Today's smoke - St. Louis Ribs

[txflyguy]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

My next door neighbors are telling me to open up a BBQ Restaurant. No, thank you!

 

[motolife313]

Nice that's a good size fire for her. U could go out and get your own wood. CL hint hint;). Winter time lots of down trees. I got 7 different kinds of wood. Got so much I sell it on CL

 

[txflyguy]

Nice that's a good size fire for her. U could go out and get your own wood. CL hint hint;). Winter time lots of down trees. I got 7 different kinds of wood. Got so much I sell it on CL

For now, we still have pecan left from a tree we cut down. And some friends gave us a half cord of oak and mesquite. It will be some time before we have to buy any wood!

 

[sauced]

Great looking ribs....nice job!!

 

[txflyguy]

Part of the success is due to the rub. Rathbun Family BBQ Rub is what we used. You can't buy it now, so here is the recipe that I found online:

2 oz granulated garlic
2 oz granulated onion
1 oz cayenne pepper
1 oz black pepper
1/2 oz white pepper
4 oz salt
4 oz paprika
3 oz brown sugar

To balance the heat, we added a bit more brown sugar, and a little extra salt. This rub should give your ribs a nice color.

 

[lovethemeats]

Them are some awesome looking ribs you made there. Bet they did taste great. Points for sure.

 

[hb99]

Damn...now I'm hungry...they look great!

 

[txflyguy]

Damn...now I'm hungry...they look great!

We just polished them off yesterday, and yes, they were very good. Even a couple days later.

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

Dude, those are some epic ribs. All of these rib posts lately have me dying to smoke some of my own. Maybe that will be my next cook Thanks for the inspiration!

George

 

[Phil Chart]

Wow they look great. I thought mine looked good last night but nothing compared to yours. That's a awesome smoker too
Thumbs up

 

[daricksta]

Followed the competition recipe found online. These may be the best ever...that's what the neighbors are saying! Have to agree, these are my best effort! Seasoned these with a spicy BBQ rub, then they stayed in the fridge for 12 hours. Smoked 5 hours with pecan, at 225 degrees. Then wrapped in foil, with butter, brown sugar, and honey. Plus 4 ounces of Coca-Cola in each foil packet. Cooked another 2 hours at 300 degrees. Then pulled them out, applied a vinegar BBQ sauce for glazing, then back on the grill for another 10 minutes. Nearly two days of work.
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I always tell myself I prefer baby back ribs...until I see STL ribs like yours. I bet they taste as good as they look. If Tony Roma's and Fantastic Daves's served ribs like the batch you've pictured here, they'd be opening more franchise locations instead of closing them.

 

[redheelerdog]

Those are carousel ribs for sure, nice work. Now you got me thinkin ribs for dinner!

 

[txflyguy]

I like St. Louis ribs as they are very meaty, and very tender. But, they do have a large amount of cartilage that is a bit challenging to eat around. Do baby backs have this same cartilage, or are they just a single bone per each rib?

 

[daricksta]

Followed the competition recipe found online. These may be the best ever...that's what the neighbors are saying! Have to agree, these are my best effort! Seasoned these with a spicy BBQ rub, then they stayed in the fridge for 12 hours. Smoked 5 hours with pecan, at 225 degrees. Then wrapped in foil, with butter, brown sugar, and honey. Plus 4 ounces of Coca-Cola in each foil packet. Cooked another 2 hours at 300 degrees. Then pulled them out, applied a vinegar BBQ sauce for glazing, then back on the grill for another 10 minutes. Nearly two days of work.
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Outstanding! Did you sub out the Killer Hogs dry rubs and sauces? If so, what did you use instead? The recipe calls for margarine--which I never use. Did you use that or butter?

 

[daricksta]

I like St. Louis ribs as they are very meaty, and very tender. But, they do have a large amount of cartilage that is a bit challenging to eat around. Do baby backs have this same cartilage, or are they just a single bone per each rib?

I prefer b-backs because they have much more meat than STL ribs with almost no cartilage on them. But then again, a great rack of STL ribs is always delicious and the amount of cartilage is the trade off, I suppose.

 

[txflyguy]

Outstanding! Did you sub out the Killer Hogs dry rubs and sauces? If so, what did you use instead? The recipe calls for margarine--which I never use. Did you use that or butter?

Never margarine...real butter only! The dry rub used is the recipe posted here. I also added 4 oz Coca-Cola to each packet.

 

[daricksta]

Never margarine...real butter only! The dry rub used is the recipe posted here. I also added 4 oz Coca-Cola to each packet.

Thanks. I didn't see the dry rub recipe as I was scrolling down. That is a bit of heat but overall the recipe looks great. I'd have to tweak it for my non-heating-loving wife. I stopped foiling ribs because I felt it softened the bark by steaming them. But your foil sauce looks great. Did you use a store-bought vinegar BBQ sauce? I don't think I've seen any of those in the supermarkets in my area.

And yep! Only butter is used in my home, too.

 

[txflyguy]

Thanks. I didn't see the dry rub recipe as I was scrolling down. That is a bit of heat but overall the recipe looks great. I'd have to tweak it for my non-heating-loving wife. I stopped foiling ribs because I felt it softened the bark by steaming them. But your foil sauce looks great. Did you use a store-bought vinegar BBQ sauce? I don't think I've seen any of those in the supermarkets in my area.

And yep! Only butter is used in my home, too.

In the notes I said we used extra brown sugar, with a little extra salt to balance out the heat. It works very well. We just added some apple cider vinegar to our standard BBQ sauce (Bull's Eye). Works good!

 

[daricksta]

In the notes I said we used extra brown sugar, with a little extra salt to balance out the heat. It works very well. We just added some apple cider vinegar to our standard BBQ sauce (Bull's Eye). Works good!

Thanks for your patient replies. I'm multitasking because I'm on at least 3 different websites now so I've been skimming through your post. I'll revisit it much more slowly later. I also want to add my admiration for your stick burner. I've got a Masterbuilt 30" electric digital smoker. But I've gotten great results using wood pellets and smoking at between 235-250°F. Many times I start later than I'd planned so I rarely smoke at 225° because it takes too long.

 

[txflyguy]

The first rib photo is without glaze, the next photo is after glazing. I think the butter / brown sugar / honey treatment really added to the flavor, and appearance.
225 degrees, about 5 hours. Most often we use small pecan logs / branches, or other fruit wood chunks.