Spares vs Baby Backs


 
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Which do you prefer? Why? I know it sounds dumb but I have not done too many cooks of each.
 
Alternately, baby backs are generally leaner and have less waste-- but I still do spares 90% of the time.
 
Thanks for the input. More meat or less waste-I guess the smart thing to do is cook both then decide. It was interesting to see the discussion in the competion section. I would have assumed 95% of the ribs cooked in competition were spares. Obviosly there are regional trends and preferences. And no wrong answer.
 
I just did some baby backs a couple weeks ago to compare to my usual spare ribs.

I was not doubly impressed to pay twice as much for baby backs over spares. Both are wonderful. Less waist with baby backs. Not enough to justify the double price. Slightly more tender. Just slightly. Not much.

I've done both. I prefer to cook the cheaper spares (non-cryopack).
 
Spare ribs here. More meat, plus I get rib tips with them. 2 hrs. longer to smoke, but that means 2 hrs. more beer time til ribs are done.
 
Because the BB comes almost completly trimmed and supposedly all of what you're paying for can be cooked. With spares there is a good bit of weight which is trimed, i.e. the large breast bone you cut off. I also cook that, but it is a little difficult to eat. Also, the spares have more fat which will render during the cook.

I still usually get the spares.

Paul
 
100% Baby Backs, but only because I didn't know better. I read the BRIYU recipe here a year ago, and I've never looked back...

After reding this, I'm doing spares next!
 
I usually do spares trimmed St.Louis style. Price--$2.50-$3.50/lb.-- is somewhere in between untrimmed spares (often quite fatty) and baby backs (not much meat for the money & taste oily to me). Down side to the St. Louis style that we get is that they are quite often enhanced, but they have lots of meat, we like them and until recently the stores put them on sale quite often. Hope that the sales are seasonal and they will start back soon--I'm almost out.

Tom

"The only people who don't make mistakes are the ones that aren't doing anything." Me
 
About 2 weeks ago I decided to test this very topic out with my family and guests. I did the competition ribs recipe with 2 racks BB and 2 racks spares. The vote was 11 to 1 in favor of the spares. My wife liked the BBs because they were smaller. (go figure but I love her anyhow.)
 
I usually prefer loin ribs because they require less trimming and cook a little quicker. However, loin ribs are so darn expensive this year so I've decided to switch to spares. Who knows, I may stick with them.
 
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