I went to Costco to buy ribs. They had "St Louis" style ribs and pork ribs. What is the difference? What makes ribs "St Louis style"?
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Not real sure what Coastco has as far as pork ribs, but I'll try to help with some of the kinds of ribs....
On the top of the back of a pig is a row ribs that are called loin back ribs. As it sounds, they leave a small strip of loin meat attached to them. Now some folks will call these baby back ribs, but true BB ribs will not have any loin meat on them and they will weigh under 1.5 pounds.
Now the other ribs will be spare ribs, they are found on the side of the pig, think rib cage. The ones that are not trimmed will have part of the breast bone attached along with a thin layer of meat on the edges. Trimmed spares will have that breast bone off and the edges trimmed back, but will have the top layer of cartilage meat attached to them.
Cooks will take a trimmed spare rib and remove that top layer of cartilage with a knife by cutting at the edge of the rib bones the full length of the spare ribs, hence trimming them to ST Louis style spare ribs.
That should confuse you?
On the top of the back of a pig is a row ribs that are called loin back ribs. As it sounds, they leave a small strip of loin meat attached to them. Now some folks will call these baby back ribs, but true BB ribs will not have any loin meat on them and they will weigh under 1.5 pounds.
Now the other ribs will be spare ribs, they are found on the side of the pig, think rib cage. The ones that are not trimmed will have part of the breast bone attached along with a thin layer of meat on the edges. Trimmed spares will have that breast bone off and the edges trimmed back, but will have the top layer of cartilage meat attached to them.
Cooks will take a trimmed spare rib and remove that top layer of cartilage with a knife by cutting at the edge of the rib bones the full length of the spare ribs, hence trimming them to ST Louis style spare ribs.
That should confuse you?
I buy the CostCo trimmed St. Louis all the time. I really like them.
Closest Costco is KC to us here in Oklahoma. How much are SL cut spares at Costco per pound?
I used to either try to buy the SL cuts on sale or get the full spares and cut em down myself. I think the price was about the same per rack, but you get the convenience of not having to fool with the pre-SL cuts and the left over meat to make sausage or cook's treats with the full spareribs.
There are dozens of videos online on how to cut full spares down to SL ribs. Here's one.SL Spares
I used to either try to buy the SL cuts on sale or get the full spares and cut em down myself. I think the price was about the same per rack, but you get the convenience of not having to fool with the pre-SL cuts and the left over meat to make sausage or cook's treats with the full spareribs.
There are dozens of videos online on how to cut full spares down to SL ribs. Here's one.SL Spares
Max, a picture is really worth a 1000 words. Nice job!!!!
Here is another to go with MaxQ's
Chaplain Bill. I bought 8L 8 oz of ribs for $23.35 at Costco. I have never bought a bad piece of meat of any kind from Costco and generally at a good price.
MaxQ Thanks!! You nailed it.
MaxQ Thanks!! You nailed it.
And to add yet another piece to the pig puzzle, sections 1 + 4 are typically what a set of 'spare ribs' are. Here in the Northeast, 'spare ribs' are typically one of two things. Either St. Louis and the rib tips (#1 + #4 in the diagram), which are the knuckles that can be trimmed off - Or, they are #1 + #4 plus a little more of the joint between between the St. Louis and the Babybacks, (#2), which can also be trimmed off for a nice flat St. Louis Cut.
@ Bill - I've become a man of few words 
@ cal - if it weren't for the numbers and references, that looks (to me) like a naked person standing on his/her head
@ cal - if it weren't for the numbers and references, that looks (to me) like a naked person standing on his/her head
To make it easy, st louis style is pork ribs. All St. louis style ribs are is the rib tips cut off the spare ribs, and then squared at the end so all the ribs are the same size.
quote:Originally posted by MaxQ:
@ Bill - I've become a man of few words
Pfftttt
