St. Louis Ribs - What are they?

Harry · September 2000

I've seen a few recipes that call for "St. Louis Style Ribs", but don't know what they are. I want to be sure that the supermarket gives me the right thing.[p]Thanks,
Harry

Tim M · September 2000

Harry,[p]I copied this from the link below:[p]
Pork Loin Ribs (Baby Backs):

Back ribs shall consist of at least 8 ribs and as many as 14 ribs. Generally, a rack of ribs will be 12 to 13 ribs. The back rib is the vertebrae section of the pork loin. When specified, the "skin" (peritoneum) shall be removed from the
inside surface of the ribs along the intercostal meat. [p]Spare Ribs:[p] Spare ribs are the intact rib section removed from the belly and may include costal cartilage, with or without the
brisket bone removed and diaphragm trimmed. They will contain at least 11 bones.

St. Louis Style Ribs:

St. Louis Style ribs are cut from the spare rib and are prepared by removing the brisket bone parallel to the rib side,exposing cartilage on the brisket bone side. Skirt meat can be removes. If left on, the outside edge of the skirt should be trimmed. [p]Pork Brisket Bone (Rib Tip - Breaks - Tips):

are the small meaty pieces that are removed from the spare rib during the process of making a St. Louis rib. Cut from butcher hogs, they are very meaty.
Kansas City Style or Bar-B-Q Cut (KC Cut - Colorado Style - South Side Cut) a spare rib which has had the hard bone removed, and in some cases, the point squared. [p]Riblets:

from the loin or spare ribs, generated by straightening the loin or cutting down a loin or spare rib. Will vary in size andweight. [p]Flatbone - Button Bone Riblets:

The last four to six bones of the back bone, not having ribs connecting them. A cover of meat will connect each.
[p]http://www.ribman.com/abtribs.html#rterms[p]
Tim

Harry · September 2000

Tim M,
Perfect, thank you. Just what I needed.
Harry

Unknown · September 2000

Tim M,
A food show this weekend showed a butcher striking what I assume is the skirt meat with a meat cleaver. He seemed to be hitting right between the ribs. This wasn't the focus of the show so it wasn't explained what he was doing. Any ideas?
I cooked two slabs this weekend. I pulled the membrane off until it went under this skirt meat. The ribs came out OK but not great. They ended up fairly fatty. I'm wondering whether I should have cut the skirt off or maybe simply cooked them longer than I did (4 hours @ 200)

Gfw · September 2000

Tim, next time you may want to try baby backs in stead of spares - not as fatty and can be very tender and tasty. Lots of methods on both Tim M's site and mine. [p]
[ul][li]Gfw's BBQ [/ul]

Cat · September 2000

Tim,[p]The butcher might have been slicing the skirt down to the bone so it would cook faster and more evenly. I usually trim the skirt off altogether if the butcher hasn't already.[p]Next time you do spares try cooking them longer or hotter. The slabs I buy are fairly small - just over 2 lb. when fully trimmed - and they take about 4 hours at 230. [p]Cathy

Unknown · September 2000

Gfw and Cathy[p]Thanks for the advice. I will try a longer cook with the skirt trimmed off.
I've had pretty good luck with babybacks in the past and the spares were a bit of an experiment. Even if not entirely successful, the experiments are part of the fun.[p]

St. Louis Ribs - What are they?

Comments

Categories