Spare Ribs done St. Louis Style

[OldeSmoker]

Prepping slabs of spare ribs tonight for tomorrow’s weekly Saturday smoke. I trimmed the extra meat and cartilage (riblets) from the slabs for St. Louis style ribs. Removed the membrane and flap from the bone side of the slabs, then gave them a heavy coat of rub to allow them to dry brine overnight. They will go in the 3DW around 11:00 am tomorrow for a 6 hour smoke at 225 degrees. The trim (the riblets) will get sauced and wrapped after about 3.5 to 4 hours. The ribs will be served dry with sauce on the side. I will be using 2 oz. of wild cherry and 1 oz. of sugar maple. I will post additional photos and information about the smoke tomorrow.

 

[barelfly]

Yes!!! Ribs are gonna be good!

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

I've struggled with St. Louis style ribs in my #2 so I'm looking forward to seeing how yours turn out.  Last time I cooked them for 7 hours and they were still tough and -- I think -- undercooked. 

Also interested in any details in how you cook the riblets.  My previous attempts at cooking them haven't worked out well.

 

[OldeSmoker]

The ribs have been in for about an hour now and we have some nice TBS wisping out of the smoke stack. I added a large pan of Bacon Baked Beans so I added 1 ounce of Hickory to the mix. Regarding the Riblets. I place them one rack below the ribs to catch the rib drippings. Since they are leaner that seems to help them stay moist. I also place a full loaf pan about half full of apple juice on the bottom of the smoker next to the wood box. I have found the riblets don’t take as long as the ribs to get tender without drying out so I usually pull them, sauce and wrap around the 4 hour mark. That helps them to continue to tenderize without drying out.

 

[old sarge]

Looking good.  The final product ought to be a great meal!

 

[OldeSmoker]

The Ribs, Riblets and Bacon Baked Beans turned out very good. I ended up going about 7 hours on the Ribs and 5 hours on the Riblets due to operator error. I forgot to program step 2 to increase temperature to 225 from 150. When I looked at the app and saw my mistake they had smoked at 150 for about an hour longer than I had planned. Oh well, it didn’t affect the outcome of the food. It just meant we ate an hour later. The meat was tender and juicy and had a nice mellow smoke flavor from the cherry, sugar maple and a little hickory. If I smoke the beans again next time with the meat, I will add another ounce of wood. BTW the beans were great but I can’t take credit for that. My wife made them, I just did the smoking. All in all it was a successful cook, even our young grandkids liked it, 7, 4 and 2. They are my biggest critic. Just a couple of things I’ll tweak a little next time.

 

[barelfly]

My kind of ribs! Rub and some smoke! Looks great! Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

Good looking ribs!  Thanks for sharing!

 

[smokeasaurus]

I would eat that  8)

 

[BBQueen]

Looks really good!

I just did a rack yesterday. Working from home allows me to get the smoker going early. Checking the temp gives me a reason to get out of my chair.

I trimmed the rack, removed the skirt, membrane and rib tips, squared the ends and did a simple rub. I let the ribs and tips rest in the rub for 2 hours.

I made some sauce from the rub - Water, vinegar, honey, vegetable juice, hoisin, seasoning (a commercial dark and strong soy), dark molasses, brown sugar, salt, pepper....let it all simmer and finished with a little lime juice. (the result of that combo was sort of a cross between kansas city and texas sauce. With a hint of Korea.

I put them in at 9 a.m. set the analog #2 to 200 (mine runs a little hot varying from 205 to 225 at 200 per heating cycle) after three hours I wrapped them in foil. The rib rack by it self and the rest of the scraps and rip tip together. I used 5.5 ounces of wood. About  50/50 apple and hickory (one chunk each)

My partner was done with work at 3 and I pulled the ribs out then we rested them in cold oven while he prepped some sides, chatted and had cocktails.
Somewhere along the way he sauced the ribs and let the sauce cook down with oven set to warm hold oven (160 degrees)

The ribs were definitely the best I have cooked. They pulled back nice, bones eject cleanly, meat was tender but not overdone and stringy. Sauce and bark zesty. Smoke was medium and just right to my palette. Only thing missing is the charcoal smoke ring.

Over all the meal of yam and potato mash,collards with the ribs was undeniably the best BBQ plate I have eaten here in the north and best since my travels south.

I really like how the SI functions so far...

 

[OldeSmoker]

That sounds and looks like a great meal. I am a big fan of KC Que and love some Korean as well. I’m going to have to try your sauce recipe. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Retriever]

I've struggled with St. Louis style ribs in my #2 so I'm looking forward to seeing how yours turn out.  Last time I cooked them for 7 hours and they were still tough and -- I think -- undercooked. 

Also interested in any details in how you cook the riblets.  My previous attempts at cooking them haven't worked out well.

Pulledporksandwich, try this............


+Baby Back or St. Louis Style
+Dry rub of choice
+Wood of choice
+Place ribs on at 275, no need to preheat
+At 1.5 hours, Wrap with heavy duty foil , before wrapping spray a lot of  parkay on them and reapply some rub
+Place back on at 275, check BB at 3 hours  and SLSR at 3.5 hours with toothpick test, if the toothpick goes in easily and pulls out easily they are basically done.  If the toothpick doesn't easily go in and out, put back in and re check in 20-30 minutes. If doing multiple racks, check each rack, they will cook at different rates.
+Add your favorite finishing sauce, any bbq sauce will work while still in the foil, tent the foil, and serve in about 30 minutes

I have tried many different methods, this one seems to work best for me with this smoker.  Like you, my ribs were good, but dry when i went at 225 or 250 uncovered.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

Thank you, Retriever.  I just happen to have a slab trimmed St. Louis style in my freezer.  I've hesitated using the wrap approach because of the advice I've seen here, but my last slab was again tender but dry.

I'll give your method a try next time!