Large spare ribs

[chefRN]

Hey all, my sister in law brought me some spare ribs today to smoke for her. Now I’m still wet behind the ears, but I’ve never seen a 8lb rack of spare ribs. Should I expect these to be inedible? Why are they so large? Definitely a first for me!

 

[SmokinEdge]

The big one just hasn’t been trimmed much. They should be delicious. I like full spares but I usually trim them to St. Louis but not always. Those don’t seem to be enhanced so they will cook up well.

 

[chefRN]

The big one just hasn’t been trimmed much. They should be delicious. I like full spares but I usually trim them to St. Louis but not always. Those don’t seem to be enhanced so they will cook up well.

See I thought spares were not trimmed anyway. I’ve just never seen a rack this large! Thank you. I mean even the bones are longer than my hand, not saying much, but the smaller ones are closer to slightly larger than a finger.

 

[SmokinEdge]

In a perfect world all butcher animals are young and roughly the same age. This makes for “cookie cutter” sized meat cuts, all being about the same size, but different breads and older animals that are larger get butchered also, especially with pork. So it’s really not that odd to see some larger pork cuts. As a side, Smithfield does this on a consistent line. In Walmart for example, most have spares that are two to a pack, cryo-vac, Smithfield (these are in freezer section next to meat display) and are large, sometimes Dino large. Not uncommon at all. In the end all meat goes to market, or it goes to waste.

 

[chefRN]

In a perfect world all butcher animals are young and roughly the same age. This makes for “cookie cutter” sized meat cuts, all being about the same size, but different breads and older animals that are larger get butchered also, especially with pork. So it’s really not that odd to see some larger pork cuts. As a side, Smithfield does this on a consistent line. In Walmart for example, most have spares that are two to a pack, cryo-vac, Smithfield (these are in freezer section next to meat display) and are large, sometimes Dino large. Not uncommon at all. In the end all meat goes to market, or it goes to waste.

I totally agree!! It’s just my first time seeing it.Let’s hope I can do them justice!

 

[chopsaw]

Why are they so large?

That's the way full spare ribs are . Those look to me like they are trimmed , but you'll know for sure when you open them .
These are untrimmed spares ,


Cleaned up and trimmed as full spare ribs .

Here's a full slab trimmed into St. Louis style .


Just a visual for reference . Post them up when you get them cooked .

 

[millerbuilds]

As stated above, those are great. Trim them up and smoke em up!

- Jason

 

[Brokenhandle]

I prefer the full spares... trimmed up and smoked makes for good cook snacks. Usually tell myself they would be good in other dishes... they never seem to get there for some reason.

Ryan

 

[912smoker]

I prefer the full spares... trimmed up and smoked makes for good cook snacks. Usually tell myself they would be good in other dishes... they never seem to get there for some reason.

Ryan

I agree Ryan and love some rib tips.
Great opportunity to try different rub/sauce combo for comparison.
And fulls are always cheaper than SL cut!


Keith