St. Louis triple header

[teleskier]

Smoked 3 racks of St. Louis cut ribs in the #2 today. Used Dave's rib rub on all three then finished one with a St. Louis sauce and another with a Raspberry Chipotle and one dry.  All three were tasty but I think I prefer a baby back to this cut.

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[SuperDave]

They look good.  I'm not a wet rib fan so I'd be picking from the unsauced rack.  As far as rib cuts go, I think it depends on my mood or craving and not really one over the other. 

[DivotMaker]

Fine-looking ribs, Mike!  I grew up on spares - just about all the local BBQ joints made.  I never actually made back ribs until I got my SI #1!  Now, I'm an "all-in" convert!  I never make spares anymore.  Not that I won't eat good spares, I just now prefer the baby backs (and so does the family).

[gregbooras]

Mike,

Nice looking ribs, but I agree I just smoke baby backs these days.

Greg

[Barrel99]

And for me, St. Louis all the way.

[SuperDave]

I've been in some stores that one would need a magnifying glass to find meat on their spares/St. Louis ribs.  So I can see the debate between baby backs and spares/St. Louis ribs.  For me, meaty St. Louis ribs have great everything but just a little different texture to the chew. 

[coachB]

Have to say my preference runs to the baby backs.  I wish I preferred the St. Louis ribs as they run $1-$1.50/lb cheaper.  I will pay the difference.

[Barrel99]

I just prefer the taste of the spares to the baby backs.

[teleskier]

Was at a Q competition today where all there were doing was spares/St.Louis and chicken. I must say, even the experts ribs were not that great. I only tasted one of the 15 that had a good pull  from the bone and they all said they preferred baby backs but were provided the meat for this competition.

Even the chicken they did was not that great. I didn't find one piece where the skin had a nice clean bite through. It was all rubbery.

[SuperDave]

Mike, I guess that qualifies all of us to consider ourselves competition smokers.  LOL! 

[teleskier]

Well I think we knew that Dave...

[DivotMaker]

That's why they don't allow us in their little "competitions!"  It would be an unfair fight!

[pargolfr2003]

I can't really say I have a preference on this one. When I'm rib shopping I paw through every slab in the meat case inspecting and analyzing each of them...which my wife finds infuriating and a little embarrassing. Definitely different cuts and there are pros and cons to both but at the end of the day if they're cooked right I've never met a rib I didn't like. Always interesting to hear different perspectives though.