% 'loss' trimming spares to St Louis cut

longwayfromhome · Mar 7, 2015

Hi there

I am in an education process trying to get butcher's down this way to provide decent spares - lots and lots of challenges, the fundamental one being that they can get 20% more for pork belly than for decent spare ribs.

Anyway, can you give me your experience in the % reduction in weight when trimming regular 'spare' ribs to 'St Louis cut' ribs? Would there, on average, be a 20% reduction in weight (not saying loss, because you can use the trimmings)?

TIA.

smoke ninja · Mar 8, 2015

I would guess aprox. 40% loss. Maybe slightly less. Spares can come somewhat trimmed. Sometimes the breastbone is already removed, ive even seen the flap cut off. i know your in NZ, but maybe the aussie brethren can help in how they trained butchers or where they went to find American cuts. I know its a diff country but id imagine things to be close being the same part of the world.

sunrise · Mar 8, 2015

I dont know how it is there, but I buy my ribs at Sam's, and trim them myself. I used to just dispose of the trimmings, leading to a lot of waste. Now I take most of the trimmings, grind them and make my own sausage. It cut way down on the waste, and has given me another product. it's still pork, and still good meat. My waste is down to about 10%

longwayfromhome · Mar 8, 2015

sunrise said:
I dont know how it is there, but I buy my ribs at Sam's, and trim them myself. I used to just dispose of the trimmings, leading to a lot of waste. Now I take most of the trimmings, grind them and make my own sausage. It cut way down on the waste, and has given me another product. it's still pork, and still good meat. My waste is down to about 10%

If you weighed your spares before trimming and then the St Louis ribs that resulted from the trimming, what would be the % reduction?

smoke ninja · Mar 8, 2015

Here's a rough pick of a rack trimmed. You end up with a st louis rack and rib tips, or what is sometimes called the brisket. just as good as the ribs, some say better.

Jason TQ · Mar 8, 2015

longwayfromhome said:
If you weighed your spares before trimming and then the St Louis ribs that resulted from the trimming, what would be the % reduction?

The full spares I get from restaurant depot (their "medium" labeled) are around 5lbs each rack. After trimming off the tips the St. Louis rack is around 3-3.5lbs. So 30-40% loss. But I keep the tips. If I owned a joint of my own I would also sell the tips and not consider it a loss.

The racks vary of course but this is my best "average estimate". You may vary depending on the size you get locally.

jdbh · Mar 8, 2015

mine r 50 percent from spares to st louis

longwayfromhome · Mar 8, 2015

Thanks everyone, getting a feel for it now.

landarc · Mar 8, 2015

Are you planning on selling ribs by weight? Normally, ribs are sold either "by the bone" or "by the rack". Weight rarely factors into the equation of selling cooked ribs.

I would bet you lose closer to 60% total raw weight, if you count removal of the flap, membrane (whether you remove it or burn it off), ends and moisture loss to cooking.

longwayfromhome · Mar 9, 2015

landarc said:
Are you planning on selling ribs by weight? Normally, ribs are sold either "by the bone" or "by the rack". Weight rarely factors into the equation of selling cooked ribs.

I would bet you lose closer to 60% total raw weight, if you count removal of the flap, membrane (whether you remove it or burn it off), ends and moisture loss to cooking.

No, I just needed to explain to the butcher some differences between the various cuts and this was one way. It is a real battle down here. I was just forced to accept 10 racks of ribs that were basically bone-in pork bellies with the skin taken off. In trimming these down I lost over 50 per cent. The Percentage I was after here was just explaining legitimate loss to him. Thanks for your input everyone.

poorolddan · Mar 9, 2015

Around here most that sell spare ribs consider the trimmings a bonus. We can sell them for much more per pound than we get for the ribs. In some stores the tips sell for 20% more than the trimmed ribs go for. Show the butchers there is profit and it might work for you.

voidecho · Mar 9, 2015

Little off topic, but I smoke the trimmings, shred or chop them and put them in my beans.

TailGateJoecom · Mar 12, 2015

landarc said:
Are you planning on selling ribs by weight? Normally, ribs are sold either "by the bone" or "by the rack". Weight rarely factors into the equation of selling cooked ribs.

I would bet you lose closer to 60% total raw weight, if you count removal of the flap, membrane (whether you remove it or burn it off), ends and moisture loss to cooking.

Some of the newer places popping up in NYC are going the market/fast casual route and pricing their meats all by the 1/2 lb, including ribs. People will still order ribs by the piece, but it is weighed and priced according to weight. This seems to be the safest way to sell, especially when you are dealing with expensive short rib beef plate ribs.

bizznessman · Mar 12, 2015

voidecho said:
Little off topic, but I smoke the trimmings, shred or chop them and put them in my beans.

I was reading along in your reply and I thought you were going in a WHOLE nother direction there........and was wondering what type of paper you used to "roll" them with.......LOL :mrgreen:

Skip · Mar 12, 2015

Butcher paper of course!

landarc · Mar 12, 2015

Well, it's a whole 'nother game if you are having to trim off the belly as well. That would be a lot of loss, although you could sell all of the bits and pieces, what a bother.

longwayfromhome · Mar 20, 2015

longwayfromhome said:
Hi there

I am in an education process trying to get butcher's down this way to provide decent spares - lots and lots of challenges, the fundamental one being that they can get 20% more for pork belly than for decent spare ribs.

Anyway, can you give me your experience in the % reduction in weight when trimming regular 'spare' ribs to 'St Louis cut' ribs? Would there, on average, be a 20% reduction in weight (not saying loss, because you can use the trimmings)?

TIA.

I just did some maths to show how this 'training' exercise is pretty expensive... converting NZD to USD and KG to LB, I purchased 10 racks of spares weighing 53lb 6oz for US$336.28 or $6.30/lb. After trimming just for thickness (35% loss) i.e. they were still spares, that brought the price to US$9.68/lb and then when I trimmed to SLC (another 33% loss), the price was US$14.53/lb.

This was absolutely top spec, organic pork from the South Island, but semi-wholesale pricing (per small restaurant)... still, hard to pay when this is the third shot I have had at training these guys. Trouble is, not many options down this way.

And yes, their excuse again was this price was good because they can get another 20% for the same product as bone-in pork belly.

Anyway, in case you are interested, just saying...

% 'loss' trimming spares to St Louis cut

longwayfromhome

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smoke ninja

somebody shut me the fark up.

sunrise

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longwayfromhome

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smoke ninja

somebody shut me the fark up.

Jason TQ

somebody shut me the fark up.

jdbh

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longwayfromhome

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landarc

somebody shut me the fark up.

longwayfromhome

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