St Louis style question

[SmokyMose]

Since St Louis style is basically a trimmed sparerib, should they be cooked like spareribs? I.E 3 2 1?

 

[bama bbq]

Yes.  ...but I rarely foil them.

 

[SmokyMose]

OK Bama I'll bite. Why not foil?

 

[paul6]

I like to foil for about 3hrs then give them a good sear !

 

[SmokyMose]

I'm doing 2 racks today and since I have to cut them in half to fit, I may do a little experimenting :)

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Like Bama I don't foil pork ribs. The reason I don't is because I prefer the texture of non-foiled ribs. Foiled ribs braise and that changes the texture. Now if I'm cooking beef ribs I do foil. The beef ribs benefit from the braise and I prefer the texture of the beef ribs better than not foiling.

Since you have to cut slabs try one foiled and one not.

 

[boykjo]

I'm getting ready to change my method on the st Louis ribs...3-2-1..... I do foil but I am going to decrease the foil time to one hr and move it to the end so it will be a 3-1-2. I don't want to eliminate the foil stage cause that's where I add some goodness....

To answer your question

Yes

Joe

 

[chewmeister]

Every time I have foiled spares they come out too mushy. I prefer the texture of a little chew to my ribs.

 

[voodoochile]

I prefer 2-2-1 ....... 3 hours smoke tends to dry the ribs out in my experience 

 

[SmokyMose]

A couple of weeks ago I did some spareribs 321 and they literally fell off the bones. SWMBO declared that was how we would do them from now on...Her sister is here for the weekend is why I have 2 racks cooking. Dirtsailor that is exactly what I plan to do, do one without foil to see what happens. They went in @ 1:00.

 

[SmokyMose]

Time for foil (or not). 3 with, 1 without.

IMG_0581.JPG

• SmokyMose
• Sep 12, 2015

 

[SmokyMose]

oops wrong image

 

[SmokyMose]

IMG_0586.JPG

• SmokyMose
• Sep 12, 2015

OK all done and good. The round plate is un-foiled. The only difference I see is that the UN foiled isn't quite as off the bone as the foiled. No big diff as far as I'm concerned. I'm leaning to the un-foiled approach.Less work. Just as tasty! Hope the pics come off. I'm tech challenged....[emoji]128529[/emoji]

 

[SmokyMose]

IMG_0588.JPG

• SmokyMose
• Sep 12, 2015

sorry this is the round plate. OK I'm done.

 

[stickyfingers]

In general, I think the 3-2-1- is a general starting point, it really depends on the temp and thickness of the ribs. Mostly I do a 3-1.5-1 at 250. I like the foiling method, but limiting the foil time helps insure the right bite. IMO.

 

[SmokyMose]

I think you're right, Fingers. They were actually done when I took them out of the foil (in fact one section fell apart!). Next time I'll foil for an hour instead of two. They didn't need 6 hours to cook. It's nice to have a chance to experiment once in a while.