St. Louis cut vs Baby Back

I only cook BBs at home but have been told STL is best in comps. I will be practicing on STL this Friday.
 
SUPER question. Be careful, I also think some of it is regional.

That said, 'round here, from what I understand that KCBS 9 of 10 entries are spares, and of those 9, 8 are St Louis spares... However, personally, I've always submitted BB's in my KCBS cooks and done well with them (when I didn't fubar the cook)...

Also, 'round here, GBA we've started to see more spares, but it's still probably only 3 or 4 of 10. MBN, still 2 of 10 maybe are spares. BB's rule generally in these two...

Just hit the sanctioning bodies definition; you'll want that perfectly tender bite-through rib for KCBS....
 
What's up Hance. We met in plains last year. Glad you said that I have been doing well in the GBA except in ribs. Finally got 4th in ribs at smoke on the lake a few weeks ago but I have been turning in St. Louis cut.
Trey.
 
Done both and won with both but have finally given up the BB's and I'm doing spares the rest of the year. While I think my BB's are better than my spares, it's my opinion that most judges expect spares. If they get BB's, I feel the subconsciously score them different. Meaning there is less room for error when turning in BB's.

Just my worthless opinion.
 
Took first place this year with both in the same state. It has to do with luck and perfectly cooked. Some judges like to see what they dont expect, whatever that might be and some dont. Just cook a perfect rib and more than not you will be rewarded.
 
What's up Hance. We met in plains last year. Glad you said that I have been doing well in the GBA except in ribs. Finally got 4th in ribs at smoke on the lake a few weeks ago but I have been turning in St. Louis cut.
Trey.

Yes, we did, and I see you lived through it (the heat was almost un-earthly)!!!

The judges in GBA aren't so partial to BB's vs. spares, but it has more to do with the definition of "pull cleanly from the bone with only slight resistance". That definition, IMHO, lends itself better to BB's where KCBS' "bite through" rib probably lends itself better to a spare.

I had the perfect KCBS rib come through GBA a while back; and I wrote a comment card for them on it. I hope it helped. It made a beautiful bite and was tender and moist, but it wouldn't pull from the bone no matter what... The score didnt warrant a comment card, but if that spare had been able to pull cleanly from the bone it possibly would've made finals; it was a good rib...
 
BTW, you did awesome in Plains. Between the heat (and for guys that dont understand, the humidity was way over 90% and the temperature at night cooled down to the low 90's), and in the heat of the day was what, 107? Love to say "but it's a dry heat"; it wasnt. I had a 1.5 hour ride home on the bike and had to take 3 stops to hydrate; looked like I'd pee'd myself; I had sweat that much.

If I recall, you were in that all by your lonesome (some friendly neighbors though), and that was your first GBA contest, wasn't it?

AWESOME!
 
Perfectly cooked meat wins contests. If they are cooked to perfection I don't think it matters.
 
Speaking from a judges perspective. I don't mind either one as long as it is cooked well.
 
from experience BB are good BUT if you doint cut the strap out on the top of the BB you will have a string of dry meat with bad texture. We always use SLS (st.louis style for all you yuppies :D) so id always go with SLS!
 
from experience BB are good BUT if you doint cut the strap out on the top of the BB you will have a string of dry meat with bad texture. We always use SLS (st.louis style for all you yuppies :D) so id always go with SLS!

Is this from experience in competition? Have you used both in competition? Just curious. How many times? How did you do? Serious questions. Interested in you POV.

We've use both BB and Spares in competition. Over a dozen times each in competition. We've scored well with both.

2nd place KCBS at NJ State BBQ Championship in Wildwood and the Butch Lupinetti Top Ribs in NJ award with BB.

Scored 1, 3, 7 last year with spares.

Sawdustguy wins the prize. If you cook them good, you can win. Go figure! However, to answer the OP's question, I do think judges are partial to spares. More room for error with spares. A perfectly good BB can win though. But an "off" spare will score higher than an "off" BB (by ten places or more). Not much room for error with BB.
 
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