Full spares in KCBS?

Full spares are legal, but as far as an appearance issue (it is sometimes a critical part if the scores are close) the St. Louis will give a more uniform and neat look, as will babybacks, but the full spares will present the cartilage to be dealt with.

They are legal. I'd need a small rack to get a minimum of six in a standard box if I took them from the usual place on the rack.

I agree with what has been said here. Appearance is a crucial factor in KCBS scoring and the full spare poses a challenge there. Also tenderness will be an issue because whatever is inside the box is fair game for judging, and if a judge decides to take a bite out of the rib tip, it’s unknown how the tenderness score will go in terms of the cartilage. Now, when I cook my full spares at home, the cartilage in the tips is very tender BUT... that means the ribs are falling off the bones and that will cause you to waste your entry fee in terms of ribs. Just my thoughts.


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Three years ago at a first year comp (with 4 or 5 new teams) my table judged a box of full cut spares. They were too long and sort of curled in the box... and had a poor arrangement, so the appearance scores suffered. But during the hands on judging one judge noticed his rib did not have a bone, only the cartilage nub. The Reps ruled cartilage is not a bone and the entry was DQ'd. By the way the taste and tenderness were very good.