Economy of spare ribs versus baby back ribs

[phaelon56]

The merits of spare ribs versus baby backs have already been discussed ad nauseum here and in about a gazillion other places. Today's question is posed for one simple reason: to determine the breaking point at which it is more economical to buy baby backs than spare ribs.

I don't have a distinct taste preference for one over the other (I can't taste the difference if indeed there is a difference).

I can buy baby backs at $2.99 per pound and spare ribs for $2.19 per pound. To prep three full racks St. Louis style takes me about 30 - 35 minutes and there's a substantial amount of waste. Three racks of baby backs can be prepped in 5 to 7 minutes with minimal waste.

I'll guess that although the spare ribs appear to be "meatier" the ratio of meat to bone weight once they're prepped may not be advantageous.

Have any of you done "the math"? I see speculation on this topic occasionally but no hard facts based on actual weights and measurements. And if all else is equal I'll take baby backs for the reduced prep time. When I'm in the mood to smoke ribs it's usually a weekend and spending an extra half hour on rib prep is low on my list of fun activities.

In the absence of previous research I propose the following (should no useful answer appear any time soon):

• * Purchase and record the weight of three racks of each type
  * Prep and record the weight of waste
  * Eat all of the ribs (I'll need assistance with this part)
  * Save the bones - scrupulously maintaining separating between the two bone types
  * Weigh the bones to allow calculation of hwo much edible material there was
  

Am I missing anything? Do I need safety goggles, a yellow plastic hard hat, a white lab coat? Should I allow ants in my backyard to pick the bones completely clean before I weigh them?

Oops. Almost forgot. This is what they'll look like - unless they're baby backs in which case they might not hang over the edge of the plate - but they'll taste just as good.

[Restorer]

I can forsee a couple problems you might have to finagle around. The total waste will be everything you trim off before cooking, plus the bones and any meat scraps left on them after eating. The problem is that the ribs lose moisture weight and gain sauce/rub weight when you cook them. If you weigh the untrimmed ribs, trim them, cook, eat, and weigh the leftover bones, you might get an overestimate of the edible yield.

On the other hand you can weigh the cooked product, eat, then weigh the cooked bones and get a measure of the cooked yield. But then there's the problem of the weight of what you've trimmed from the spare ribs. You'd have to cook it as well in some fashion similar to how the ribs are cooked, and factor it into the leftover weight at the end.

Then again, as long as you're consistent in your method, you'll still get an answer as to which has better yield, but you might not get an accurate enough answer to determine if the yield is worth it for the difference in price.

[Kouign Aman]

Here's an alternative approach:

What is your time worth ($/hr)?

Its worth spending the money when you can earn more money with the time saved than you spent on saving the time.

Doesnt work for me, cause I dont earn any money with the time saved, but a variant does - if I dont save the time, how much will I spend on "recovering" later? if the session with the shrink costs more than the ribs, its a net loss.

[phaelon56]

Here's an alternative approach:

What is your time worth ($/hr)?

Its worth spending the money when you can earn more money with the time saved than you spent on saving the time.

Doesnt work for me, cause I dont earn any money with the time saved, but a variant does - if I dont save the time, how much will I spend on "recovering" later? if the session with the shrink costs more than the ribs, its a net loss.

←

When I calculate what I "save" in some of these pursuits (e.g. the time I gutted a house to the subfloors and sheathing and doubled the size) relative to what I earn I'm fgairly certain that I "earn" at least 50 cents per hour

But then again... I rarely take on grueling physical projects unless my tangible savings are about $40 to $50 per hour or so. But in culinary opursuits I don't apply such metrics. And I don't agonize over any of it. It's more like... I get some satisfaction from figuring out the angles so I no longer wonder about it.

[infernooo]

I remember good eats doing a rundown on baby backs vs spare ribs (just had a look at the transcript then), but does someone have some photos of the 2 different types of ribs in raw state so I can see what you are referring to? (here in AUS we call them different things :-( )

Thanks!

