Getting rib tips cartilage soft

[steves8860]

I like rib tips better than ribs actually, I cut all my spares into St.Louis style ribs. I save all the tips for myself….. My family used to fight over the gristle at the dinner table. I can still to this day hear them crunching that stuff up, I could never eat it. Pigs feet, pig ears, chicken feet, ham hocks, turkey necks you name it we ate it if it was cheap It was on the table.

My dad used to buy pigs feet to eat. I asked him how did he start doing that. He grew up in the 30s. He said he used to go to to butcher shop and get the scraps that they'd give away for free. Pig ears, feet and who knows what else.

 

[Big Grouch]

This. I want to be able to do this.

 

[Inscrutable]

I smoke the trimmed tips a little longer/wrapped for FOTB doneness, then pick out the cartilage, and I use the meat in beans or Mac n cheese (Next smoke)