St. Louis style ribs...QVIEW!

[grindstaff3]

smoked two racks of stl ribs on uds. wrapped after 3 1/2 hrs for about 45 min then finshed for another 45 min. please critique box. we are getting ready for a comp in august and it's our first comp and first box. please be honest, we can take it

 

[grindstaff3]

Here's the box

 

[carpetride]

Ribs look great, don't have a clue about the box other than I would eat it!

 

[alx]

From my experience ,appearance 8 - 9 out of nine.We have gotten all 8-9 and 0ne 6 before. Judges really like a shiney glaze,which can be done with honey in sauce or spritzing with apple juice etc, however hard to tall from photos and it looks shiney.Possibly looks like some brush marks on ribs.Don't see any sauce on lettuce which is good.Cant tell about taste or tenderness from picture.Do you have any pics of smoke color(pink depth) on meat.Looks like you also avoided tearing meat when slicing which is good, since its a sign of overfoiled(mushy ribs).You are definetly doing great.Also make sure ribs dont touch lid when closing.Take a look at this site http://www.thepickledpig.com Look in the forum under comps at his championship brisket thread.At the very bottom he discusses how to assemble the PUTTING GREEN parsley bed box ,which is also very popular in KCBS.He also posts his comp photos.Let us know how you do.Our first comp of 2009 is pork in the park salisbury maryland april15-16.Good Luck.Just my 2 cents.

 

[linescum]

just got done trimming and rubbing 4 racks and trimmings for the GOSM on sunday.. what did you glaze them with?

 

[div]

please send a sample and ill let ya know

Quick question other then the obvious reasons of being bigger and less expensive whats the diff between the stl and the baby backs ... do the stl have more fat on them ?

Wish I could get my webber top to fit my drum bahh

 

[alx]

Some folk think b.b are more tender because they are from loin region of rib and lotta people swear st.louis have a better pork taste,possibly the fat content..I like to cut spares to st.louis style because i get to eat rib tips as snack.My sister will only turn in b.b for comps.Its all good to me.

 

[grindstaff3]

Hey ALX, thanks alot for the critique. got a couple questions, how do you not get brush marks from the sauce? and do you have any tips or how to's on chicken? I have never done chicken in my life and it's one of the categories. Thanks again, we can use all the help you guys can give

 

[mgwerks]

They look tasty. I can't answer your comp questions, because around here you usually turn in wth nothing in the box but ribs - garnish is automatic DQ. Nol sauce either, judges want to taste the meat only. But I'd sure eat them!

I cut my ribs a bit different - I never get 13 ribs. Usually 10-11. Some call it KC cut . It's like STL cut but the tail comes off too.

 

[alx]

My sister uses the rubber brushes and kinds of dobs it on and then we set the glaze on cooker for 10 minutes and repeat every ten minutes until we like the shine.This sort of melts away any brush marks and the honey will also thicken sauce and sort of help it melt uniform.
We smoke our thighs at 275 until 160 and crisp skin on a webber kettle at very high heat in a chicken basket for about 30 seconds-on both sides-do not burn skin.
This is Paul Kirks technique and he won first ever perfect score at American Royal in 2001, first all 9s ever.364 teams.
Marinate for good flavor
Smoke at 275 untill done(doesnt give internal)
Right before goes to judges crisp skin 10-30 seconds on hot grill

 

[alx]

YankeeRob and a couple other guys will probably chime in and they have excellent advice as well.Chicken is hard to get right and there are tons of different techniques such as hot tubbing them in foil trays after smoked, i think this is under jumpin jims thighs on the net.My sister and bro in law are taking the lotta bull class this weekend(manassas virginia) and hes been tearing up the circuit for awhile.Paul kirks class helped us alot.You will need to trim your thighs as well.I believe the pickled pig website shows this.I will P.M. you later and go into more detail.

 

[got14u]

nice cuts...the only thing that i see wrong or my opinion..I have been told to have the garnish (green stuff,,,yuck) fill the sides for presentation....i guess it is a pretty big deal. again this is what I hear from other comp smokers about plating..but man do those look good !!!! points for taking the plunge in the comp world

oh and don't get anny bbq sauce on the green stuff, i guess that's a no no..

 

[div]

Yeah I tend to eat the baby backs cause the stl just look like way to much fat....I almost puked one time after getting a mouthfull of fat so to much is to gross but mabye next round of ribs Ill toss one on there

 

[crewcab4x4]

Nice looking ribs. I use a silicone brush to put my sauce on with,when doing a few racks of ribs. When I did 32 racks this past fall for my wifes church I used a mop brush worked great. Good luck with the competition.

Jason

 

[cman95]

Ribs look great and I also compliment the glaze/shine. I too would like to see the smoke ring as that is a factor. Putting green looks good also. No I do not compete (maybe one day) but God I have studied this addiction as if it was the difference between life and death. Maybe one day I will do good. I wish you luck with your comp and think you will do great!!

 

[grindstaff3]

Thanks Cman, we are trying to figure out a way to position the ribs to get a good view of the top but also being able to see the smoke ring. It's amazing how determined one can get when it comes to putting meat in a styro box with lettuce haha.

 

[alx]

we have zig zaged before and this shows the smoke penetration of half of each rib.Was told to keep in straight line to keep ribs warmer after last comp.Have done both and we are usualy top15%.Our last comp in dover,deleware there was 78 teams and our first this year in salsibury there were 88 last year.If the competitors thin out do to economy, i am hoping this could help LOL, sort of.We have 7-8 on our schedule.Pickin in panhandle west virginia has charlie daniels sat night.