Simple question about ribs

thejennelles · July 20, 2005, 08:43:02 PM

Can someone tell me what St. Louis ribs are and why they are different than ones at say....Kroger?

Phone Guy · July 20, 2005, 11:12:38 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by thejennelles
 Can someone tell me what St. Louis ribs are and why they are different than ones at say....Kroger?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

"St Louis" ribs are just spare ribs with the flap cut off. They're just trimmed. The taste is the same.

MallardWacker · July 21, 2005, 01:53:12 PM

tj,

Phone Dude is right. If you are buying them at Kroger you will be paying way too much-they charge so much for St' Louis Style ribs there-they should be charged with something, the last time I checked there they were over four bucks a pound. If you go to Sams(around two dollars a pound), they come almost already trimmed down. I just cut the bottom flap off and into the cartledge area and straight with the ribs to make them look more like large loin backs then place all the trimmings on one rack and scarf them later. Big Smoker is the St.Louis king around here--he's the one that got me started on them. I'm sure he will show up.

Here is a pic of my last round.

Along with some Pablano's I put in with them.

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

thejennelles · July 21, 2005, 03:45:08 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by MallardWacker
 
"were over four bucks a pound. If you go to Sams(around two dollars a pound), they come almost already trimmed down."

I just called my local butcher (who I have not used but is highly regarded) and he said that his St. Louis ribs are about $10 per rack. I am not sure if that is a good deal or not, maybe someone with some experience will know? BTW those pics are great, hope mine look that nice. How did you season/smoke them? Always needing tips[:)]

bsolomon · July 21, 2005, 05:03:19 PM

Depends on the weight of the rack. Pork loin ribs usually run about 4 to 4.5 lbs. per rack, so that would come in under $2.50 per lb., but as Phone Guy and MallardWacker said, St. Louis style are trimmed up more, so a rack would weigh less and your price per lb. would be a bit higher.

I did 29 lbs. of pork loin ribs this past weekend. I did a KC-style dry rub (lots of brown sugar and pepper for a sweet/hot kind of effect - just do a Web search and you'll find tons of rub recipe suggestions), 4 hours of smoke alternating maple and pecan bisquettes, cooked at 200-210 degrees with bacon dripping down from the top rack to an internal temperature of about 187 degrees (typically 8-10 hours for a couple of racks, but 16-17 hours for the 29 lbs.). FTC for at least 2 hours. Served with homemade KC-style BBQ sauce on the side.

Good luck and let us know how they turn out.

Phone Guy · July 21, 2005, 08:50:59 PM

If your butcher is charging $4 lb for St. Louis ribs I would go to Sams or Costco and get Babby Backs for that price.

