Why are my St Louis Ribs and Butts coming out too greasy?

EggersRUs · November 2018

I seem to have time and temp figured out, can tell when ribs are done.

I'm cooking ribs with heat deflector in, gasket level, ribs bone side down.

Using a flame boss for temp control at 225

For what it's worth, having tried half a dozen rubs, what my wife and I like best is one part coarse sea salt to two parts freshly ground black pepper that we make ourselves (courtesy of a poster here at BGE forum)

I cooked the butt at 220 to an internal temp of around 200.

I think the ribs and butt taste great and love the fat, but I'm in a slim minority.

However, wife, grandkids, daughter-in-law think too greasy.

For a less greasy finished product should I cook at slightly higher temp? Slightly lower temp?

Or purchase from a different vendor? Ribs and butt (shoulder actually) came from Costco.

What's the best way to keep my family happy on the amount of grease?

Really appreciate any and all input.

Theophan · November 2018

Different grills/smokers, etc. need different techniques in using them. Lots of people smoke ribs at 225°, but for me, I really think the Big Green Egg just works better in general at 250° and above. My "low and slow" temp is 250°-275°. I think I get better smoke, better results in general.

But I don't honestly know if that will make ribs less greasy. Pork for ribs needs some fat -- if the meat is too lean, ribs will be dry. One thing I'm wondering is if you're cooking them long enough. Different people have different tastes. Some like to be able to bite into ribs, others like the meat to fall off the bone. Longer cooking tends to render out more fat, so maybe that's something to think about. I'm nervous about you saying you cook "the butt at 220 to an internal temp of around 200." In my experience, you need to cook steaks to the internal temp you want, but pork butt and ribs can't be cooked to a temperature. You can only tell when they're done by whether they test tender, regardless of the internal temperature. With ribs it's the toothpick test (does one go into the meat really easily, "like buttah," or the bend test (if you hold them up by grabbing several ribs at one end, does the rack bend to 90°). If your family would like more well-done ribs, closer to falling off the bone, and yours have still had a bit of chew to them, cooking them longer might render out more of the fat.

Others may have better ideas.

Woodchunk · November 2018

Try smoking the butt fat side down if not doing that and increase the temp about 50 degrees for the full cook
turn the ribs over to bone up for the last hour and boost the temp
don't foil either if you do

i run 275-300 for butts
250-275 for ribs

EggersRUs · November 2018

Actually, I'm cooking on a Kamado Joe, a model that they now call the classic.

Very similar to a standard BGE. They're all kamado ovens. I have been coming here for years for recipes, and have posted a recipe or two. Main difference I can see related to recipes is heat/deflector and plate/setter, and height of racks - which is why I often refer to gasket level.

I don't cook the ribs to an internal temp, and do the standard checks, including toothpick.

The butt, however, is so big that I have use a thermapen instant read thermometer to get to the center.

To me, the fat is where the flavor is. I am just trying to determine the best way to render more fat out and not get them overdone.

lousubcap · November 2018

@EggersRUs Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey. Above all, have fun regardless of the cooker in your arsenal.

No new pearls of wisdom here. As above, if greasy then there are two ways to solve that for me-aggressively trim before the cook or cook longer til more is rendered. Tooth-pick test for any type rib cook is fool-proof and when the bone pulls clean the same for a butt. @Theophan has a great write-up.

Happy Thanksgiving.

GrillSgt · November 2018

Greasy ribs, that’s a new one. Did you foil them? Were they fatty spare ribs? My only thoughts. I would like to hear a good answer.

pgprescott · November 2018

Everyone knows KJ’s produce inherently greasy food. Your only hope is to sell the red one and buy a green one.

In all seriousness, your issue is not the food but rather the eaters. What you are describing as greasy is moist desirable BBQ. What you are asking for is dry overcooked bbq. You are in a no win situation as I see it. Fat is your friend in BBQ. Those who object need to be retrained. Good luck with that.

GrillSgt · November 2018

Sorry didn’t notice you said St. Louis.

GregW · November 2018

For Ribs:

In my experience, cooking at too low of a temperature inhibits the rendering of fat.

I recommend 275 Degrees. The fat renders better and the higher temp promotes better bark formation.

St louis ribs inherently have more fat than baby backs. In the past I had made up my mind that I preferred the St louis cut. Recently I have discovered that I like baby backs better. Less fat and a better eating experience due to better bone structure.

Butts:

I use a different type of smoker, so my experience may not apply , I cook for 12 hours@190 Degrees and finish at 250 Degrees. The cook time is around 15 hours for a load of 10# butts.

I get really good color and bark formation. The butts cook long enough to properly render the intramuscular fat.

EggersRUs · November 2018

I didn't foil them.

I will give the next ones a higher temp.

I have thought about giving the baby back ribs a try, will do that also.

I got reasonably aggressive with trimming the St Louis ribs, but some of it seems difficult to trim. Finding out they are inherently fatter than baby back ribs is good to know.

In all honesty, I somewhat agree with PGPrescott, they're not too greasy or too much fat for me. However, I'm not cooking just for me.

I really appreciate the input.

pgprescott · November 2018

The baby backs are much leaner as mentioned. Stl cut are lower on the hogs rib cage and have a layer of fat between the layer of muscles. I don’t know about the cook temp theory though. Seems to me the fat and connective tissue starts to break down at @ 150-160, thus the stall begins. The longer the meat is in the stall, the more fat is rendered. Thus, I would suspect the lower temps would actually render the fat greater than the higher temps. This asssumes the same finish temp.

Whatever, the higher temp experiment is worth a try I guess, but I suspect the choice of cut would be a better path. Pulled pork that is pulled, cooled and reheated will also loose moisture (fat). Seems like a shame, but happy wife happy life is a motto to live by IMO. I get it.

gdenby · November 2018

Changing the vendor probably won't make much difference. Most commercial pork in the US is raised in a fairly specific manner to produce a very uniform product.

Your cooking method is OK, but over the years, I've gradually settled on 275 as being a good temperature. Fats start rendering around 130, and collagen around 140, but they don't really get going till around 180F.

A couple of mechanical things you can do. When pulling the butt, if there still are gobs of fat, remove before serving. Then served them topped w. a vinegar based slaw, to cut any excessive grease.

Serve your ribs on "sopping bread." Slices of the flour foam sold as white bread. Excess fat will soak into those, and if someone doesn't want to eat it, it can be pitched. Like the butts, I tend to use a vinegar based sauce on the side to cut any excessive grease on the lips.

DoubleEgger · November 2018

Buy your meat somewhere else and see if there’s a difference. All pork isn’t created equal.

Jstroke · November 2018

I’m gonna questions first and then offer a solution.
As others asked, did you shred the leftover fat cap into the meat? You might try removing the remaining large portions of soft unmelted fat before shredding.

I cook pork butts at 350 for 5.5-6 hours and pull at 190-195 or so. I trim the fat cap off for one reason. More bark. I find them to have plenty of fat left and not dry. I haven’t done a low/slow in more than 5 years. So admittedly I should try one again just for comparisons sake, but I have been very happy with them.

Why are my St Louis Ribs and Butts coming out too greasy?

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