Horrible Smithfield ribs from Walmart--beware!!


 
I'm really going to try and not sound like a total D.B. here, but perhaps the shopping location has something to do with it. I buy from one of the local butchers and have never had a "bad" batch. Sure I may pay a buck or so a pound more, but I've never had bad meat.
 
Justin Hancock said:
Also, how far in advance did you put the rub on your ribs? I've noticed if I put it on too far in advance (night before) the ribs tend to have a hammier taste than when I put the rub on right before I put them on the smoker.
Click to expand...


I dry rubbed them just 2 hours ahead of going on the smoker. I don't usually use salt in my dry rub but this time my mixture included 2T of kosher salt. I really don't think this affected the outcome but who knows -- I did use salt in a dry rub once previously with no problems. It certainly was not one of those "accidentally" used a cup of salt instead of a cup of white table sugar scenarios. :cool:
 
As someone who judged at the Guinea Pig this year, where ALL PORK products (ribs and butts) were Smithfield Extra Tender, I can say that I DID NOT detect any hint of hamminess. Tasted only delicious pork turn-ins by some very good pitmasters and their teams.
 
HMMMMMMM... here too! A few weeks ago, I q'ed 2 racks of baby backs from Walmart & something bad happened to them. The temp never went over 240 & they seemed to go long (5+ hours) before passing the bend test. But something happened to the exterior/ bark. It came off in strips when trying to cut the ribs apart. It would not cut & was hard/chewy - alot like beef jerky - not good at all. I don't remember what brand they were but if I saw the label, I think I'd recognize them... But I've been wondering "what went wrong" ever since.
 
Rusty Breaux said:
I wonder if we are all looking for a reason why our ribs came out wrong? HA :)

rb
Click to expand...


I would like to think it was user error because that ultimately can be corrected. I'm not so "high on the hog" [<====== See what I did there?!:D] to think that I am not capable of screwing up royally and I would be fine to own that. But, I followed the same procedures I always follow and have fine tuned to my personal taste over the past several years, and it just came out different. That gives me some guidance and helps me to believe that it was not user error. I dunno.

By the way, I did email Smithfield and received a nice response along with some modest coupons towards a future purchase. Not sure I'll be buying their ribs again, but certainly there are other Smithfield products that would suit my taste like bacon! :rolleyes:
 
Hmm, I just cooked up a rack of Smithfield baby backs from WM this past Saturday and were maybe the best I've done so far.
 
I usually get my ribs from Whole Foods and they are locally sourced and unenhanced. I have also Cooke enhanced ribs with good results. While I definitely prefer the unenhanced ribs I think as long as you're conscious of the fact that there is some added salt in enhanced ribs and adjust your rub accordingly they can be very good.
 
I have been using Smithfield Extra Tender since the Guinea Pig comp and I like them. No hammy taste, cheap price and easy to cherry pick the case at Walmart. My big complaint is that now the word is out and it's difficult in OC to find them around comps. It's not like they are out but the pickings are slim. I season them the night before and have had no issues. Going back to RD due to availability.
 
Our local HEB in Brenham routinely has unjuiced pork from IBP and Smithfield plus of course the usual things labeled "marinated." Walmart and Brookshire have only juiced/enhanced pork that's always labeled "enhanced with % solution" and it's salty/hammy and otherwise nasty. You have to carefully read the labels.

I made the mistake of buying some Snake River Farms Berkshire ribs. That pretty much ruined supermarket ribs for me. :wsm:
 
Smithfield ribs are terrible. From old and large hogs, poorly butchered and full of fat. You will lose at least 1/4 of the weight after trimming off all of the fat.
 
This is an interesting thread. I bought pork spareribs from Wally World a couple of weeks ago. I made my own rub and smoked for about 5 hours. The ribs were incredibly salty. It just about ruined them as it overpowered the meat. I'm curious now to see if they were "enhanced" as mentioned here or if I just put in too much salt.
 
Really? I just this these two St. Louis ribs Sunday and they were banging!! Actually I always purchase my ribs from Walmart....btw the rib eyes are from Walmart too...I dunno!

 
Last weekend I bought what was labeled as a "bone in boston butt" smithfield brand from Walmart in Surf City NC. I choose that one because it was 9.8lbs, feeding 4 adults and a baby.

Got home opened it up to trim and rub, well low and behold, on the fat cap, is still the actual pig skin. A huge flap of skin, covering the whole cap, and extending off by a about 7 inches coming to kind of a triangle shaped flap of skin. I figure...oh well, Smithfield is owned by a chinese company and I got it from walmart...whatever, I trimmed off probably 2lbs worth of actual pig skin and absurd amount of fat.

Next morning I put it on the wsm around 6am. My cook ran a bit hot, averaging 255-260 most of the time, I had a strong ocean breeze to contend with. I wrapped at 165, Since I had people waiting for dinner at 7. I finally hit 203 degrees around 7pm. Let it rest only for about a hour because I had hungry people to feed. I pull the bone out, and its not a shoulder blade bone, but was an actual Ham bone.

The cook probably took about an hour or 2 longer then normal, especially since I was running hot the whole time. After google searching a bunch of different hog cuts and such, I determined that I cooked a bone in Ham, and not a shoulder. The ham being the back side of the pig with the boston butt being the front shoulder of the pig.

I dug the wrapper out of the trash and confirmed the sticker was boston butt. It was mis-labled as such, and should have been ham. Still came out very good, and none of my guests were any the wiser, but I came up short on meat. I probably only got 3 lbs of pulled pork out of the 9.8 lb cut due to the huge bone and pig skin that was included. I was on vacation and didnt feel like leaving the beach to go deal with the walmart people...but its the last time i buy from walmart or smithfield
 
Matty,
I'm sure you had a picnic shoulder from the front leg, unless it was a very small hog the ham will weigh much more.
Here's the picnic, the Boston butt sits on top of this cut.

porkshouldarmpicnic.jpg


enhanced-buzz-23819-1390323893-9.jpg
 
My meat guy says that most cryopacked ribs are brined.
You know they are brined when there is no blood present upon opening.

I used to go for the grocery store $2.99/$2.77 sale ribs but no more.
I choose to pay a little more and get fresh ribs from the neighborhood butcher.

It really does make a difference.
 
Joe F said:
My meat guy says that most cryopacked ribs are brined.
You know they are brined when there is no blood present upon opening.

I used to go for the grocery store $2.99/$2.77 sale ribs but no more.
I choose to pay a little more and get fresh ribs from the neighborhood butcher.

It really does make a difference.
Click to expand...

Joe, your meat guy is wrong. There are plenty of cryopacked ribs that are not enhanced. PraireFresh (Seaboard), IBP, Hormel, Farmer John, and even Smithfield all have commodity product lines that are not enhanced when packaged in cryovac. Just check the label because anything that is enhanced and packed for retail sale must list the enhancement.

If you are a KCBS member and have a Restaurant Depot location nearby, you can get a day pass and purchase meat and anything else they sell there. I've never seen enhanced products sold at RD. Just go up to the clerk at the entrance and ask for a day pass for KCBS members.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top