BigSmoker · July 21, 2005, 09:14:55 PM

Ahhhhh... ribs, The food of the Redneck Gods[:D]. If you want more info than I could ever tell you about ribs go to this web site for a full class on ribs. RIBMAN. I do prefer the spares trimmed to St. Louis style. Just has a little better flavor to me and I get to use one of my knives to cut something up[8D]. Once you have trimmed them a couple of times it's really easy. There is some cartliage and you take your knife(sharper the better) and just slide it down the length of the rack and walaa you just trimmed them up. Now most folks pull the membrane of the back of the ribs. This can be achieved by using a dull knife to get under the membrane and then use a paper towel and your fingers and pull hard to remove. Next slather the ribs with cheap yellow mustard and then cover the mustard with your favorite rub. I really like the Dizzy Pig Swamp Venom but Smoke and Spice has some good recipes for rub. Let the rub melt into the ribs(10 minutes or so) then wrap them in plastic wrap and into the fridge for a few hours to overnight. Now don't forgrt to do the little tail pieces you cut off we will use them later. Unwrap the ribs and recoat with some more rub to fill in any spaces needing attention and set the ribs aside. Warm up the Bradley to 275-300f for about an hour or so. This lets the cabinet get nice and hot[;)]. Place cut in half racks on smoker racks(shelves). The 2 larger ends of the ribs go together and the 2 smaller ends go together. Now the little tail pieces go on a seperate rack. Total 3 racks(shelves) for 2 racks(ribs)[:D]. Place them in the smoker tail pieces top then smaller pieces and then bigger pieces. Shut door as fast as you can and start your smoke 3-4 hours worth depending on what wood you are using. Now you must watch the temp for a little while. Stabilize the temp to 225f or a little more or less then find something else to do other than watch the smoker. After 4 hrs open the door and turn rack 2 and 3 front to back and take water bowl out. Fill and replace water bowl(hot water)after dumping out the burnt pucks. The waterbowl at this point is to just trap the stuff dripping off the ribs. Continue cooking until the rib bones will begin to twist easily away from the meat. This usually takes 6-8 hrs total for me but each cook has a life of it's own. My suggestion is to buy a strong flashlight and shine through the vent(which by the way should have been about 1/3 open)to see how your ribs are progressing. The meat will begin to pull back from the bones at the ends around 1/4-1/2" when they are done but this is not always the case. I only do the ribs by feel and sometimes I have to open the door quite a few times to test them. Of course this extends the cooking time but I never rush my Que. When I have(rushed) I have always been disappointed. This method should produce some mighty fine ribs but..... here is another way. It's the same until the cooking part. OK 1st only preheat the cabinet with the puck generator not the heating element. Place the ribs in the cabinet the same. Pour on the smoke(3hrs only here) with top vent all the way open. Remove ribs from smoker and wrap them seperately(except all the trimmings do them in 1 pack) in foil. Add a little apple juice to each packet. Wrap tightly and return to Bradley or a preheated oven. Either way 200F for 2 hrs. If using the Bradley don't forget to plug the heating element back in and bump the temp up when you remove the ribs. After 2 hrs. take ribs out and carefully remove the ribs from the foil as there is a lot of steam inside there. Now while they were in the foil inside the oven or Bradley you got your charcoal grill ready and have it stable at about 300f. Place ribs on grill and brush(just enough sauce each time to make them look wet don't glob it on)with your favorite sauce. cook 10 minutes, brush again, cook 10 min, brush again, cook 10 min and remove from grill. Brush again. Let stand 10 minutes serve with sauce on the side. Now the 2 hrs in the oven can be a tad much depending on how hot the Bradley was depending on the weather, the ambient thing you know. So if it's real hot outside maybe 1 1/2 hrs in the foil. Anyway maybe this will help someone as I have probably rambeled more than explained[:D].

P.S. by the way has anyone reveo'd ribs yet?

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

MallardWacker · July 22, 2005, 01:27:35 PM

BIGSMOKER; He is "DA Man".

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

nsxbill · July 22, 2005, 02:48:10 PM

I have reveo'd BB ribs twice. It works great. I am about to head out for the commissary in about an hour and pick up 6 sides of BB ribs. When I asked my daughter what the grandkids really liked, it was a resounding ribs. So now I know what I am cooking for Sunday. I will probably get both of the smokers going for them, and I think I am going to do them flat on the racks.

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

Oldman · July 22, 2005, 05:54:43 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by MallardWacker
 BIGSMOKER; He is "DA Man".

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Here here~~!

Olds

JJC · July 22, 2005, 11:17:51 PM

Agree with Bill on ribs a la Reveo--works great.

John
Newton MA

BigSmoker · July 23, 2005, 02:03:21 AM

Next ribs for me are reveo'd with some commercial mojo or maybe a homemade version[:p]. Then rubbed with adobo, chili powder and maybe a little garlic powder. Not sure which wood but seem to have a supply of maple and hickory[:D].

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

tsquared · July 23, 2005, 04:08:07 AM

You asked a simple question about a complex topic. Way to go big smoker!
T2

thejennelles · August 18, 2005, 07:13:35 PM

Hey All,

I wanted to show some pics of the smoke that I had a couple of weeks back. I took the advice from the above replies and here is what I came up with. Everyone agreed that they were the best ribs they had eaten by all accounts. (The chickens turned out really well too) I could not quite figure out how to put the pictures to where you can see them on this page but here are the links.

This is the ribs being prepped...
http://www.cameolane.com/images/meat1.jpg

...the Chickens...
http://www.cameolane.com/images/meat2.jpg

...and the end results
http://www.cameolane.com/images/meat3.jpg