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Rib Trimming Advice Needed

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Unknown
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edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Tonight I cooked some ribs, and they turned out very good. But at one end of some of the ribs there seemed to be some gristle. These were St Louis style spare ribs. I seem to remember reading how some have trimmed part of the rib prior to cooking, saving the trimmed part for soup or something else. Can anyone set me straight on the right way to trim this type of rib?
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
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    1f1724ff.jpg
    <p />Carl P,[p]If you don't want to cook the whole slab, click the link to see how I do the St. Louis trim.[p]~thirdeye~

    [ul][li]Trimming Ribs[/ul]
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • Pork Butt
    Pork Butt Posts: 95
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    thirdeye,
    Thanks for the link Thirdeye on the ribs. My wife did not listen to me and bought baby backs today for tomorrow. My cooker is only a week old and so far I would not trade it for anything. I did find one home made rub on here for ribs. But if you can direct me to any other I would appreciate it. My first time cooking ribs in my BGE and looking forward to it. Thanks Again. [p]Pork Butt
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
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    Pork Butt,[p]The link below is to my homepage. Recipes including some for rubs I like are toward the bottom of the page.[p]Now if you want a lot of info, go to this site:[p]http://fooddownunder.com/[p]In the search box typing "rub" will give you 722 recipes. Typing "rib rub" will return 72. That should keep you busy for a while.[p]Wish you good cookin' with the new Egg![p]~thirdeye~

    [ul][li]Click Here[/ul]
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • Unknown
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    thirdeye,[p]I can't tell you how helpful that is. From the looks of it you are trimming off MOST of the meat, and the useable part of the ribs is not really all that big compared to what you buy in the first place.[p]I will probably stick with the St Louis style because I think they tasted better like you suggest, but is there a similar trim that needs to take place on babybacks?[p]thanks,[p]Carl P

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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
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    Carl P,[p]Thanks for the kind words. After you trim one or two slabs down to a St. Louis rack, you will be a pro. I like the flavor of spare ribs best also.[p]Baby backs (loin back ribs) come from the part of the rib up by the backbone, next to the pork loin. Here is a fishlessman photo of a nice bone-in pork loin showing this relationship. [p]e71dc5cf.jpg[p]The butcher separates the two leaving a pork loin and loin back ribs OR he slices them through the loin in thicker pieces making country ribs. (In the west however "country ribs" are slices of a butt, we hardly see loin country ribs). So really the only way you can get involved in trimming BB's is to purchase a bone-in loin. Get this ... it will usually be cheaper per pound than you are paying for BB's![p]Loin back ribs can be spotted right away from their distinct curvature.[p]2e5054de.jpg[p]Spare rib bones are straight.[p]5eed6997.jpg[p]Spares come from the belly area and some can be quite large. These are full slabs .... the grate is 23" just to give you some perspective. [p]af9fd0a7.jpg[p]~thirdeye~

    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • BBQBluesStringer
    BBQBluesStringer Posts: 398
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    thirdeye,[p]Where did you get your PhD in Ribology? That's an excellent presentation on rib preparation and regional nuances.
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  • Unknown
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    thirdeye,[p]Have you thought about publishing a text or teaching classes on this stuff? This is great info. Thanks again.[p]Carl P
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
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    BBQBluesStringer,[p]Actually I have an dis-honorary PhD from the University of Hard Knocks. I was in the I-Felta-Thigh fraternity .... which didn't pan out too well.[p]Thanks for the kind words. I guess I just read a lot, ask a lot of questions and take a hands on approach to most things. Plus I'm no stranger to farm or big game animals, they're all built pretty much the same.[p]~thirdeye~

    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
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    Carl P,[p]As a hobby, I have a cookin' site in the form of a recipe blog and I'm also a "cub" writer for the Cooks Kitchen, one of 15 foodie sites on the Well Fed Network. My last two articles were on key lime pie and wild rice. [p]<a href="http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/"><span style="color:#33cc00;">Click Here</span></a> to go to my home page.[p]<a href="http://thecookskitchen.net/"><span style="color:#33cc00;">Click Here</span></a> to visit The Cooks Kitchen.[p]~thirdeye~ [p]

    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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