Pork spare ribs, brisket removed?

[Tom_Landis]

Last weekend I picked up a case of butts at Sam's. I was looking to get a few packs of ribs too. Well with the price of babybacks being so high I decided to go with some spares. The label said " Pork spares, brisket removed ", or something close to that. The racks were huge, the side with the smallest bones was the widest cut of meat. I didn't do any trimming, I just cut them in half, applied rub and threw them on the WSM. They looked great when I pulled them off, but after biting into them I was more fat than meat on each bite. I really wish I would have read the cooking guide on selecting and preparing ribs before the cook, instead of after /infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif
The light went on in my head as I was posting this to look in the cooking section for answers.

 

[Paul G.]

I've purchased and cooked these spares a number of times. Actually, I rather like them. Without foil it's a 7 + hr cook and that's usually how I do them. I used foil once and got them too tender.

I do some additional triming. Even though it says brisket bone removed, I cut a section that seems to be comprised primarily of cartilege and is directly attached to the rib bones. It extends down abown part of the way, maybe 6 to 8 in. I cook it separately and takes about the same time as the ribs. I do the usual triming for St Louis style and then cut each slab. They fit pretty well in a charbroil rib rack.

I'm sorry your experience didn't go better, but there's no question these ribs do need a good deal of prep. However, I think they're worth it and the price is usually quite good. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Paul

 

[Matty Tee]

I get those same ribs here in Rochester and they need to be trimmed. I got some last weekend and trimmed them KC style and they came out great. I cooked the trimmings on the lower rack and they were a nice treat after a couple hours. I think they ribs I got were too small though and probably could have been taken off the cooker around 5 hours.

Since they come 3 to a pack I was looking for one that was about 11 lbs. Next time I think I'll get a 12 lb pack and see how they go.

Matt