I just cooked 4 racks of the Smithfield ETs last weekend. They turned out great. Good price at Walmart. I will keep using them for a while to test consistency but I'm happy with first attempt.
My Sam's had Smithfield ribs a few weeks ago, but IBP last week. I got a case of butts and had the choice between IBP and Smithfield, but he said it was the last case of IBP.
I have been cooking mostly IBP butts and Smithfield Prime ribs for most of the last 2 years. I have tried ET's and Prime butts, but didn't have great luck with either. Occasionally, I can get generic label butts from a Seaboard plant. I like them, but can't depend on them being available.
Tried Smithfield primes last year and very unhappy.. Poorly butchered and curved bones made them lousy for competition.. Peopleliking the et but for now sticking with Restaurant Depot
so whats the real difference between the brands and labels? honest question. Do some plants just have higher standards for processing or what they use/put in the package? do they get their product from specific farms or whatever specific to their brand or is IBP using the same pigs as smithfield and just putting their label? I mean you can't really blame a pig for crooked rib bones.
as far as brands I use, i haven't been particular. the time i placed the highest i had cooked both smithfield ET and some restaurant depot ribs, but lost track of which was which.
I think the difference could be the breed of hog, feed, living conditions, etc, etc, etc. These bones are not the straightest I have had, but not the most crooked either. I will post pictures of the cook tomorrow. Still practicing from the Johnny Trigg's cook school. His ribs are really ridiculously good. I have a pork butt going on as well. Still trying to get the money muscle dialed in.
Ribs turned out pretty good. They got a little darker than I would have wanted. I had my temp flair up on me when I had them wrapped. I am wondering if the sugars got too hot and caramelized them too much. I was pretty happy with my money muscle and tubes.
I used Smithfield ET spares at Jackson, MS contest on Saturday. Hammed all the way through. I've not had this happen before and I don't want it to happen again. I know of no way to determine whether ribs are too enhanced before cooking and cutting them. I did pretty good with Smithfield ET last year. This year not so much. Could be using the Drum last year... Going looking for different ribs for next comp.
I was ready to walk away with smithfields after a recent comp, but decided to do one last taste test. cooked 4 slabs of ribs on the drum 2 seaboard farms 2 smithfield ETs. Exact same rub/ timeline. The smithfields one out on both taste and tenderness. The retained a lot more moisture.
I can't figure out why the last few racks of ET's I bought had weird fat layer things going on in the middle of the meat. Hard to explain but it just wasn't right. Just hoping I got a bad batch, because I really liked the ET last year.