St. Louis Spareribs

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MattGoose

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I'm going to take my first whack at spareribs, but I'm going to have to cook them for other people and plan/time a dinner around them.


I've read through the recent threads I can find, but wanted to double check the plan and ask a couple of questions.



I'm going to pull the membrane and dry rub them the night before and will pull them out of the fridge and hour or two before they go on. I'm going to plan on cooking them at 250 - I have plenty of time, and I am not planning to wrap. I will spritz after the first 90 minutes or so. Will likely sauce one of the racks in the last 30 minutes or so.



A couple of questions:
1. Is there guidance on how long to expect? RWalters did some recently and they ran to around 7 hours. Is that weight dependent?


2. Can I rest ribs the same way I would a butt or brisket? The rest is my time buffer so dinner doesn't come at 10pm :)


3. What else do I need to know?



Thank you!!
 
The St Louis spares I have done run about 6 hours at 250ish. I don't wrap or sauce.
 
bschoen said:
The St Louis spares I have done run about 6 hours at 250ish. I don't wrap or sauce.
Click to expand...




Thank you! Does that time change much based on size? Seems like racks are typically pretty close in size, so I'd be a bit surprised....
 
I confess to not having paid much attention to weight.
 
Yeah, 6 hours is about right for SL spares at 250. But remember it is not chiseled in stone. You can speed it up a bit by wrapping, but I too like to run mine without wrapping.
 
Yes most meat is weight dependent when smoking. The 321 method is actually meant for saint louis imho but /shrug people find them a one size fits all for ribs. I personally don't cook my baby backs that long. I use the tooth pick tenderness test between bones. You want the same feel as brisket really a soft virtually no resistance poke. That's just my two cents though.
 
Matt, you certainly ask the right questions. I do not claim to be a Pitmaster but my take is this:

1. Each rack may come off a different pig as you buy them. A lot of variables. Only to a certain point is it weight variable.

2. Yes but it does not take very long with ribs. 20 mins maybe?

3. The one most important thing I learned on this fine site has been the Bend Test. Wrapped or not do the bend test for nicely done ribs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB0QeCBkBxA


Good Luck
 
I do STL spares unwrapped at 250, and they typically take about 5 hours. Six hours is usually too long, IMHO. At that point the meat is a bit dried out and falling off the bone. But individual racks may vary. I do the bend test and look for about 1/2 - 1 inch of pullback on the bones.

I wouldn't plan on holding ribs very long; maybe 30 minutes tops. They cool off much faster than a thick piece of meat like a butt or brisket. Though I suppose you could put them in a cooler for longer. I've never tried that - seems like it would ruin the bark.
 
I agree with Monkey Uncle... 5 hours is a good number to plan on. You may use all 5 hours to get them done, or 4.5 with some rest. Ribs won't rest like a large chunk of meat, they will cool much more quickly, but that's not all bad. They slice much better after a 1/2 hour rest under a tent of foil.

I'd take them right from the fridge to the smoker and don't sweat the details, it's not that complicated. If you're afraid they're running behind, wrap 'em for 40 minutes.

Keep the temp between 250 and 275, Sauce and enjoy.
 
When dealing with pork, it will start to turn into ham if you apply a salty rub and let it sit for an extended amount of time. Since I want pork ribs and not ham ribs, I never apply a rub and let it sit for more than the time it takes to fire up the pit, maybe an hour max.


Keep in mind that the more you open the cooker to spritz, the longer the cook will take. I'm a lazy guy, so I just let my ribs ride till they are done. No glaze, no sauce, no spritz. Simple perfection. Doing it my way at 250F, I'd prolly be looking at 4 hours ish, but I would take a peek at the 3.5 hour mark to be safe. This is going to vary depending on the size/weight of the ribs. They can very a lot from hardly any meat to super meaty. If you have extra meaty ribs, it may take a bit longer than an average rib cook. Different types of cookers will also affect your cook times.
 
A couple of things:

"spare ribs" commonly refers to a cut that includes both the St. Louis cut piece and the rib tips. aka "full spares." If you have full spares, youtube will quickly teach you how to trim for a St. Louis cut.

