I had my butcher cut St Louis cut ribs. Baby backs is all they know around here. I explained to my butcher as well as I could what I was looking for. I am really curious what you guys think of these ribs, did my butcher do a pretty good job? Cut too thin...couple shiners...ask for thicker cut ribs next time...they weigh 2.1 lbs...let me know what you guys think.
They look pretty ok to me. Next time you might want to stipulate that you get at least 2.5 to 3 pound racks. Those 2.1 ponders will cook in about 5 hours at @225°. 3 pounders take me at least 7 hours.
Dutchness - I'd say your butcher butchered those ribs. St. Louis cut ribs should be rectangular in shape, not warped like those above. If your butcher doesn't know what a St. Louis cut rib is, find a new butcher! Did your butcher give you back the trimmings or did the keep those bits? Did your butcher pull the membrane off the back of the ribs?
I'd suggest that you bring up YouTube and search for St. Louis Ribs. You'll see a LOT of videos that show you how to trim spare ribs into St. Louis cut ribs. It takes less than 5 minutes to prep a rack spares into St? Louis cut ribs. All you need is a good heavy sharp knife, a cutting board, and a rack of spares.
If I can do this, so can you! It's quite easy and you won't have to rely on anyone else again.
Is there a disadvantage about them not being rectangular besides the looks?
On the other side of the pond St Louis cut are just not common, that does not make him a bad butcher. They deliver to a lot of the good restaurants in Amsterdam so I am sure he is a solid butcher.
Hey be sure and post the finish pics. I bet they will turnout beautiful for you. I have found with the lighter racks you get more bone bling. Good luck
Well from what I understand the judges like a good amount of meat on both sides but if they show a little bit big deal. Now that being said there will be 50 pit masters coming after me trying to box my ears for my comment. So I just want to say this . You got some good looking meat and you got a great looking rig to put it on . Cheers
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There's nothing wrong with them, but next time buy full spares and trim them yourself into SLC's I cut my SLC's into 12 or 13 bones, even up the 2 ends and cut the tips right through the fat part of the cartilage. They end up about 5-6 inches wide. they are very even and easier to cook that way. Easier to eat, as well.
Looks like what you actually got was closer to a full spare rib side than "St. Louis" cut but no big deal. Can't tell if the butcher cut off the sternum (breastbone) or not from the pictures. You may have that &/or some cartilage nubbins to gnaw around but nothing wrong with that other than messy to eat. It's BBQ!!!! Enjoy!
HorseDoctor tahnks for your reply. They are not the best pictures, my bad. The sternum was taken off...I believe (the ribs are not here or I would have checked).
But then when I look at this picture...doesn't this look like the sternum? Then I have another question, if the sternum was taken off, he should have still cut the part off above the red line correct? Just trying to learn.
To actually be a true "St. Louis" cut, yes the cartilage bits (costal cartilages) are trimmed off. Otherwise it's a rack of spareribs. All good, just a matter of how you want it trimmed.
I went to my wholesale butcher today. He cut the ribs right from the belly in front of me and asked me how thick I wanted them (I already had sent him a youtube video how to cut St Louis). He cut one after another right at 1200 grams (2.6lbs). He left half of the belly on the ribs, so they are a nice size.
Now my question. Obviously they will have to cook longer. I usually smoke my ribs 3 hours without opening my smoker, then wrap them for 1.5 hour and then sauce them and put them back on for 15 min to firm up. How does 0.7lbs of extra meat will effect the cook time? And do I cook them longer naked, or when wrapped?
It's no big deal. Just make certain that your ribs pass the bend test. Wrapping will seem to accelerate doneness. I generally cook mine without wrapping. I like bark and to me, wrapping interferes with bark formation. Best of luck!
Here's a good primer on cutting spares down to SLCs.
The stuff you trim is all worth cooking and eating or upcycling, and paying a premium to have the cheaper spares turned into more expensive SLCs while not getting the trim is the opposite of efficient frugality. If you want to spend extra, buy a nicer animal, and do the simple work, imo.
Would smoking them 4 or maybe even 5 hours instead of 3 before wrapping would be a good option? Then have them wrapped for 1.5 hour and see how far they are?
I'd just follow the Last Meal Ribs process and not worry about wrapping. But if I ruled the world, dogs would meow, because I would have taken all the bark.
What are you cooking on? I cooked my last St Louis ribs on my Lang without wrapping and they were far better than wrapped because the bark was not steamed off from the wrapping process. I am going to cook some more this weekend the same way with some MMD on them.
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