St. louis style ribs


 

Tony GM

New member
I just got my wsm on nov. 23 so I made a turkey for Thanksgiving and I loved It. I want to post a picture but don't know how. My problem is the St.Louis Style ribs I tried to make the other day they came out with to much fat it was kind of gross. Do you think they weren't done yet they cooked for 6hrs at about 250. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong or are those ribs normally like this.
Please help.
 
Tony, welcome to the board. First question is how did you know when to take them off? Did you go by time or by feel? I do spares at a higher temp and they can take this long. How did the ribs pull off the bone when you bit into them? To me it seems like they were under cooked but would need more info to tell.
 
I was waiting for both they actually there for 7hrs but I was fighting with the temp for a while it was to high 300F so closed all the vents and brought it down 225, but it kept wanting to go up to 300. I kept playing with the vents so it was like a roller coaster up and down, but at the end the bone was falling off so i figured it was done but still they had a lot of fat. I bought the ribs packaged it said st. louis style but it look like it still had the flap. I left as it was maybe should have cut it out. I don't remember the weight. Next time I'll keep better notes.
Thank Kevin
 
I buy whole spareribs and then trim them St Louis style myself. It is a little intimadating at first but pretty easy to do once you do it a few times. I trim the extra fat off the surface where ever it is built up. I also do not remove the membrane on spares, just score it between the bones to let the fat out. I use the 3-2-1 method (6 hours) and find that time to be pretty consistant. It sounds that the ribs you bought needed some more trimming.
 
The constant fighting of rising temps could be air leaks. Make sure the door is tight at the top and bottoms. Someone recently noticed that the had a leak at the bottom that caused there temps to keep rising. Maybe foil gasket the middle section?

HTH,
Ryan
 
I also trip spares down to St. Louis & during so I make it a point to remove as much fat as I can. Sure it may reduce the flavor some, but most people who eat my BBQ prefer much less fat (as do I).

6 hours @250 sounds perfectly long enough.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">The constant fighting of rising temps could be air leaks. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Not likely. It's probably the 'playing with the vents'.

If you want then less fatty trim to St Louis (no tips, no flap) and trim excess fat.

No need to chase temps. Make a small vent change then watch for 20-30 min . It takes time for changes to work. Watching the temp and the rate of change, anticipate and make adjustments early. Make small changes. You'll get used to it quickly.
 
Another thing to consider is that new cookers can run hot. I know my WSM took about five cooks before it would dial in at 225. Prior to that I ran hot.

Having said that, seven hours seems plenty long. Is it possible the slab began too fatty?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jamie Mantini:
I buy whole spareribs and then trim them St Louis style myself. It is a little intimadating at first but pretty easy to do once you do it a few times. I trim the extra fat off the surface where ever it is built up. I also do not remove the membrane on spares, just score it between the bones to let the fat out. I use the 3-2-1 method (6 hours) and find that time to be pretty consistant. It sounds that the ribs you bought needed some more trimming. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

How do you cut the ribs to make St. Louis ribs. I have my "kitchen hacksaw". Would that work? Do you do anything special with the "rib bits"?
 
Its a matter of trimming the flap of meat, xtra fat and the rib points. Kinda squaring them off. I think there is a video around somewhere that would give you a better idea. Personally I can't bring myself to trim all that meat off. As far as I can tell there is no difference in flavor between trimmed and untrimmed, I think its more an asthetic thing.
 
Their is a video in the videos section
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I like to trim to st luis and either freeze the rest or cut them for rib tips.

trimming makes a nice presentation, as well as can reduce cooking time.
 
It's trimming the flap off - plus the tips and associated cartilage - and squaring them.

I do not trim butts and I only rarely trim brisket (and when I do it isn't much). Spares I cut to St Louis because, being relatively thin, they cook more evenly at the > 300? temp I use. Not such an issue at lower cooktemps unless aesthetically important, but it can reduce cooktime as Eric notes.

(But one needn't trim the meat off and discard it. I don't. It's smoked along with the rack or saved, frozen and cooked at another time.)
 
Just bought some spare ribs on sale for 1.59/ lb. From the outside they look like they are already squared. Will know more when I open the pack up. They charged a little more for removing the kine(?)bone but they look great. They don't require a lot of extra work is the point.
 

 

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