Fabricating the St. Louis Rib Rack, a pictorial tutorial

[rdknb]

Thank you for the great info, very helpful

 

[bbally]

You are most welcome. Found a nice twin pack of spares at Sams club about an hour ago. Will be fabricating them up a little later for tomorrows game.

Was a little weird... they are on sale... so I am going through them like I always do feeling them and massaging them to see what the cover is.... flipping them over and around and trying to see what is actually in the packages. People start asking questions, I just answer and keep on feeling up ribs.... more people asking questions. Then I remembered I have on the catering jacket... its all guys wanting to know stuff. I ended up putting on a 30 minute seminar must to my wifes shagrin!

 

[jaso]

that is an awesome tutorial

 

[loneleigh]

Good job, glad it's a sticky for the newbies. That's exactly how I do my spares.

 

[smoke 2 geaux]

Thanks for doing this! I always struggle with that riblet part.

 

[lu1847]

just want to say thanks for taking the time on that tutorial, full of great pics and advice.

 

[bbally]

You are most welcome, we are here to help you with the addiction!!!!! Make it worse of course

 

[south jersey bbq tim]

great pics..thanks

 

[squirrel]

I cannot tell you how helpful this is for a newbie! I smoked my first ribs today and the ONLY thing I did that you said was remove the membrane. Man, I wish I had read this yesterday! Live and learn and the saying goes.

 

[caveman]

You can always go buy another batch & practice on those. It is a learning curve. I am still at the bottom.

 

[billm75]

Great tutorial. Makes me need to rethink my methods a bit. I normally don't trim my own spares, but then, I've not seen a good enough step by step tutorial to even attempt it the right way before.

With that said, I do have a question...you say in the "professional catering world" st. louis ribs cannot have bone creep. Why is that? Is it merely a presentation thing?

I have to be honest, my last few ribs were pre-trimmed in the cryovac, and honestly I bought 'em because they were too good of a price to pass up at the time. I get about 1/2" of bone sticking out of the meat when mine are done, and they're still always juicy, tender and delicious.

I'm just curious, always looking to improve! Thanks for your tutorial!

 

[mythmaster]

Here's a good video on the subject, too:

 

[bbally]

It has to do with quality of the meat, and of course meat quality affects presentation. The amount of cover on the ribs has a large factor in bone creep or pull back.

As I have said before, there is no problem with bone creep and less cover on ribs will still make great ribs, but by knowing how to select the best ribs out of the case when they are on sale..... you will get a better product than just randomly grabbing up a few packages.

Education is the only focus.

 

[billm75]

Thanks for the explanation. I had never heard this before, but it helps alot knowing these things.