Sam's Club Ribs (1st time, and not so good)


 
Kyle in Woodstock

Kyle in Woodstock

TVWBB Guru
We recently switched from Costco to Sam's Club. Yesterday I smoked 2 racks of ribs that we bought at Sam's Club.
They came with seasoning/rub already on them, so I assumed they were good to just throw on my 26" kettle and smoke ribs like I always do.
3 hours on the grill indirect at around 250 degrees give or take 10 degrees. Pull off wrap in foil with some apple juice. Continue to cook on the grill for 2 hours at same temp while wrapped. Unwrap, add BBQ sauce and cook the final hour.
Pulled them off and man, what a major disappointment.

Cooking Costco ribs with this same 3-2-1 method usually gives me very good ribs.

Apparently Sam's Club doesn't remove that tough membrane on the bottom of their ribs, so the ribs didn't cook like I'm used to.
They were so tough, like jerky. I had a hard time cutting the racks into smaller pieces, let alone being able to pull the bones apart by hand.

Is that normal for ribs at Sam's Club?

Next time I'll def buy naked ribs to ensure the membrane is gone and add my own rub.
 
Sorry to hear about the nasty ribs. I have purchased a fair amount of baby backs from Sam's club "naked" and had good results. I always prefer to do my own seasoning because usually the stuff that comes pre-seasoned in a vacuum package has too much salt and things I can't pronounce. Sam's naked baby backs usually come three racks per package... I'm not sure where they find hogs with 3 sets of ribs, and I don't like to think about it ;) I also get strips, t-bones, brisket, and I think even a chuck roast or two and Sam's club. Most of the strips and T-bones have been 9 out of 10 in quality. I don't care for the way they trim their filet mignon so I don't buy that as often.

Would be curious to hear why you switched from Costco to Sam's. I would like to give Costco a try but the nearest Costco is about 3x farther than my nearest Sam's so I can't get my wife to even consider it. My perception is that Costco carries better quality products..... at similar price points as Sam's but I really have nothing to base that on.
 
I find most ribs at Sam's are fine, but if you buy a 3 pack, the best rack is going to be in front and the others might have some shiners. I wouldn't buy pre-seasoned ribs and I would never expect anyone to pull the membrane. I've cooked a lot of terrible ribs but I'll start out with saying 3-2-1 method is mostly wrong. It's assuming a certain type/size of rib and it's assuming a certain temperature. It has the advantage of being damn easy to remember. I've fallen victim to it myself. Rarely have I had spare ribs actually done in 6 hours. If the ribs aren't fully cooked during the wrap phase, they'll generally stall after you unwrap them. Get a thermapen. Cooking to temp isn't always the greatest idea, but you want spares up above 190. You should feel the probe go through them pretty easily. I'd wrap when you get the color you want and cook them til done. Open them back up and glaze and sauce them or what not.
 
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I don't buy pre-seasoned ribs. I've bought quite a few racks from Sams. And I've bought a good number of racks from a local meat market that charges twice as much. And I've found no difference except Sams will have the breast bone trimmed.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
I find most ribs at Sam's are fine, but if you buy a 3 pack, the best rack is going to be in front and the others might have some shiners. I wouldn't buy pre-seasoned ribs and I would never expect anyone to pull the membrane. I've cooked a lot of terrible ribs but I'll start out with saying 3-2-1 method is mostly wrong. It's assuming a certain type/size of rib and it's assuming a certain temperature. It has the advantage of being damn easy to remember. I've fallen victim to it myself. Rarely have I had spare ribs actually done in 6 hours. If the ribs aren't fully cooked during the wrap phase, they'll generally stall after you unwrap them. Get a thermapen. Cooking to temp isn't always the greatest idea, but you want spares up above 190. You should feel the probe go through them pretty easily. I'd wrap when you get the color you want and cook them til done. Open them back up and glaze and sauce them or what not.
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Dustin, that is great advice which I will be trying out when I do the spares I have in the freezer right now.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys.

Wife picked up the preseasoned ribs, first and last time I'll let that happen!
Glad to hear the meat at Sam's isn't all this bad. I think I got spoiled by the consistency of the ribs at Costco.
 
I do not buy preseasoned ribs like others have said, i never cook to a set time i cook to doneness (bend test, toothpick etc to check for being done) and i stopped wrapping my ribs KISS baby!
 
I typically away from multi pack of ribs. I like to see each rack and try to choose them to be all the same weight. I have bought the three packs at Sams before and they all came out fine. Just some of the racks are better then others
 
Yea, Sams ribs are good but I only buy the cryovac ones.
It is kinda strange that the loin backs come three to a pac, but the spares come in a two pac..
 
They came with seasoning/rub already on them
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I've never seen that at Sam's here, but I wouldn't buy if I did. Some folks must like it that way, though, because most tenderloins I see in Kroger are pre-seasoned.

I've bought many ribs from Sam's, spare and babyback, and had good results. I remove the membrane myself.
 
I smoked two racks of whole spares from Sams yesterday. These were the biggest, most meaty ribs I've ever gotten from Sams. Was very happy with them.

This plate is a full size dinner plate and they stretched all the way across.

20210503_181953.jpg
 
Lynn Dollar said:
I smoked two racks of whole spares from Sams yesterday. These were the biggest, most meaty ribs I've ever gotten from Sams. Was very happy with them.

This plate is a full size dinner plate and they stretched all the way across.

View attachment 27377
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Much better looking than the ones I recently cooked.
On one of of my racks some of the bones were only like 1" long.
Wife no longer allowed to buy ribs!
 
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