for meaty, well marbled, racks with straight bones. I don't claim to be an expert in KCBS competition cooking, but I cook a lot of racks of ribs in a year and I just do not see what's so special about these ribs.

I decided to take the Pepsi Challenge, though. I bought two butts and two racks to cook side-by-side my typical restaurant supply cuts. We'll see how it goes....
 
I used a smithfield butt and took 2nd in Pork at the KCBS in Humble Tx. I cooked 2 regular butts and 1 smithfield and the smithfield, BY FAR, had the bigger money muscles once i got to trimming on them. I thought the same as you and when i looked at them in the package, the MM looked small. But once i opened them up, there was no comparison. And all of them were above 9 lbs.

As for the ribs, i have found the smithfield to have more meat than say IBP ribs or even the Moist and Tender from Kroger.

Just my 2cents
 
FlavorSavor said:
Smithfield has left a very bad taste in my mouth from my business with them on the retail level. I'm not a fan of Smithfield. Equally, I do not shop at Wal-Mart. However, I've noticed come comments on Facebook about Smithfield Extra Tender butts and ribs and I wanted to give them another peek so I stopped at my local Wal-Mart in Harrisonburg, VA, last evening to check them out.

The butts were nothing special that I could tell. They ranged form 7 to 9lbs, but the money muscles seemed very small. Some of the money muscles on the butts seemed to have been cut or trimmed. Not a lot of fat cap on these butts which is not really a bad thing, but makes me question the marbling inside the cut. Lots of blood, or red something, inside the packs which I'm not used to seeing in packaging from IBP or Swift.

On the St. Louis ribs I actually saw straight bones. There were about 10 packs of ribs on the shelf and all but about 2 of those packs had straight bones worthy of competition BBQ. But they were thin. Not much meat on those bones. When selecting my racks for competition I've always looked for meaty, well marbled, racks with straight bones. I don't claim to be an expert in KCBS competition cooking, but I cook a lot of racks of ribs in a year and I just do not see what's so special about these ribs.

I decided to take the Pepsi Challenge, though. I bought two butts and two racks to cook side-by-side my typical restaurant supply cuts. We'll see how it goes....
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I think part of the big draw for Smithfield Extra Tender products is that they are enhanced at the packing plant to improve moisture retention and tenderness. So generally speaking you will likely have to hunt some for the butts and ribs that have the qualities you're looking for. Just like with most all other brands.
 
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BBQchef33 said:
How long in advance did you rub them?? and was your rub high in salt?

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=228744&highlight=hammy
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I do a two-part rub on my ribs, and the first part is mostly garlic, salt, pepper. I rub with that the night before. This is my usual process, and I never had what I considered a "hammy" product in the past, but maybe I need to exclude this step if I use the ET's. I'm definitely willing to try them again based on all the positive reviews, but man I was shocked when I tested them.

I'm also wondering if as someone mentioned maybe these ribs had hung out in the meat dept. thawed a good while.
 
jaestar said:
Looks like Smithfield Extra Tender ribs just took overall GC at the Houston Livestock Rodeo World Championship. Congratulations to Iowa's Smokey D!!!
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I would say that Darren took the overall GC.......not the kind of ribs he cooked. With 184 rib entries I'm certain plenty of guys cooked smithfield and finished poorly.

Nice to know though that they are a good enough product to win IF you do your part for sure.

A Jambo is good enough to win back to back Jacks with a Royal open and invitational mixed in as well but I've never seen anyone do it but Tuffy.

The Royal was won very recently with meats purchased right off the shelf at restaurant depot but i didn't see any major increase in guys looking for those.

It's human nature to copycat as much as you can from those at the top in an attempt to narrow the gap.......the entire golf equipment industry depends on it but I've seen a thousand guys tee off with the same driver Dustin Johnson uses and never seen a single one get the same results as he does.

I'm absolutely not saying don't buy the best meats and cookers you can..........I do. I just think it's a nice place to start rather than a shortcut to the top. I have seen way too many guys with all the "right tools" never leave their chair during awards to feel any different.

Given the choice between Iowa Smokey D's cooking grocery store meat and much less skilled team cooking "high end" meats I know who my money would be on.
 
Atlasman said:
Given the choice between Iowa Smokey D's cooking grocery store meat and much less skilled team cooking "high end" meats I know who my money would be on.
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My money would be on Darren, every time.

Its funny that you use golf as your analogy. I have heard Darren compare comp bbq to golf. At Sam's regional he said (paraphrasing) "This is like golf. Half of these teams are going to take themselves out of the contest."

What he was saying that no matter how good someone is, you are ultimately competing against yourself. No matter how good your prep, recipes, meat, or cooker, if you get flustered and come off your game, your not going to win.
 
Darren is a freak of nature and in my opinion, the greatest of all time. That being said, meat selection matters. He cooks Smithfield ETs for a reason.
 
The sad thing is I have a rack on my UDS right now with Killer Hogs,
I'll never compete, and maybe I made a mistake buying these.
They are rolling at 250, just wrapped them and did not add any butter or anything.
I hope they are edible. I took a few pics. Will post back.
Doing 1.5, 1.5, 15 minutes or so sauced with original Killer Hogs.
 
OK, Crybabies, I just cooked one rack - I am not a comp guy - never been, nor will,
just cook for my wife and friends -
the lady ate -em up, they were overcooked, falling off.
I went 1.5 1.5, 20 at 250. Killer Hogs rub and sauce, and I never sauce.
She ate 'em like she was a dog.
way OVERCOOKED, even - next time it's 1 1/4. 1 1/4, 15.
I knew when I wrapped them they were overdone.
If they wouldn't have come in DAL in a comp, I shudder to think what is being turned in...

W
 
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