St Louis Style Ribs - What to do with the extra meat??

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shlongstar

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Dec 15, 2009
128
10
Orange County, CA
I made 3 racks of spare ribs for my family today, and they loved it. The racks were somewhat variable sizes, however, with thinner/thicker areas of 'excess meat' (i.e. the ends, the brisket portion, etc.), so some pieces were not as moist as others.

I'm thinking about trimming my ribs St. Louis style to make them more even in the future, but I don't know what you do exactly with all the extra cut-off meat.

What do you guys usually do with it?

Season and smoke alongside the ribs? Save it for later? I just don't wanna waste all that goodness.
 
Thats what I do. Sample plenty while the ribs are cooking. Save as much as I can and use in Dutchs beans. Save it for chili later. Just serve it along with the ribs, call it boneless. Just don't toss it.
 
Those are "quality control" pieces. Snack on them while the ribs are resting. If you have enough left to save, use them in beans, chili, topping for a plate of nachos, add for a little extra flavor in a potato casserole.

Use your imagination.
 
Personally I use them for treats for the cook alot. But you can use then in the beans and other sides to. I usually don't trim my ribs I like them alittle fatter and the flap is just part of it to me that is.
 
I don't trim mine at all. I think the extra bits benefit from cooking on the bone.

My Bro-in-law once stabbed a half rack off of the platter and flopped it onto his plate. He then began to berate me for not trimming it the way he liked it trimmed. This is a guy who couldn't boil water to save his life. I grabbed it back with some tongs and quickly cut 2 full ribs off of it and said now its trimmed I put the shortened piece back on his plate. Everyone was laughing at him, his wife was in hysterics with laughter.
By this time everyone had grabbed their own 1/2 rack and the platter was empty, as He stood there stammering.... I quickly scarfed down his two ribs and all of my 1/2 rack. ( I didn't tell him there were more foiled and in the cooler. ) Once the laughter died down and He said " geeze you're not gonna get me complaining ever again " His wife said that she wished it had been her that trimmed his ribs. I figured he had enough so I told everyone that there was lots more in the cooler. He was in there like a shot.
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Life is as fun a you make it.
 
Cool, thanks for all the ideas.

I personally prefer to keep all the meat on there, but in case I decide to trim in the future, I'll now have a big list of sides to make!
 
Personally i always trim, as all said the extra gets smoked and goes in beans, morning potato hash, and tacos. Any thing with a lot of grissle the beagle loves smoke meat too.
 
Funny story I never trimmed them before, but in prep for a faimly gathering I found if I trimmed them I could get alot more racks in the smoker. I was pretty proud of them about 15 racks total. Laid out the spread and evryone was disapointed in the size and made sure and mention it. I was laughing cause most folks are used to them that way but my faimly looks like had only ate them whole. Nobody could understand where I got such little racks...

I thought it was funny.

I dont trim them anymore. In that instance i ground the ends into sausage but I wasn't real happy with that so likely I will follow some of the sugestions.
 
i guess i dont understand the question--
ive never seen extra smoked ribs or rib tips or chicken or sausage--

when i smoke 2/ 6 lb butts or a 12 lb brisket---
there seems to be meat that isnt eaten that day...

but NEVER any extra
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I did twelve pounds this last weekend. Trimmed louis style. Smoked everything together. Saved the trimmings in a safe locked in the freezer that is in the back of my shop locked up tight. Just waiting for that next batch of Dutch's beans.
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I trim them up. Cut the extra meat off the brisket side (bone side) and tear of the membrane with a paper towel.

I smoked three St. Louis style ribs on Saturday and today while I was working on my UDS I put the remaining pieces plus some country style ribs in a crock pot. After 8 hours of burning and grinding on the barrel I had some great pork to serve the family!
 
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