How's your rib cutting technique?

Czarbecue

Czarbecue

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I see this style on those food road shows all the time. The guy behind the counter hears you want some ribs and he uses a freakin' cleaver to bang out some ribs. He slams the cleaver down like the ribs owes him money. Not even cheating and looking at the back. Plus he has all of his fingers!

Fast forward to me in the kitchen with a rack of spares ribs. I use the same 14" slicing knife with the Granton Edge for my brisket and I cheat. I mean CHEAT. I have the back of the ribs facing me and follow the edge of the bones to ensure the rib has the maximum amount of meat on the one side. Sometimes I leave meat on both sides of the rib but those are the chef's cut.

Wife says I'll never open my own joint with those chops...
 
Looking forward to reading everyone’s take on this. I hadn’t given in much thought honestly. I’m going to try your “cheat” cut next time though!
 
Sometimes the ribs are bendy and not straight... so I follow the curve of the bone. These are mostly Tyson ribs. But I suck at butchering. The only thing I can do well is chicken.
 
I cut with the bone side facing me. Never really think about it. Just trying not to hack them up.

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If I am just cutting some ribs for myself, I just stand them up, and run a knife between each bone, letting the knife go where it wants. If you want to impress, cut as close as you can to every other bone. You will end up with double meat, on half of your bones, and some shaved bones, for the cook:-D
 
I use a sharp 6” stiff boning knife and stand the rack on edge and just let the blade find its way to the bottom. Very easy and very little thought process.
 
Standing on edge, bone side to me with a 6" utility knife. Let the knife find its way. The ribs are not what you would ever call "turn in quality". Not turning in... I'm eating.
 
Beef ribs I slide down the first inside rib bone.
Baby backs down middle of meat between bones
Spares let knife go where it wants on ends, cut out 3-4 in middle for trophy shots with meat on both sides of bones.

Prefer a firm blade skinning or filet knife, however I’ve used what’s available and next up in knife drawer.

I’ve seen the clever shots. Reminds me of Yan Can Cook. He used a cleaver for everything
 
I've seen the guys using a cleaver at restaurants before, too. They do so many that they are amazingly good at it.

I guess I cheat, too, but I don't think of it as cheating :-D 90% of the ribs I cut are for competitions, so I flip them bone up and use a 6" stiff boning knife and angle my cuts based on the bones to get the most uniform ribs the I can out of each rack.

At home, I end up doing it the same way mainly because it is how I am used to doing it :-D
 
I've done it all kinds of ways, just depends on how neat you want your cuts. There is a natural hump between the bones. When you follow this hump with the knife, you won't hit any bones and get fairly even cuts.
 
16Adams said:
I’ve seen the cleaver shots. Reminds me of Yan Can Cook. He used a cleaver for everything
Click to expand...


Ha! Martin Yan, that’s taking it old school. He talks like my dad. I think he amps it up a bit for TV though. As a kid I watched him, that Louisiana guy, and the frugal gourmet. I don’t care what Jeff Smith does off the set but he could cook.
 
Bone up, with a slicing knife roughly in the middle of the meat.

For comps, we use an electric knife, and take much more care for where we are cutting, but for home, I don't care so much. Just get me food in my belly.
 
Nuco59 said:
Standing on edge, bone side to me with a 6" utility knife. Let the knife find its way. The ribs are not what you would ever call "turn in quality". Not turning in... I'm eating.
Click to expand...


There are rules for turning in ribs? I just know there’s a section of ribs people like to plate. For myself, I isolate the ones with the most fat coverage.
 
I don't really try, but I think that using a blade with a thicker cross section works better. It sort of rides the thicker density of the meat near the bone, keeping the edge centered. Butcher knife rather than the boning knife.
 
Czarbecue said:
There are rules for turning in ribs? I just know there’s a section of ribs people like to plate. For myself, I isolate the ones with the most fat coverage.
Click to expand...

Judges really like perfect rectangles for ribs.. a box full of identical ones too. :biggrin1:
 
I've seen the clever action and it's a thing of beauty and skill.

I stand the rack up and do king/ competion sized ribs, there are a few sacrifial ones but for out family it isn't a big deal since most will only want 1 or 2 anyway. Beats fighting or knawling on a bone.
 
I use an electric knife. Depending on my mood I might cut from standing or laying down, front or back, against bone or in the middle, individual ribs or multiple. But, then again I've never competed.
 
Hmmm I guess I'm doing it wrong, I take the rack cut about 1/3 off put on wife's plate then put the rest of rack on my plate, after that who needs a knife that's why God gave us fingers, for after the meal God gave us soap and water to clean up with. I've painted a pretty picture haven't I, you all should see me eat corn on the cob... bring a poncho...:mrgreen:
 
I have the bone side facing me and get after it with an electric knife. I usually cut the ribs to order for my quests.
 
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