1st attempt at St Louis style, With QView

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

ryanhoelzer

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Nov 26, 2009
330
14
Converse, TX
I've done spares a couple times but this is my 1st attempt at trimming St Louis style. So far all the ribs I've done have been the Smithfields from WalMart. They're OK but I wanted to try some good, fresh ribs from a butcher.

I was in Winder, GA for work this week and noticed a local butcher named Bentleys All Natural Meats, googled them and they get great reviews. I wrote down the brand of meats they advertise but it's out in the truck at the moment. I'll add it later.

This rack of spares is 4.70 lbs and was $2.99/lb so it was $14.05.

I also bought some rub they carried called Char Crust and I got the Roasted Garlic Peppercorn variety.

charcrust.jpg


sparesuntrimmed.jpg


Here they are cut. It might take some practice, I think I got them a little short but they'll be alright. The membrane came off much easier than it has on the store bought ribs.

sparescut.jpg


I'm going to 3-2-1 them in the morning with hickory I think..
 
Sounds like a good plan.
I've seen that rub in one of our local grocery stores but never tried it so I'll be interested in how it tastes.
Just remember with the main slab that it will take longer than the smaller cuts.
Normally I cook the "trimmings" less than the main slab but my Brother likes them cooked unfoiled until crispy and charred, he calls it the burnt ends of ribs, personally I think it is a bit tough and too dry but hey, to each his own.
 
I thought about cutting the big trimmed piece into 3 or 4 smaller pieces that will cook faster and do them without wrapping.
 
So I cut the big piece of trimmings into 3 pieces. The bottom trim was done at 3 hrs when I foiled the slab. Made a great snack. The thinner piece will be done pretty soon and then the 2 bigger I'll leave a while.

I realized I was out of apple juice this morning and got lazy and didn't feel like going to the store so I put apple sauce on the slab in the foil and on the trimmed pieces.

sparesat0.jpg


trimmingsat0.jpg


bottomtrimmingat3.jpg


sparesat3.jpg


trimmingsat3.jpg
 
Those do look good!
And I feel your signature pain about getting good beef and ribs in NC. They rock at pork bbq but a good brisket or "TX style" ribs are hard to find....
 
Here what's left when the ribs were done. I had eaten most of the trimmings as they were done.

They were pretty done on the outside but still pretty moist inside. The rub was pretty good and I probably didn't need as much as I used. It's pretty strong. The apple sauce might have contributed to the bark and not as much to keeping them moist. I probably should have gotten some apple juice..

Overall very good.

sparesdone.jpg


slicedspare.jpg
 
Congrats om a good smoke, and thanks for sharing the Q View.
 
It's a grate I had from an old electric grill. Just bent a curve in it. Works great for making slabs fit in the MES.
 
I have a few of those lying around in my dead bbq pile. Gonna make my racks fit in the MES easier. Thanks for the q-view!
 
Now thats a pretty good looking set of ribs there.That rub most of had a ton of sugar cause to me your ribs got alot of char on them to me.
 
I think the apple sauce cause most of that. We'll call it lesson learned. The char was still pretty good though and not too tough to eat.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky