babybacks vs spareribs

need to hear some input from you all on your preferences for preparing pork spareribs vs your preparations for babyback....

do you all prepare them the same or have a whole different program?


Josh.

btw..found me a place to buy a hog today...nice and close, excellent meat at an excellent price

I treat them pretty much the same.

MikeS.

Preparation is the same; only difference is in the amount of rub and smoking time due to difference in sizes. Lately I’ve been using a combination of Salt, Garlic Powder, and Ground Black Pepper as the rub. Sometimes less is better.

John

Spareribs are best "St Louis" syle. They should also have the membrane removed. Babybacks need less cooking/smoking time than spareribs.
Hickory and/or cherry are the best wood to use for smoking.
-But, thats just MY opinion.

Same.rub.,different.cook.times.
Also,.I.find.spare.ribs.to.be.a.little.less.tender.
I.don't.think.the.fat.gets.rendered.as.well.as.it.does.with.bb.ribs.

quote:

Originally posted by Parses6

Babyback ribs is spareribs

Nope, they are different cuts of meat entirely. Spareribs are generally longer, with more bone and fat to meat ratio. Back ribs are from a cut closer to the loin, and are actually pork chop bones; spareribs are cut lower on the hog, at the belly level.

From my previous post on another thread titled st louis ribs..
-------------------------------

St.Louis Style Ribs"..
This is what I got off the following link..
Still doesnt really say.. Hmmmmm
I see we have ventured in to KC and Colorado while reading this..
http://www.ribman.com/abtribs.html
Rib Terms



Pork Loin Ribs (Baby Backs)
Back ribs shall consist of at least 8 ribs and as many as 14 ribs. Generally, a rack of ribs will be 12 to 13 ribs. The back rib is the vertebrae section of the pork loin. When specified, the "skin" (peritoneum) shall be removed from the inside surface of the ribs along the intercostal meat.
Spare Ribs
Spare ribs are the intact rib section removed from the belly and may include costal cartilage, with or without the brisket bone removed and diaphragm trimmed. They will contain at least 11 bones.
St. Louis Style Ribs
St. Louis Style ribs are cut from the spare rib and are prepared by removing the brisket bone parallel to the rib side, exposing cartilage on the brisket bone side. Skirt meat can be removes. If left on, the outside edge of the skirt should be trimmed.
Pork Brisket Bone (Rib Tip - Breaks - Tips)
are the small meaty pieces that are removed from the spare rib during the process of making a St. Louis rib. Cut from butcher hogs, they are very meaty.
Kansas City Style or Bar-B-Q Cut (KC Cut - Colorado Style - South Side Cut)
a spare rib which has had the hard bone removed, and in some cases, the point squared.
Riblets
from the loin or spare ribs, generated by straightening the loin or cutting down a loin or spare rib. Will vary in size and weight.
Flatbone - Button Bone Riblets
The last four to six bones of the back bone, not having ribs connecting them. A cover of meat will connect each.

babybacks;--------
membrane off
standard pork rub
heat setting on southern pride 225f
placed on racks meat side down, bone side up
rib size 1 1/2 down
cook time 2 hours
spareribs;---------
membrane off
standard pork rub plus 25% orange habanero rub by homebbq.com
place on rack rib side down, meat side up.
heat setting on cookshack SM150 150f for 2 hours, bump to 206f for 4 hours, texas crutch 1 hour with honey. remove crutch and finish 1 hour at 220f.
wood used cherry
rib size 4 1/2 up
fat rendered
meat comes from bone clean and leaves teeth marks in the meat. not sloppy, overcooked, no teethmark swill.
good smoke ring (yeah, i know, you can't get a smoke ring on an electric)
if you are using a pellet smoker--------
follow same as above
jack
ps. the reason my spares are so big is that is what our largest customer demands. at 30 bucks a slab i would coat them in fish guts if thats what he wanted on his standing order for 12 slabs per week. i dont mind cooking them,wrapping in commercial film,wrapping in heavy gauge foil and delievering them to him frozen. i have no idea what he does with them. he pays cash money. my part time employeer thought it was too much work and sent him my way.

roosy,
man you got the be all,end all rib info there!!!!!!!!!
great definition!!!!
parses
to make it a little ez for you. spareribs is what you got left AFTER you rib the bacon away. they lay right under that low down on the pig. or like my german chef taught me pig anatomy is just like a human on all fours. so rub you hand over your ribs. feel the muscles over the ribs themselves? ok rib the muscle off and what is still attached to the ribs is spareribs.
to think of loinribs just run your hand over your spine. should get you close to how pigs breakdown.
hope it helps
jack

quote:

