Babyback vs St Louis

Wanasmoke

Discovered a new butcher shop close to home that is basically a forum member's dream. Walls lined with bags of Rockwood, 10 varieties of house made sausage, dry aged beef, heritage pork.....you get the picture. Purchased an untrimmed sparerib rack and a slab of babybacks.
Trimmed into a St Louis slab and rubbed both with Memphis dust. 
Set the egg for 225 with apple chunks. Rode it out for about 5 hrs no foil. One layer of light sauce for another 20 min.
 


Thoughts- I think I've finally determined that my preference is babybacks. I like how the spareribs look- they are always a bit more challenging to eat imo with some of the cartilage bits. I like the meatiness of the back ribs especially when the pork is of this quality. Props to Kettle Range Meats in Milwaukee. 

The Rockwood was a nice find as well as I've never seen it anywhere else around here. Smaller pieces than the Fogo I usually use but lights quickly and had nice mild flavor. Thumbs up from the kids so it was a win in my book!  Packers comeback win was the icing 

drumdudeguy

Looks great! Was this direct or indirect heat?

Wanasmoke

drumdudeguy said:

Looks great! Was this direct or indirect heat?

Indirect with a drip pan filled with H20

Theophan

I envy you the store, and those ribs all looked great!

pgprescott

Those all look great! I cook BB’s almost exclusively, for the same reasons you do and they are the best product readily available to me. I must say the best ribs I have ever eaten were STL prepared by a friend who has done comps. They were unbelievably succulent. 

Wanasmoke

pgprescott said:

Those all look great! I cook BB’s almost exclusively, for the same reasons you do and they are the best product readily available to me. I must say the best ribs I have ever eaten were STL prepared by a friend who has done comps. They were unbelievably succulent. 

@pgprescott I've heard the same but can't seem to recreate them myself. I must be missing something on my technique...

pgprescott

Wanasmoke said:

pgprescott said:

Those all look great! I cook BB’s almost exclusively, for the same reasons you do and they are the best product readily available to me. I must say the best ribs I have ever eaten were STL prepared by a friend who has done comps. They were unbelievably succulent. 

@pgprescott I've heard the same but can't seem to recreate them myself. I must be missing something on my technique...

Same here! 

Durangler

$$
Looks great!

StillH2OEgger

I don't have a strong preference on SL vs. BB ribs, but will opt for whichever happens to be on special that week.

CigarCityEgger

Great looking ribs. I prefer baby backs myself, but wouldn't turn down either, especially if they looked like yours

lousubcap

I'm currently in the BB camp as the ones I can find around here of late are quite meaty.  I will land where the ribs look the best to me.  
BTW-great outcome across the board.  Most eggcellent.  

gdenby

Good results from good starts.

I've got a couple places similar to what you found. One has its own smokehouse, another is a BGE dealer on top of being a butcher shop. Wonderful places to spend $$

JRWhitee

Those ribs look great, I prefer the Baby Backs over Spares as well.

northGAcock

I don't think there is a wrong choice to the options here. Real estate could be impacted by the size of your egg. Myself, I cook my ribs in a rack (vertically) with the large bone side up. The spares make it crowded in the dome..... but like them just the same.

GregW

Great looking ribs. I wish that there was a good butcher near me, but sadly Publix is the best we have.
I'm thinking that I like the baby backs better. 
I have had really good luck cooking indirect at 275 Degrees on my last few cooks. The higher temp really shortens the cook time. I'm cooking unwrapped all the way.

Again, your ribs look awesome.

saluki2007

Yes sir!  Great looking ribs. I don't have a preference as I go with whichever looks better at the time. 

ChokeOnSmoke

Nice cook.  Baby backs all day over spare ribs.
If you're in a hurry, cook em indirect at 350º for about 1.5 hours, see if you can tell the difference over low and slow, I can't!

Hans61

Sounds like a cool place. Ribs look great

feef706

Very nice cook, I too prefer baby back, haven't had great results with spares and definitely prefer the meatiness of BB. Love the color on your finished product. Is your rub a home mix? I like the color, if it is your recipe do you mind sharing? Trying to ditch the premade rub if possible. Have tried making my own and the color is always off, yours looks perfect.

bgebrent

Great topic. At my place, babybacks/loinbacks are preferred. They simply are eater-friendly. 

Wanasmoke

feef706 said:

Very nice cook, I too prefer baby back, haven't had great results with spares and definitely prefer the meatiness of BB. Love the color on your finished product. Is your rub a home mix? I like the color, if it is your recipe do you mind sharing? Trying to ditch the premade rub if possible. Have tried making my own and the color is always off, yours looks perfect.

@feef706  Thanks!! Amazing Ribs website is the recipe for Memphis dust. It's pretty high sugar content which I think leads to the nice bark!

feef706

Wanasmoke said:

feef706 said:

Very nice cook, I too prefer baby back, haven't had great results with spares and definitely prefer the meatiness of BB. Love the color on your finished product. Is your rub a home mix? I like the color, if it is your recipe do you mind sharing? Trying to ditch the premade rub if possible. Have tried making my own and the color is always off, yours looks perfect.

@feef706  Thanks!! Amazing Ribs website is the recipe for Memphis dust. It's pretty high sugar content which I think leads to the nice bark!

Thanks, I will check that one out for sure.