What is going on with the trim on this rack of spare ribs?

TheBreeze · July 21

I was excited to get two good sized racks of spare ribs from my butcher. We enjoy these more than St. Louis cut and I was looking forward to smoking these tomorrow on my egg. They don't normally carry full racks of spare ribs, so I had to special order these a few days in advance.

When I opened the package this evening to trim and prepare for the overnight dry brine, this is what I got. I've never seen or heard of this type of trimming before. My first reaction is this cannot be good. Luckily they are very meaty ribs, but I am still worried there is way too much surface area due to the cuts, and the rib tip section is going to get burned up, defeating the entire purpose of getting the full spare.

I don't have many options; I want to do an overnight dry brine and I am busy tomorrow morning and can't go back to the butcher. My plan is to just give it a go - I am going to push the rack together as best I can and hope the effect of the cuts isn't as bad as I fear.

Does anybody know what I am looking at here? Any advice besides just pushing the rack together and giving it a go? Thanks!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/ui/scwi6mhwacyu.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/c3/s8cyznlgwhjg.jpg

Legume · July 21

No idea if that's on purpose or not, but it looks like a hot mess. Sorry.

shtgunal3 · July 21

That’s new to me too. I believe I’d do just as you say and push together the best you can and fire away.

alaskanassasin · July 21

Those rib tips look tasty

DoubleEgger · July 21

Those might be party rib candidates.

lkapigian · July 21

Frenched , must have gone to culinary school…. Salt pepper garlic cook enjoy

TheBreeze · August 12

Thanks for the comments, I thought I would give a quick update. I stopped back at the butcher to inquire about this abomination and was told this was referred to as "cut." Apparently this was intentional and done because they thought customers would have issues cutting through the bone / cartilage in this section. I most certainly would not have this issue but I decided not to get into it. After our chat I am confident I will be able to specify how to not have them butchered in this way going forward.

In terms of the cook, it went fine, the ribs were still very tasty. No surprise, but I think that cutting into the ends like this was not a plus - you can see by the pic that they burned up a bit and certainly weren't as juicy as they could be, but they still made a good dinner. I will look forward to the next full (uncut) spare.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/rn/ryh2wuo5bkw0.jpg

Foghorn · August 12

I'd hit that. Looks like you executed well on your cook. Even on unsliced ribs I sometimes burn the periphery...

Buckwoody Egger · August 12

was the cartilage removed from the meat but the rib tip meat remained?

seems like half way between a spare rib and st. louis. like the rib tips were dissected but intact. if so covering the dissected end in foil for some of the cook might protect it and also deliver a cartilage free bite.

TheBreeze · August 18

No, this was just a regular full spare with everything intact and just these terrible cuts. However the fact that you had to ask that question is additional proof that this is not what you want to do to an otherwise very nice rack of ribs.

Buckwoody Egger · August 18

thanks for sharing the odd cut. agreed it was not needed. st louis shorties with the cleaner bite are popular enough to have staying power— maybe for people that order “all drums” for wings? lol

Teefus · August 19

Maybe show the photos to the butcher and ask for an explanation?

TheBreeze · August 21

Teefus said:

Maybe show the photos to the butcher and ask for an explanation?

Yes, I went back and spoke to the butcher, see above. I was also back there yesterday to order another few racks of full spares and spoke to another one of the butchers, who has been there for 30 years. He said that was what he was originally taught there - you "cut" these full racks for the customer, and spoke about it as a totally normal thing.

I'm not sure what to say, they don't sell many full spares and this particular place uses this relatively unknow technique. I ordered them "uncut" and I'm looking forward to another shot this weekend, I just got a new XL last week and am looking forward to the first real cook.

lousubcap · August 22

Way to stay the course and let the forum know of your efforts. Curious as to what you get as well. Regardless, enjoy the cooks on your new XL.

What is going on with the trim on this rack of spare ribs?

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