St. Louis Trim Ribs Pro/Con

satjat · May 2010

I've gotten pretty good at trimming my pork spareribs St. Louis style. They look nice and pretty...but I do feel like I have a lot of waste of good meat. If I don't trim them St. Louis and just throw on the whole rack are there any changes to the 3-1-1 method that I have been using. Any difference St. Louis vs Untrimmed except "pretty rib" vs "ugly rib"....but still all tasty. Thanks

CBBQ · May 2010

I don't find much difference as far as the cook goes. Most of the meat on the "tip" portion is on the outside instead of between the bones so the cook doesn't have to be any longer. The whole rib is bigger so people tend to eat fewer. And while a lot of people like the tip meat they don't always care for all the fat on the end. But I also have customers that ask for the tips only.

thirdeye · May 2010

Well, cooking the slab whole isn't really an ugly rib Heheee..... it's actually a good way to show off your skill on the cooker. It's also cool to serve something that hangs over the plate. I tend to really watch the whole slabs and will rotate (not necessarily turn) more often than trimmed down racks. I almost always have a mop handy when I barbecue the whole ones too. Overall, time wise is not that much longer, but if you over do the hour in foil, the tips can get way too tender.

As a minimum, I will remove the flap and cook it separately for snacking. But when you do the St. Louis trim.... You could always save the ends and tips for later, but I like to cook them at the same time as the trimmed rack.

I saved all the flaps from these ribs and made a small batch of sausage with it.

2Fategghead · May 2010

satjat, I also buy slabs spare ribs in three packs. I trim them up St. Louis style and they smoke up nicely.

I usually cook most of the trimmings and nibble on them while they cook. I take the rest of the trimmings and have it ground up by the butcher I got the meat from then I make a batch of seasonings and make my own sausage. Then I make that into a loaf and smoke it as well. Just sayin. Tim

Here I had the trimmings on the grate below.

Here are some of the trimmings cooking up.

Here are my trimmings rolled in a loaf and wraped in bacon.

Car Wash Mike · May 2010

That flap meat on the bone side is terrible.
Mike

satjat · May 2010

appreciate everyone's reply !

grillking · May 2010

Send some of those my way!!

grillking · May 2010

Send some of those my way!!

FlaMike · May 2010

I don't use the 3-1-1 method, but I do trim to St Louis Style. The "pretty ribs" are more uniform, and cook up evenly. I save the raw trimmings, vacu-seal and freeze for an "ugly" rib cook at a later date. The trimmings take less time, and offer several snacks along the way, as the thin flap meat cooks up first. We love that second "rib" meal just as much as the "real thing"
(edited) I usually get about 5-6 lbs of trimmings from 3 whole racks of ribs.

Isolated01 · May 2010

I trim my ribs and use the flap meat and rib tips in my BBQ beans. Ok, so I also snack on them a little :-)

Kenny 13 · May 2010

I also trim mine St. Louis style and I'll just cook up the trimmings another time. Sometimes I even smoke them and cube them to make chili. Good stuff there!

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