cost and taste of spares vs. st louis cut


 
J

Jeff Davidson

TVWBB Super Fan
hi,

over the last year or so cryovac wrapped st louis cut ribs started showing up at our grocery store. Additionally, our store started cutting their own st. louis cut out of spares. I'm wondering at what price point these are a good deal. For example, today spares were $2.00/lb and st louis cut was $3.49/lb. My sense is that's a fair difference but I'm wondering if anyone has put some science into analyzing the price difference.

I'm finding eating spares (with rib tips attached) is not much fun. All sorts of weird cartilage comes out of the tips that I'd rather avoid. Perhaps there's a way to prepare spares (or rib tips) to avoid this stuff?

tia,
jd
 
I'm with you....I find the odd lateral cartilage etc very unappetizing. If you cut the ribs then the cross cuts I find even less attractive. The family seems to avoid them as well.
 
I find it's easy to make them St. Louis style. The trimmings can be smoked and added to beans. Unless you are making more than 3 racks, I would trim them myself. More than 3 would get me to the point of having the butcher do it for me.
 
going with one of Jeff's original questions - what's a fair price per rack for baby backs, spares, & St Louis?

Seems they're always ~$9-10 per rack when I buy them.
 
Spares seem to run about 2/3rds the price of St. Louis and 1/2 the price of baby backs around here. It's a very easy process to cut St. Louis ribs out of a rack of spares - see the Cooking Topics section here (main website, not in the forums) for illustrated instructions. The tips can then be used for something else: appetizers, pork fried rice, I cured some and made Tasso, etc.
 
I live in SW Ohio (just north of Cincinnati) and full spares around here typically run $1.99 per pound. I trim my own to end up with St. Louis spares. Recently, I was in a locally owned super market in a nearby small town that has excellent meat with real butchers. I was looking at spares and asked what the price would be if I got St. Louis cut. The butcher didn't know what I was talking about... This kind of floored me. It won't keep me from using them because they have excellent meat and good prices but sure makes one think...

We use all of the parts and nothing but pure scrap gets thrown away. The "parts" of spares can be really tasty when done along with the spares, too. They, of course, as stated above can be used for beans, etc..

Dale53
 
Their is a supermarket chain in my area that trim all their spare to St. Louis cut PLUS they include in the package all the trimmings. I buy them on sale for #1.99 a pound. The only trim I have to do is the strip off the back and the silver skin.
 
Full racks of spare ribs are $2.29-$2.49 a pound regularly, and $1.79 on sale (which they are often). They sometimes sell St.Louis cut ribs for $2.99-$3.49 a pound. I prefer the full racks and do my own trimming. My wife actually prefers the rib tips to the ribs.

Bob
 
My wife actually prefers the rib tips to the ribs.
Click to expand...
Same here.
Here in Louisville spares go for 1.99, St Louis cut 2.99 and back ribs 3.99.
I buy spares and trim myself. That seems to be the best value for my money and I enjoy doing the trimming.
 
Locally, I pay about $2.50 for spares and $3.50 for Louies. I weighed out the trimmings a while ago and found that there's little difference in the final cost between each. I don't mind trimming them myself (except for the membrane -- $#%&^*%#%), and I end up with nice trimmings that I grind up with chuck and brisket for burgers. Two parts chuck, one part each brisket and rib trimmings.
 
My impression is that the "eating problem" is having the ribs and the tips joined together so you don't know where to bite. Once they're cut apart (ideally before cooking) the rib tips go from annoying to yummy.

So another vote for "buy spares and trim 'em before cooking".
 
can not believe what i've just read.....

I'll take the entire rack of spares over trimmed up spares ANYDAY!
so easy to eet, so easy to prepare, so easy to love!
once off the WSM, slice through between the bones and right through the tips... It's HEAVEN!
I make'm this way everytime!

you probably don't like ice cream either ... ;)
 
My wife is Chinese so is very used to picking her way thru gristle, tendons etc.; so I smoke the whole spares and at the end of the day, they have disappeared!
 
Jim Lampe said:
can not believe what i've just read.....

I'll take the entire rack of spares over trimmed up spares ANYDAY!
so easy to eet, so easy to prepare, so easy to love!
once off the WSM, slice through between the bones and right through the tips... It's HEAVEN!
I make'm this way everytime!

you probably don't like ice cream either ... ;)
Click to expand...

When I do this I find the bright white cross cuts of the cartilage unappetizing.....and I see the family avoiding them as well while annihilating the clean ones. Maybe just too fussy....but I is what I is.
 
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