Spares...Gone wrong!

[wolgast]

Ok let me explaine. This is not post material.

We were walking around in the supermarket...Looking for something to cook. And saw some decent spares. All natural.(around 2lb/slab) thought to myself those are pretty small. Found some vacced in marinade around 3lb/slab.(danish ones) Same price. Why not right?!

Cooked em on the kettle using the snake method with the coals. First time! AWESOME! Never temp my kettle cooks...But i did for this cook. Held a steady 275f for 4.5hours.(and they were done).

So what went wrong?

Well...The Ribs was so salty/cured so almost unedable. Lesson lerned,Fresh ones or non at all.

Here is the slab out of the vacc pack. Nothing added:


On the grill 2h mark:


4h:


Vent settings..Held a steady 275f:



Looked decent..But hey they were awfull!




So to sum it up! Snake method 2 thumbs up! Pre marinated spares...A BIG NO NO!

[Eastex]

Pre seasoning is a becoming more of a problem around here too. I'd like to give tri tip a shot but the one place that reliably has it only sells it pre seasoned.  One of our main grocery store chains only carries Boston butts that are "flavor enhanced" 

[HankB]

All of the chicken (whole and parts) at my local Sam's Club store is enhanced with salt water. It bugs me that the big print on the label states "All Natural." I guess they can get away with that because salt is "natural."

Luckily the labeling guidelines require that the enhancement be listed, but you have to really study the labels to find it. I'm happy that their pork and beef products are not adulterated.

[HankB]

I would also suggest contacting the grocery store and packer and letting them know about poor results with the product. Probably won't change anything if only you speak up, but if enough customers do it could make a difference.

I did contact Sam's and got a sincerely worded email back that the store manager was concerned and would look into that and get back to me. He never did so I guess nothing will change there (except that I will again consider why I keep paying them for membership.)

[1buckie]

Thanks Wolgast for starting this out, sorry about your dinner, they LOOKED GREAT !!!

The Ribs......
I'd like to think that's what went on with the ones I did for Stupor Bowl, but I seasoned them.....
Looked great........... taste, texture ~ terrible............Not Enhanced !!!
Just to check, I had a second rack the wife conned me into doing in the oven, same deal....
Sometimes ya get shitty meat.........

With these pre-marinated / rubbed ones I have a theory that less than premium batches of meat are the ones that get picked to get doused with juice or rub.........The poultry & pork, they think they're doing you a "brining favor" or something?

Maybe not always, 'cause I know of several high end markets around here that will  do that stuff in house & it's fine, think it's more the "factory made" stuff that's the problem............

Hey and Eastex,
the tri-tip may not be too bad, I've had a number of decent pre-done ones.....
If they're just bagged up with a marinade that's different than the saline solutions that get used for pork ( what, do they think the poor pig's in the hospital & needs IV's ?)
it's a big, thick piece of meat compared to spares, etc.

[Heyjude]

With these pre-marinated / rubbed ones I have a theory that less than premium batches of meat are the ones that get picked to get doused with juice or rub.........The poultry & pork, they think they're doing you a "brining favor" or something?

Yeah, I agree on what you said about them using a lesser quality meat on these. I never buy them.
Its the same theory with the breakfast bars and hot dogs..

"Hey Lou, what do we do with all these crumbs on the floor? Oh, we make cereal bars out oif em, just sweep em up and put em in that bin over there."