Time is not a good way to tell if the ribs are done. In my pellet cooker, St. Louis cut ribs are more typically done in 4-5 hours at 225. For "done" use the bend test. Described here: https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/pork-ribs-recipes/are-my-ribs-ready-yet/
 
My spares (St Louis cut) go for 4-4½ hrs at 265° like clockwork every single time. They can indeed rest like a brisket or pork butt. Wrap each in its own foil. Then wrap them all in a towel and stuff in a cooler.
 
rwalters said:
How’s it going buddy?
Click to expand...


Ha - for a first time, they went great!


A couple of thoughts/things that I would change up going forward:


1. We had two racks - one that had a lot more meat on top of the bones than the other. It was, by far, the best of the two. More of them like that.



2. Ran them right around 5 hours, which was pretty much right. Spritzed about once and hour, and rotated them once. We pulled b/c we had to eat, but I think another 30 minutes would have been good.



3. Gonna put on a tiny bit of sauce for the last 20 minutes. Personally, I like the sweet.


4. I rubbed them up the night before - and the outer edge definitely got a tough. I'll drop the rub on much closer to cooking next time.



A couple of questions for next time:


1. I pulled the membrane off no problem. But there was still something on the underside of the ribs that got tough. What is it, can I get rid of it? Am I missing half of the membrane when I pull it?


2. The only thing I don't love about SLC is the little bone/whatever chunks at the end. Can I remove those somehow? Just trim off the last rib or 3?



I think that's it for now, thanks for all the help!



IMG_0341.jpg
 
El Ropo said:
When dealing with pork, it will start to turn into ham if you apply a salty rub and let it sit for an extended amount of time. Since I want pork ribs and not ham ribs, I never apply a rub and let it sit for more than the time it takes to fire up the pit, maybe an hour max.


Keep in mind that the more you open the cooker to spritz, the longer the cook will take. I'm a lazy guy, so I just let my ribs ride till they are done. No glaze, no sauce, no spritz. Simple perfection. Doing it my way at 250F, I'd prolly be looking at 4 hours ish, but I would take a peek at the 3.5 hour mark to be safe. This is going to vary depending on the size/weight of the ribs. They can very a lot from hardly any meat to super meaty. If you have extra meaty ribs, it may take a bit longer than an average rib cook. Different types of cookers will also affect your cook times.
Click to expand...


It's funny - I ran into exactly this problem and was going to ask a question about why it happened.


Will definitely be doing rub much closer to cook time going forward. Would you suggest same for pulled pork?


The rub doesn't get deep in the meat, so you're not really changing much other than texture leaving it on long?
 
My 2 cents. 4-1-1. 4 hour unwrapped at 225 with apple juice spritz, 1 hour wrapped with brown sugar butter and a little apple juice , than 1 hour wrapped with your favorite sauce.
Doing 3 racks this weekend.
 
MattGoose said:
Ha - for a first time, they went great!


A couple of thoughts/things that I would change up going forward:


1. We had two racks - one that had a lot more meat on top of the bones than the other. It was, by far, the best of the two. More of them like that.



2. Ran them right around 5 hours, which was pretty much right. Spritzed about once and hour, and rotated them once. We pulled b/c we had to eat, but I think another 30 minutes would have been good.



3. Gonna put on a tiny bit of sauce for the last 20 minutes. Personally, I like the sweet.


4. I rubbed them up the night before - and the outer edge definitely got a tough. I'll drop the rub on much closer to cooking next time.



A couple of questions for next time:


1. I pulled the membrane off no problem. But there was still something on the underside of the ribs that got tough. What is it, can I get rid of it? Am I missing half of the membrane when I pull it?


2. The only thing I don't love about SLC is the little bone/whatever chunks at the end. Can I remove those somehow? Just trim off the last rib or 3?



I think that's it for now, thanks for all the help!



View attachment 193186
Click to expand...

When I said 5 hrs, I didn't think about the fact that you were planning to spritz. That cools the meat and extends cook time. Likewise with saucing.

Yes, you can just trim off the small end. Though if they were sold as STL ribs, that should have been done already.
 
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