rules of thumb revisited

char buddy

A week BBQfan1 came up with his so-called rules of thumb. I had never heard of most of them. He said stuff like - Rib slabs should be under 3 pounds each. Look for round bones. ETC.[p]Well, I went to my butcher and looked over the ribs in his case. Some had been previously frozen. Some were fresh (these were baby backs). And sure enough there did seem to be some with rounder bones than others.[p]So, I got the round bone ribs and tried them this weekend. [p]And, like a lot of stuff on this forum BBQfan1's idea worked as advertised.[p]So, I have questions. [p]Is the round bone test, just an easy way to select for freshness or something like that?[p]Anybody else ever hear of this round bone thing, and did it work for them?[p]Anybody else got a reason why the round bone thing works - or doesn't work?[p]Oh yeah, the ribs. They were the most tender ribs I've had yet. I did them with the Cat Lady's rub to which I added a lot of ginger. I tried to do them the GFW
way, they were so tender that after I took them out of the foil, the bones were following off and they were done, done, done. And were they good.[p]So, I have reasons to want answers to the round bone question.[p]Signed,
curious dude.

Nature Boy

char buddy ,
I think the round bone thing is new to most of us, but would also be curious as to the hard facts here....the why's. Answers, Buddy....answers.[p]I think someone might need to do a side-by-side comparison though. I will volunteer if I can find some round-bone ribs. I'll start lookin! [p]See you in April i hope.
NB

char buddy

Nature Boy,[p]My son and I are already planning for the big April do. I'm thinking of doing a butterflied chicken. Then again, I might have to do round bone ribs.[p]

BBQfan1

char buddy , Believe I mentioned in that original post that the source of the 'round rib bone' rule of thumb was a webcast shown on the BBQTV site, which I linked up to from the SmokeRing webring. The guy just said to look for ribs with round bones, and that, like yourself, sometimes you gotta look through a number of slabs to find what you're after. He never did elaborate on the reasoning behind this. My thinking would be that a round bone could possibly translate to a younger, more tender piggy, as a growing/grown hog would develop stronger, i.e. elongated bone structure. Either that, or the guy was playing a practical joke on us all, getting us sifting through rack upon rack of ribs in search of the elusive 'round bone rib'!
As a rule of thumb: 'Cheers!'
BBQfan1

char buddy

BBQfan1,[p]Well, I gave it a try and the first time out it worked. Have you tried it? Did it work for you?[p]

Nature Boy

Howdy char buddy ,
Me again.
This link talks about bone shape. Scroll down.
Maybe not exactly the info you are looking for, but good info here nevertheless.
Come on snow!
NB
[ul][li]Ribs and bones and such[/ul]

char buddy

Thanks Nature Boy.[p]From that chart it looks like round bone is a synonym for a loin back rib vs a st. louis rib. Who knew? [p]I'm not sure what all this means, but I aim to find out. [p]Our buddy BBQfan1 stumbled onto something useful. [p]Thanks BBQfan1. [p]We're in for snow turning to sleet turning to rain. Sounds like leg of lamb weather

BBQfan1

char buddy,
"Our buddy BBQfan1 stumbled onto something useful".
I'm as shocked and surprised as you are C-B!
Cheers,
Qf1