Originally posted by prisonchef

roosy,
man you got the be all,end all rib info there!!!!!!!!!
great definition!!!!
parses
to make it a little ez for you. spareribs is what you got left AFTER you rib the bacon away. they lay right under that low down on the pig. or like my german chef taught me pig anatomy is just like a human on all fours. so rub you hand over your ribs. feel the muscles over the ribs themselves? ok rib the muscle off and what is still attached to the ribs is spareribs.
to think of loinribs just run your hand over your spine. should get you close to how pigs breakdown.
hope it helps
jack

I got that info off ribman web site.. Thanks to HIM>>>

Cooked six racks of Babybacks yesterday,Dry rub,cooked for hour and a half ,charcoal and hickory chips, wrapped in foil cooked another hour or so let em rest and Man were they Awesome!

quote:

Originally posted by jellybear

Cooked six racks of Babybacks yesterday,Dry rub,cooked for hour and a half ,charcoal and hickory chips, wrapped in foil cooked another hour or so let em rest and Man were they Awesome!

That's a very good way to do them.

I like to cook my babybacks at around 150F for about 4 hrs......I've had real good luck with that when I was able to keep my temp constant...

The spares I just bought are St. Louis Cut...I actually prefer whole spare ribs..but we'll see how it goes.....Someone brought up different cook times....what do you all suggest on cook times for Spares.

also....someone said they cook their babybacks meat side down??? I was taught bone side down..let the juices soak back down through the whole cut.....what is everyone's opinion on which side to cook em?

quote:

Originally posted by Iconic

I like to cook my babybacks at around 150F for about 4 hrs......I've had real good luck with that when I was able to keep my temp constant...

The spares I just bought are St. Louis Cut...I actually prefer whole spare ribs..but we'll see how it goes.....Someone brought up different cook times....what do you all suggest on cook times for Spares.

also....someone said they cook their babybacks meat side down??? I was taught bone side down..let the juices soak back down through the whole cut.....what is everyone's opinion on which side to cook em?

I would be concerned about how long their in the danger zone, 40-140 degrees, with that low a cook temp. I smoke at 225 degrees, it usually takes about five hours for St. Louis spares with no foil used. I also use rib racks so mine are standing on their sides.

John

quote:

Originally posted by John A

quote:

Originally posted by Iconic

I like to cook my babybacks at around 150F for about 4 hrs......I've had real good luck with that when I was able to keep my temp constant...

The spares I just bought are St. Louis Cut...I actually prefer whole spare ribs..but we'll see how it goes.....Someone brought up different cook times....what do you all suggest on cook times for Spares.

also....someone said they cook their babybacks meat side down??? I was taught bone side down..let the juices soak back down through the whole cut.....what is everyone's opinion on which side to cook em?

I would be concerned about how long their in the danger zone, 40-140 degrees, with that low a cook temp. I smoke at 225 degrees, it usually takes about five hours for St. Louis spares with no foil used. I also use rib racks so mine are standing on their sides.

John

I was always told that when you smoke ribs standing up in a rack, to make sure the "fatty" larger end is on top so the fat melts down to "baste" the ribs.

quote:

Originally posted by twinwillow

quote:

Originally posted by John A

quote:

Originally posted by Iconic

I like to cook my babybacks at around 150F for about 4 hrs......I've had real good luck with that when I was able to keep my temp constant...

The spares I just bought are St. Louis Cut...I actually prefer whole spare ribs..but we'll see how it goes.....Someone brought up different cook times....what do you all suggest on cook times for Spares.

also....someone said they cook their babybacks meat side down??? I was taught bone side down..let the juices soak back down through the whole cut.....what is everyone's opinion on which side to cook em?

I would be concerned about how long their in the danger zone, 40-140 degrees, with that low a cook temp. I smoke at 225 degrees, it usually takes about five hours for St. Louis spares with no foil used. I also use rib racks so mine are standing on their sides.

John

I was always told that when you smoke ribs standing up in a rack, to make sure the "fatty" larger end is on top so the fat melts down to "baste" the ribs.

I've tried it both ways and cannot tell any difference. Same for rubbing and let sit overnight vs rub just before cooking, pulling the membrane vs not, and butts/briskets with fat side up or down. I do pull the membrane every time, old habits are hard to break.

