Banned Babybacks!

Yep, knew that. Big article in Wall Street Journal six weeks ago. I was surprised, but what the hell -- it is a golbal economy. Journal thought price could double on Baby Backs. So either buy a bunch or sell your Tony Roma's stock.

Sorry we lost the posted response from Stogie.

Actually, I believe that "baby backs" was a registred trademark of Denmark to do some marketing of their products. There are a lot of Danish Pork Products out there and have been for a while (remember, Danish ham slices?)

Some news articles say they account for as much as 50% of the BabyBacks here in the U.S.

Find a local butcher and ask him where he gets them.

Me, for the price, I prefer Spares. Why pay as much as 3 times the price. And if you don't trim the Spares down to "St. Louis" style, there's even more.

Just me 2 cents.

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Smokin Okie
It's done when it's done
Cookshack BBQ Guide Page

I was so impressed with what Stogie had to say, I saved it. See below. Members will appreciate it. There was a second message there, but I lost it.
Trying to learn my pork. All best, acarriii


In Reply to: Boycotted babybacks!!!!!!! posted by acarriii on May 11, 2001 at 14:53:23

Welcome to porkdom!!!The Danes perfected the art of raising hogs many, many years ago. Matter of fact, they sort of "invented" ribs about 30 years ago!! At the time, ribs were literally thrown away as worthles scrap. The Danes started marketing them and that is how ribs became so popular.Every major restaurant chain has been cooking Danish ribs for years. The Danes are breeding hogs that go to slaughter at an average weight of 240 lbs. compared to the US slaughter weight of over 260 lb. That 20 lb. makes a huge difference. That is why the restaurants love them, because of the smaller, more uniform size.Denmark was included in the meat embargo, but at this time have no reported cases of disease...believe me, they are working furiously behind the scenes to allow the US to accept their meat. The restaurants have about a 6 month supply so they are not yet feeling the pinch.Now, here is what many of us ribbers have started to do.....find a meat distributor and get your ribs by the case. The baby's will still be expensive($4.48/lb.), but you can get spares for a pretty good price. PLUS, the spares can be ordered at a specific size......2 and down, 2 1/4 and down, 2 1/2 and down, etc...up to 3 and down. This means the spares are cut St. Louis style and will weigh that for each rack. Depending on your weight, you will get between 9-14 racks per case.I am picking up tonite a case of 2 1/2 and down spares, trimmed beautifully, for $2.77/lb. This is from a local meat distributor that buys from Amity out of Chicago. All cases of ribs like this come frozen, so it is very easy to simply put into your home freezer. OR, have a group of guys who will split the case.I mentioned these are trimmed......if not for the size, you wouldn't know they were spares....the trim is perfectly squared off and every ounce is used. I have trimmed thousands of bronto spares and believe me, I will gladly pay extra for the way these things are trimmed.So, that is a very good alternative. OR, you could find yourself a hog farmer and get them even cheaper!! I was paying $2.88/lb. for baby backs until 3 weeks ago..I can still get for $4.40/lb. but her supply is very small.

Just passing on a price,Sam's here in FL had the IBP 2.25 lb. loinbacks for $4.49 yesterday.The 4.25 lb spares were $1.88 so I picked up the spares.A little trimming makes the price ok.IMHO

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Good Q 2 Ya,Tom.

Smokin' could you post a chart on pork as you did on the beef, showing where the baby back come from and the spares come from???

This would be a help to those who do not know from where these different cut come...

Thanks.

Smoke On!

Carl

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Don't Postpone Joy!