Edited May 24, 2007 by infernooo (log)

[rooftop1000]

Arent baby back ribs actualy pork loin bones....thats a whole other thing than spare ribs to me

time, waste, or price aside

tracey

[phaelon56]

I remember good eats doing a rundown on baby backs vs spare ribs (just had a look at the transcript then), but does someone have some photos of the 2 different types of ribs in raw state so I can see what you are referring to? (here in AUS we call them different things :-( )

Thanks!

←

I seem to have a bit of trouble finding good comparative side by side pictures but if you check out the first 60 seconds or so of this Daily Pork Ribs Video at The Other White Meat you'll see an excellent comparison that makes the size relationship evident.

Arent baby back ribs actualy pork loin bones....thats a whole other thing than spare ribs to me

time, waste, or price aside

tracey

Point well taken and this site - Big Daddy's Kitchen - has a fantastic explanation of the different rib types and from whence they come. He even describes baby backs as having an inherently sweeter taste.

I guess my palate just isn't refined enough - at least not for pork ribs - I can't taste the difference. Then again - I've never done a moderately controlled A/B test and perhaps that's one more reasons for a bit of sciene on some upcoming weekend.

The lower fat content of baby backs doesn't enter into the picture for me either. It takes a bit less timeto cook them in my smoker than spare ribs take - about 3 to 3 1/2 hours rather than 4 hours - but with my trimming technique and low temp h2o smoking process all the fat is rendered and both types come out with similar texture and moistness levels.

And I've never cared for the so called "Country Style Ribs. It looks like rectangular chunks of pork loin to me (uhhhh.... I think that's what it actually is!).

[tim]

Hi,

There are excellent pictures at the University of Nebraska's Porcine Myology website. Each of the pictures may be rotated.

Loin Back (baby back) Ribs

St. Louis Style Spare Ribs

Pork Spare Ribs - untrimmed

Tim

[infernooo]

I remember good eats doing a rundown on baby backs vs spare ribs (just had a look at the transcript then), but does someone have some photos of the 2 different types of ribs in raw state so I can see what you are referring to? (here in AUS we call them different things :-( )

Thanks!

←

I seem to have a bit of trouble finding good comparative side by side pictures but if you check out the first 60 seconds or so of this Daily Pork Ribs Video at The Other White Meat you'll see an excellent comparison that makes the size relationship evident.

Arent baby back ribs actualy pork loin bones....thats a whole other thing than spare ribs to me

time, waste, or price aside

tracey

Point well taken and this site - Big Daddy's Kitchen - has a fantastic explanation of the different rib types and from whence they come. He even describes baby backs as having an inherently sweeter taste.

I guess my palate just isn't refined enough - at least not for pork ribs - I can't taste the difference. Then again - I've never done a moderately controlled A/B test and perhaps that's one more reasons for a bit of sciene on some upcoming weekend.

The lower fat content of baby backs doesn't enter into the picture for me either. It takes a bit less timeto cook them in my smoker than spare ribs take - about 3 to 3 1/2 hours rather than 4 hours - but with my trimming technique and low temp h2o smoking process all the fat is rendered and both types come out with similar texture and moistness levels.

And I've never cared for the so called "Country Style Ribs. It looks like rectangular chunks of pork loin to me (uhhhh.... I think that's what it actually is!).

←

Wow, thanks for that - a great link!

Unfortunately it looks like baby back ribs aren't available (or at least keep a VERY low profile) here in AU. The ribs available are either the spare ribs shown in that video (just called pork ribs or american ribs or "bbq ribs") or what we call "spare ribs" (or belly ribs - the belly sliced up into rectangular pieces, each with a bit of cartilage but no bones see here: http://www.australianpork.com.au/index.cfm...8D05D7FA12B0A4A cut number 7)

Guess it will just be spare ribs (in the US sense) for me!

[Dave the Cook]

. . . .

And I've never cared for the so called "Country Style Ribs.  It looks like rectangular chunks of pork loin to me (uhhhh....  I think that's what it actually is!).

←

Not to disrupt the scientific colloquy here (I'm quite interested in the results, should there be any, but "country-style ribs" are actually shoulder cuts -- as analogus to a beef chuck roast as you can get, considering we're talking about two different animals. In fact, if you check out bone-in country-style ribs, you can often see the pig version of the "seven" bone (as in a "seven-bone chuck roast").

Carry on.