John

well i guess i am the guy that cooks baby backs meat side down and i better explain why.
the "curve" of the bone is much more pronounced on baby backs than it is on spareribs and all this came about as a mistake cooking 5 cases of 1 1/2 downs membrane removed (ah what a zen like mindset that produces. see the membrane,be the membrane. but i digress)
by mistake i put all the backs in meat side down. half way thru the cook the owner and i checked them and what we saw was a great pooling of juices caused by the shape of the ribs.
thankfully johnny is a s curious as i am concerning smoking techniques and we decided what the heck they are half cooked and whatever damage has been done is done, let's see what happens.
turns out they came out great matter of fact better than great as they beat our normal style.
we hashed over what happened and think that since the membrane was off the juice just quitely went to work basting the ribs. we did not have to crutch these ribs in any form and that saved around an hours work.
keep in mind that these are done on a big old southern pride with rotessier. even though the pride is not a convection oven persay the net effect is the same with a rotessier as you are moving product through the air rather than moving air around the product.
like i said it was a mistake.
for my catering business i use the same technique both in my fec100 and my two SM150's with similar results.
on the rub thing i agree with john
on fat side up or down i have to look at where the heat is coming from. on the southern pride it doesn't matter. for me, on my fec and 150's i find that fat side down works best but that is just for me and my style of cooking. but that is the joy of keeping a log book of every cook. you can get results that give you an idea of why something works best for you.
hope it helps some
jack

Excellent info Jack....I'm curious to know what everyone else thinks.....Jack has put forth his reason and it makes sense...I hope to hear everyone elses input on this..it could be a GREAT discussion

Josh.

Great info p-chef. I'm going to try that.

Anyone cooking ribs at 150°F is goinig to end up with nothing but dried up uncooked meat.

I will say this about dry rubbing and leaving the ribs overnight. It has always been my experience that letting salt based dry rubbed ribs "dry marinate" too long results in a noticeably drier and less moist end result than dry rubbing 10 to 20 min. before they meet the smoke. It's that salt releasing to much natural juices that need to stay locked in to keep the end result juicy and moist.
I will bring my ribs to room temp, rub, and put them in the smoker no longer than 20 min. after they have been rubbed.
Your comments............

Jack,

Makes sense, the juice basting them can only be a good thing. I'm going to give it a try,

Thanks,

John

On dry rubbing overnight my take is this ...

I don't usually do it because it is very difficult to get the salt ratio correct in order to get the ribs seasoned properly. Once you put a savory rub on the ribs the water is drawn out in order to balance the water/salt ratio both inside and outside the rib (this statement requires a long chemistry/physics explanations which I won't bore you with). If your rub has too much salt your ribs may not have enough water in them to form a good marinade. By marinade I mean this. The reason this whole method is attempted is to draw the salt into the meat for seasoning. The water drawing process will reverse after about 5-6 hours or so. The water on the outside dissolves the salt and is then slowly drawn back into the rib taking the salt with it (like a marinade). Now if your rub has too little salt it may not create the salt imbalance to trigger the reversal and your rib will be dry and no more seasoned than if you just sprinkled it on top. If you have too much salt, too much will be drawn into the meat and you'll end up with "country ham on a stick." Based on that theory, I think you are just as likely to have a good rib with a good coating right before you smoke as if done 12 hours prior.

The scientist that confirmed this was just a little "nuts," but he has never intentionally lied to me.

George

do y'all have any advice for the average home person without smoking equipment or fancy ovens or grills? Just for cooking ribs not too complicated but juicy?

I never let the rub stay on for more than an hour or two before they go in the smoker. Any longer and I think they cure, and get a ham-like taste rather than a fresh pork taste.

Jenn4, get some Pappy's lower/less salt seasoning, sold at SaveMart and others, sprinkle mildly on top of the ribs. Bake in the oven at 225 for 4 - 6 hours. This will give you some fall off the bone tender and moist ribs. Won't have a smoky flavor though.

How to tell when they are done; The meat should be pulled up the bone about 1/4". Tug on the bone and it should pull out fairly easy.

I like Pappy's so much I still import it 8 years later.

MikeS.

twinwillow,
my experience has been the same as yours and i follow the same guidelines that you have posted. they work like a charm.
john a,
i know you are on a cookshack but give the southern pride times and temps a try. my own thinking is you may have to increase the time a little due to the higher moisture in a cookshack. if you are only doing a couple of slabs put them on the upper shelves.
purple haze,
you are a guy after my own heart. when i was teaching culinary arts i always advised my students to take chemistry and physics along with economics. it just makes life so much easier. thanks for confirming that i was on the right track there. guess that's why the only tv cook i like is alton brown osmosis, it's a beautiful thing
willy,
if ya wanna to taste hammy try some ribs that a bbq team put too much mortons tenderquick on to fake a smoke ring. man it makes a good country smithfield ham taste undercured
jack

Prisonchef, I use an old MECO electric smoker. It's like a Brinkman's only better.
I use about 3-4 large chunks of Hickory that have been soaked in water for about 8-10 hours. I place the wood chunks in between the heating grids and I keep the temp control on high. I regulate the temp. by opening or closing the vents to keep the thermometer in the ideal position.
I usually smoke em for about 4 hours. No more than that.
I use the rub from "Bakers Ribs" here in Dallas. But, the "secret" to my success is using Dr. Pepper in the water pan.