So what do you do for St Louis cut ribs?

[okie sawbones]

Do you buy St Louis ribs, or do you buy spare ribs and cut your own?

I ask, because over the past few months the St. Louis ribs from Costco, or the Prairie Fresh ribs from the grocer have not been cut properly, which is aggravating.

Just curious. I can always smoke the rib tips for beans, or baked beans.

 

[mr_whipple]

I'll buy the St Louis if there's a sale, and they look good. Other than that spares are always cheaper and yep, the trim is getting smoked also.

 

[chopsaw]

I buy the 3 packs and cut them myself .


The trim gets ground and made into sausage .

It used to be if you bought St. Louis ribs , the trim came with them . Now you just get the ribs , and pay more .

 

[Jim_C]

I'm in the St. Louis camp, and generally don't buy them unless they look good, which is why I pay a bit extra to buy them at a market with a meat counter and a real butcher.

I have not tried trimming up a regular rib.

 

[thirdeye]

I usually buy the full slab and trim them down to a 9 or 10 bone St Louis rack. All of the trimmings get a salt, pepper, garlic and roasted in the oven, then into a stock pot. The end result is pork broth, and a pile of scraps with uber tender meat for snacking.

 

[1MoreFord]

I've bought St. Louis cut ribs before but around here they are almost always frozen and the last ones I bought were a crap shoot as to whether they were properly cut so in the future it will be full spares I trim. The rib tips will be repurposed in some way.

 

[Bob35]

Do you buy St Louis ribs, or do you buy spare ribs and cut your own?

I ask, because over the past few months the St. Louis ribs from Costco, or the Prairie Fresh ribs from the grocer have not been cut properly, which is aggravating.

Just curious. I can always smoke the rib tips for beans, or baked beans.

I prefer buying full spares, but sometimes go with St. Louis if they look good and the price is right.

I like rib tips and can always use trimmings for sausage or carnitas or toss them in a pot of beans. It's also nice to be able to trim them the way I like them.

 

[KonaRich]

Do you buy St Louis ribs, or do you buy spare ribs and cut your own?

I ask, because over the past few months the St. Louis ribs from Costco, or the Prairie Fresh ribs from the grocer have not been cut properly, which is aggravating.

Just curious. I can always smoke the rib tips for beans, or baked beans.

We buy Costco 2-pack, prepare them with binder and home-made rub, pop them into the smoker at 225 degrees until done. Serve them with bbq sauce.

We eat 1-2 meals off the rib, then debone the rest, bag, tag, and freeze in meal-for-2 portions. They last forever, as we still have 2 such bags left after about 7 months.

 

[KonaRich]

I'm in the St. Louis camp, and generally don't buy them unless they look good, which is why I pay a bit extra to buy them at a market with a meat counter and a real butcher.

I have not tried trimming up a regular rib.

I'm with you! Buy pre-prepped and move on. i'm into labor savings at all steps of a process.

 

[KonaRich]

I buy the 3 packs and cut them myself .
View attachment 741817
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The trim gets ground and made into sausage .
View attachment 741819
It used to be if you bought St. Louis ribs , the trim came with them . Now you just get the ribs , and pay more .

I've read that a pork butt is perfect pork sausage meat as it's alway around 75-80% lean. Costco sells them. Perfect for me! No worries about mixing lean with fat (where to get here) for sausage making.

 

[chopsaw]

I've read that a pork butt is perfect pork sausage meat as it's alway around 75-80% lean.

If that's what you do , just know that the 80 / 20 is the whole mass . So if you're doing more than one type of sausage , grind the butt and mix it into itself . Then divide out your portions . That way it keeps the lean to fat even . I always use pork butts for my sausage . In this case I'm making use of the trim . It's actually close to 80 / 20 . Maybe a bit to the lean side .

 

[JIMSMOKES]

I only buy spares and trim myself.
Any St Louis have to be deeply discounted for me to buy.

 

[KonaRich]

If that's what you do , just know that the 80 / 20 is the whole mass . So if you're doing more than one type of sausage , grind the butt and mix it into itself . Then divide out your portions . That way it keeps the lean to fat even . I always use pork butts for my sausage . In this case I'm making use of the trim . It's actually close to 80 / 20 . Maybe a bit to the lean side .

I only buy spares and trim myself.
Any St Louis have to be deeply discounted for me to buy.

The 2-pack st louis ribs at Costco now are $3.49. For here, that a decent price. I don't recall seeing them lower, but we only go to town for shopping about every 2 months. Pork spare ribs aren't offered at all. Costco knows what sells and what doesn't in their market. We don't buy meat anywhere else.

 

[912smoker]

Unless the SL cuts are on a good sale, I always grab the full spares. Sometimes I smoke them whole but alao like to trim and try different flavors on the tips.

Keith