BJ's Club Spare Ribs. Watch Out!

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Smokin' D

is Blowin Smoke!
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BJ's in my area is now selling only trimmed, "ST. Louis cut spare ribs. NOT!!!
Seems they want to increase the bottom line on pork ribs so now what they have in the Swift Premium cryo pack is two "racks" of trimmed ribs. Unfortunately what they have done is to lightly trim off a small amount of rib tips and then simply cut the remainder in half. You end up with small bones and cartilage in one rack and a terribly cut pseudo rack for the other. For this they are charging a premium price too. $2.99 a pound. Local grocery store has full spares for 2.39. I bought the first package against my better judgement and will not make that mistake again. I did go to the store and complain and was told that I was not the first. Most likely not the last either! You have been warned!
 
Smokin' D said:
BJ's in my area is now selling only trimmed, "ST. Louis cut spare ribs. NOT!!!
Seems they want to increase the bottom line on pork ribs so now what they have in the Swift Premium cryo pack is two "racks" of trimmed ribs. Unfortunately what they have done is to lightly trim off a small amount of rib tips and then simply cut the remainder in half. You end up with small bones and cartilage in one rack and a terribly cut pseudo rack for the other. For this they are charging a premium price too. $2.99 a pound. Local grocery store has full spares for 2.39. I bought the first package against my better judgement and will not make that mistake again. I did go to the store and complain and was told that I was not the first. Most likely not the last either! You have been warned!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I will avoid them...
 
I have gotten spares in BJs in the past, and they were good. I will be careful next time.

I got a cryo today in a local New York City area chain, "Western Beef". Two, full, untrimmed spare racks, $1.88 lb.

It's what's for dinner Sunday!

Bob
 
Bob...I believe that this is a very recent change. I will be checking the one near me next week to see if the change has made it's way this far north.
 
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I bought a pack of the st louis spares from bjs for a friend yesterday. I was really surprised to find them there. i will ask him after he opens them on sunday what he thinks. i looked at the top rack and it looked good, i could see the bones of the other rack and they looked good. maybe you got a bad batch?
 
It may not be the same everywhere, but any swift premium pork products I see here are enhanced. So i don't give them a second look.

"Guaranteed moist and tender" or something like that. 12% salt water.

We have access to lots of natural well trimmed St Louis ribs here. Sure, they're a bit more expensive than other parts of the country, but they are high quality.
 
I got some today to see if the BJ's here in upstate ny is the same.. I find that they were ok and the package said all natural no additives.. But maybe i got lucky i will buy some again this week and see what there like..
 
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Yep Mr train, that is the same package that I got. They also looked good prior to cooking. It was once cooked that the issue showed up. Cartilage and little bones.

I am not a high level competitor, but these ribs would have given me a DAL if I was foolish enough to use them.

Very interested to know how yours prove to be. Please post back with your experience. Thanks.
 
tyotrain said:
I got some today to see if the BJ's here in upstate ny is the same.. I find that they were ok and the package said all natural no additives.. But maybe i got lucky i will buy some again this week and see what there like..
Click to expand...



Those look like pretty legit spares to me. They may need a little more trimming for comp turn in, but the look like the correct cut from what I can see.
 
Smokin' D said:
Yep Mr train, that is the same package that I got. They also looked good prior to cooking. It was once cooked that the issue showed up. Cartilage and little bones.

I am not a high level competitor, but these ribs would have given me a DAL if I was foolish enough to use them.

Very interested to know how yours prove to be. Please post back with your experience. Thanks.
Click to expand...

U nailed it after they were cooked the bones are very small. No way these can be used for comp. Man they looked so good before they are cooked.


Have fun and happy smoking
BBQ UP
 
So what I gather from this info is that they squared the rack up on the brisket end of the ribs and cut down the middle of the bones in the rack leaving the knuckle and cartilage right in the middle?
 
You got it Tim. These ribs look REALLY GOOD when raw. Really too bad they are going down this road. I can hear the guys who made this decision in the board room now:

"I got it! If we just cut the spares in half to look like a good rack of ribs we can charge a whole lot more money and then our bonus' will be HUGE! Those yahoos that cook these things drink so much beer they will never know the difference!"

Well, we did. Pffffftttt !
 
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