old meat ??

sure there is but there are two kinds of old meat.
the worst is the ones in cyrovac that are beyond the time to use or freeze date. we had to return 40 pounds of meat over that one last week in our catering business.
what i think you are refering to though is more a function of size. the bigger the rib the older the hog all things being somewhat equal. a tip off is the color of the fat and i know it isnt perfect but for me it has worked well. the whiter and more importantly the softer the fat is the better my ribs do when looking at similar sized ribs. if you can stay with the 2 1/2 down size for me those are the best. where i work part time they are getting 4 1/2 up slabs and we can talk shoe leather there for sure if you go over 210f cooking them
hope it helps
jack
.

Did the box say "Rose's Ribs"? They are the toughest, worst ribs ever, and they don't stand behind them.

But if they weren't, our guess is is they came off a small sow that went through as a butcher hog.

Or an entached boar, with 1 nut hidden up in his stomach area, unnoticed and only half castrated, letting him slip in with the butchers on the kill line. If it was a boar you would be able to tell by his rank odor when cooking.

It could also come from a pig carring the stress gene making the meat tough, or the RN gene, causing the carcass to purge all of it's moisture. Some ultra lean breeds are known for these things.

Good luck! Paul and Roger

I didn't notice any difference in the color of the meat, I did notice what I thought was a little different smell while it was smoking.
When I pulled the ribs out they looked great, I guess that was what was so bad, they looked good and then you can't eat them.

mnhog,
glad you jumped in cause i got a question for you since you breed hogs. i use picnics because i get a better yield for my style of cooking. lately the meat has come out red. taste is the same or maybe better but the red color is throwing me. do you have any idea what the breed might be???
lonesometide,
hate to say it but from your description on the smell they might have been marginal on the kill date or a small pin hole in the cyrovc or the cool stuff mnhog was listing above (he doesnt know it but he has given me a real good course in hogs and breeds from all his posts) since mnhog brought up brand carolina pride is good around here even on the big 4 1/2 ups and thanks hog for the heads up on roses.
jack

I had a similar experience with a brisket this weekend, so nasty and tuff I threw the the whole dang thing away, 11.55 pounds worth.
the flat was jerky and the point was, well, pointless. Had to do a couple of butts just to get my confidence back.

That's what makes briskets so much fun

There are teams that may cook six,identically, at a comp to get 6-10 good slices for turnin.

quote:

Originally posted by Tom:
There are teams that may cook six,identically, at a comp to get 6-10 good slices for turnin.

Tom, I thought it was a secret what I do at comps to get my briskets

the red color is throwing me. do you have any idea what the breed might be???

PC-

I have never seen that before, sorry we can't help you on that one.