What kind of high quality pork do you use?

[SweetHeatBBQnSC]

My comp team has been talking to a couple different local butchers and everyone has steered us in a different direction. This is talking about ribs because in SBN they give you the butts. We have been told and practiced with IBP ribs (brand of Tyson but they supposedly have straighter bones than others). Another butcher told us Compart Duroc which I know is very popular with some comp teams. Then another butcher yesterday told us that he would suggest Allegiance Duroc. Has anyone ever heard of the IBP or IPB (can't remember to sequence of letters) or the Allegiance Duroc? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[PatAttack]

As Cook mentioned in another thread;

https://www.cheshirepork.com/

Or go with Compart Duroc and maybe The Butcher Shoppe out of Pensacola Fl..

 

[Smokin Dawg77]

Any good pork can score , just look for marbling all brands have good points an bad points. Focus on marbling not the brand label , then focus on the cook.

 

[midwest_kc]

Butcher shoppe sells Allegiance.

That said, we cook Prairie Fresh and have been very happy with them.

 

[Cook]

Absolutely look up Cheshire Pork as PatAttack mentioned above. It's really quality meat with outstanding flavor. I don't compete, but I know a good few teams that use them (some of them are names anyone in that realm would recognize). There are also a few high-end barbecue restaurants that use Cheshire...they charge a bit more for their barbecue as well (LoL).

It's really a small town company that's picking up in popularity every year.

I really put them in the competition category that Snake River Farms is in. SRF for beef & Cheshire for pork. A winning combination.

 

[NoNotTheDuo]

Butcher shoppe sells Allegiance.

That said, we cook Prairie Fresh and have been very happy with them.

We also cook Prairie Fresh. I buy them by the case from my brother, but they are also available in individual packs at the grocery store, so you can pick through the whole lot of them for the perfect rack.

 

[Right on Q]

So from my experience here's my feedback on different pork suppliers

Compart Duroc - Have heard reports of Compart having small racks but very marbled and red color. most expensive brand usually

Cheshire Pork - heard many good things on this brand. Seen many marbled racks but no experience cooking them. Heath Riles cooks them in our area and has a lot of success on the MBN circuit with them.

Allegiance Duroc - Have personally cooked these. Great marbling, reasonable price (in my area) and received a perfect perfect MBN score using these. For me, this is the best combo of quality/cost in my area.

Smithfield Extra Tender - Personally cooked these. Have been shown to score very well and are forgiving due to the phosphates in the solution. Good quality/cheap price

As for IBP - Personally cooked these. These is your basic brand of pork. If you have somewhere you can look through dozens of racks, I'm sure you can select some quality ones. On average though these are average quality/cheap price.

Prairie Fresh - Similar to IBP. Commodity pork. As others have said, if you have somewhere you can pick through many racks you can select the better ones.

So after all of that my advice would be this, If you're starting out, find the best quality/price combo in your area and go with that. Also factor in if you have the opportunity to sift through many racks to select the best ones. When you start bringing home trophies fairly regularly, step up to the compart or cheshire to get the extra edge. For us, Allegiance Compart give us the edge without breaking the bank. Smithfield ETs are our backups if we can't get Allegiance.

 

[masque13]

my advice is to buy the best pork you can afford to buy....no reason to not buy the best if you can afford it, regardless of your experience......because the worst thing you want is to head to a contest and already be behind the 8 ball due to the majority of your competitors already having better meat to cook with than you.

 

[gettinbasted]

My two cents. Run commodity, duroc or a blend. I’d skip uncommon heritage breeds.

If a butcher told you IBP commodity hogs have straighter bones than other commodity hogs, run away.

 

[thirdeye]

My two cents. Run commodity, duroc or a blend. I’d skip uncommon heritage breeds.

If a butcher told you IBP commodity hogs have straighter bones than other commodity hogs, run away.

Brad, you guys coming back to Wyoming in the fall, it's another double?

 

[ronbrad62]

I was a meat cutter years ago, and IBP (you had it right) stands for Iowa Beef Processors. They always had top of the line everything that we carried, but if the company ownership has changed hands since then (over 25 years ago), then I can't speak for the quality now. I rarely see the labels in any grocery store now.
I recently purchased some Allegiance Duroc St. Louis ribs from The Butcher Shoppe in Pensacola and was able to hand pick some that had the straightest bones I have ever seen, and while I haven't cooked any yet, when I do, I will definitely let you know my experience and opinion on them. My plans are to use them in a comp in June.

 

[gettinbasted]

Brad, you guys coming back to Wyoming in the fall, it's another double?

I’ll be there! I have family in Casper.

 

[thirdeye]

I'd love to hear how a farmer keeps rib bones straight, but I have witnessed 4H pigs on the hoof at auction that looked as happy as Wilbur, so raising them is important.

For special backyard cooking I have no issues with Creekstone Duroc ribs, and compared to the typical market ribs I've cooked in the last 18 months.... I'm happy with these. They do have straight bones.

 

[BoneDaddy's]

I'd love to hear how a farmer keeps rib bones straight, but I have witnessed 4H pigs on the hoof at auction that looked as happy as Wilbur, so raising them is important.

For special backyard cooking I have no issues with Creekstone Duroc ribs, and compared to the typical market ribs I've cooked in the last 18 months.... I'm happy with these. They do have straight bones.

So your saying that Creekstone Duroc ribs have straighter bones? How is that possible?

 

[thirdeye]

So your saying that Creekstone Duroc ribs have straighter bones? How is that possible?

No, not straighter just saying they have straight bones.

These ribs are typical of the slipshod butchering I've been seeing. Sometimes they will have an additional 3" or 4" of meat with cartilage only and a thick flap of meat.