First time with spares


 
Jerry N.

Jerry N.

TVWBB Emerald Member
I know I've done spares before, but they must have been pre-trimmed. I just got a package of spares from Sam's and they look like the spares from the cooking section of this site. So I cut them up pretty much like the instructions say. I have 3 nice racks of St. Louis spares.

My question is what to do with the other meat. The skirt meat is no problem, I'll eat that after a couple of hours cooking. But what about that big hunk of meat I cut off running the length of the rack? It looks like there's a lot of meat there, but there's more than a lot of fat. Looks like a thick vein of fat running through the center of these pieces. Is it even worth cooking? More important, is it even worth eating?
 
Down here in Tennessee, the only part of the pig we don't eat is the squeal!

Smoke 'em 'n' eat 'm, boy!
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--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
You’ve ever downloaded a ring tone with a jug being blown in the background.
 
Do you have a meat grinder? If so, debone all of it, Get rid of any nasty grissel. And make yourself some sausage patties.

The ribs you purchased before sounds like baby back or loin back ribs. This is what I smoke. Not waiste. Much leaner. A little leaner in meat too. If you watch for sales you can find them at a decent price.
 
Jerry,
I cook the trimmings along with the ribs and then chop them into serving pieces. They're make great snacks, kinda like "riblets".
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Hello
Those are used for snacks about 3 hrs in to the cook and also experiments of different seasonings. I just rubbed some odd pieces down with kosher salt and finished them with pineapple jelly at the end last week and the crowd loved them.

Give it a try
Jeff
 
The cook is on. I am cooking the trimmed peices. I have a couple of questions.

1. Why is the trimmed meat done in 3 hours (I understand the skirt because that's pretty small and thin).

2.When you prep the spare ribs, how do you know where to make the cut that runs the length of the ribs. The starting point seemed easy to find (right at the tip of the larger bones), but as I worked my way down the rack, I didn't know how much to cut off. The point of reference (ends of bones) doesn't seem to work after about 1/3rd of the cut.
 
Jerry

The large piece at the top of the slab is the the sternum, breast bone, and I usually cook it as long as the slab of spares. I don't think it would be done in 3 hours. I just make my cut at a point to try to have a fairly uniform width of slab when finished. You will be cutting through cartlidge as you proceed down the slab. I'm not entirely sure why I cook the sternum, but I do.

Paul
 
the trimmed pieces are smaller cuts of meat that have a larger surface area around them to cook. kinda like cooking a whole chicken breast or diced up pieces.A single rib inthe slab only has 2 sides to cook with(top&bottom) the smaller pieces get heat from all 4 sides.I hope i explained it all right.

Seeeuuuu
Jeff
 
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