Can we talk about how "competition ribs" are actually worse than backyard style?

I spent a whole summer working at a bbq joint in Austin and watched guys obsess over bend tests and 321 methods. Tried making competition style ribs myself, all trimmed up and uniform. Took me about 5 racks before I admitted they were dry and lifeless. My dad's method were just salt pepper and smoke until the bone pokes through and they taste way better. All that fuss over appearance kills the fat and texture. Anyone else ditch the comp style and go back to simple?

3 comments

3 Comments

lucasschmidt11d ago

It's the same thing you see everywhere now, people turn simple stuff into these complicated rituals just to feel like experts. You got coffee snobs weighing beans to the gram and yoga people arguing over the right type of mat, all missing that the point was just a good drink or a stretch. Ribs are just meat and smoke, always have been, and all that competition noise just makes them worse.

jasonf1712d ago

Man that bend test thing drives me crazy. I remember watching this one guy at a comp in Memphis who had a whole system with a clipboard and a stopwatch timing his bends. He looked like he was doing a science experiment instead of cooking food. Meanwhile I'm sitting there with a rack I just slapped some rub on and threw on the smoker for a few hours, pulling them when they felt right. That guy placed third and my ribs were just average but I swear his were like chewing on a shoe sole. The whole competition scene feels like it's more about the gimmicks than the actual eating. Why do we overthink something that's just meat and fire?

the_spencer12d ago

Holy cow, you actually worked at a BBQ joint and still came to the conclusion that competition ribs are worse? That's like an astronaut saying the moon is overrated. I don't miss the anxiety of watching grown men argue over the bend test like it's the Super Bowl.