St. Louis Ribs - Question

[Roger R.]

I am going to smoke 3 racks of St. Louis ribs in a little while. They are setting with the rub
on, as I type. The ribs are cut differently than usual, so I thought you guys could lend me
some advice...

Typically, the place where I buy them trim them bone to bone - no boneless flap of meat
on the thin end. This time, there is about 3 - 4" of boneless flap on each rack.

Should I leave this meat or cut it off and smoke it separately?

I have only smoked full spear ribs once, as I didn't like all the flappy meat on the bones.
That meat seemed to cook differently than the meat around the bones. Will this 4"
cook quicker (drier) than the rest?

Your 'quick' advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Tony R]

Cut the flap off. Apply the rub and smoke them. Use for bbq beans or snack on them while you wait for the ribs

 

[Dwain Pannell]

When I trim spares to St Louis cut, I trim the tips, flap meat, and the small triangle at th end of the smallest rib. Like Tony said, they make a great addition to beans or as a chef's snack. I use the other trimmings in nachos, tacos, etc.

 

[Bob Mann]

I freeze the trimmings. When I get a few racks worth, I cook them up as a meal. Rib tips are good!

 

[Roger R.]

Thanks very much. All good advice. I left it on, and frankly, it was ok - no problem!

As a side note, usually I rub regular French's type yellow mustard
on the ribs first, then the rub. Yesterday I rubbed a 'deli' type mustard,
that had a lot of mustard seeds and such in it, and then the rub.
The extra texture and flavor of the mustard gave the ribs a nice new flavor!