This is why You Need To Stop buying St Louis Style Ribs

We are dead center in the barbecue season and if you're still buying St. Louis style ribs then we need to talk about this. In case you didn't know the pig has three types of ribs. One is the baby back rib, two is the St. Louis style ribs and three is the belly ribs. Which is basically the St. Louis style ribs with a little bit attached to it. And the thing that you see the most online are the St. Louis style ribs. People just go crazy for them. And of course there's good reason for it. Because they look really good. And if you cut them up they have this nice bone that is straight and runs right through. And you can just chew on it forever. But there is a little secret about the St. Louis style rib. There really is. You see it's actually not the best eating rib there is. Because that is the baby back ribs. And you know why the baby back ribs are so good? It's because they got this little layer of fat and some extra meat on top. And if you bite into that well it's pure happiness. Currently I'm working my way through the pigs that I butchered this spring. And they grew up really big. I kept for them as much as I could. And then I cut them up with my butcher Gert-Jan van der Horst to make sure that I get them absolutely perfect. And guess what? They are absolutely perfect. Because the baby back ribs are huge. They are humongous. But with my favorite cut the baby back ribs cut off I'm left with another part of the ribs. This is what sits below the baby back ribs. And this is the full belly ribs. Can you recognize the St. Louis style cut? Basically if you make an incision right here and go down all the way you're going to end up with St. Louis style ribs. Now why do they make St. Louis style ribs? Well it's obvious. Because there is this. You have these ribs. But then underneath here there is another rib. And it's basically cartilage. Most people don't like to chew on that. I think we should just dive in head first. Prepare the ribs. And then start smoking them. First thing that I'm going to do is carve it into the silver skin. And then season them with the pitmaster x texas barbecue season. With the ribs prepared it's time to set up the smoker. And I'll be using the Bornex smoker. Now I'm going to take out the tray. I don't want to lay these ribs down. I want to hang these ribs up. And if you're thinking why would you want to hang your ribs? Well hold on. It's coming. It's coming. Let's just take a hook. Stick it through. Make sure there is a rib behind it. Stick it through. And then hang it up inside the smoker. Just like that. Now I'm going to set it up with a temperature of 140 degrees celsius. And that is about 20 degrees higher than I would normally do. But these ribs. Well they can take a little heat. And of course I will be smoking these ribs. So they're going to need a couple of wood chips. And then turn on the smoke function. And the Bornex will basically just start smoking. Heating up the ribs. And about an hour in magic starts to happen. I gotta wait. I gotta wait an hour. Like grilled steak. Yeah good idea. I've been now smoking for two hours. And it's starting to look really good. We got lots and lots of smoke color on the ribs. And now basically we can stop the smoking. Having control of the amount of smoke that you give your barbecue food is very very important. Because the first flavor comes from the quality of meat. And the second flavor comes from the smoke. And the third flavor comes from the seasoning that you put on. And of course I want to make sure I cook it to perfection. So I'm going to stick in a wireless thermometer. And keep track of that temperature. Take a look on the other side. Look at that bark that it's building up. This almost looks like bacon. I showed you a little bit of the magic. But there's more to come. We just gotta wait for it. I'm just gonna let this run. Unwrapped. Without more smoke. To keep track of the temperature I'm gonna set the temperature in the Chef Stamp app. And I'm aiming for 93 degrees Celsius. I will automatically get a notification when the ribs are done. And with ribs you want to be aiming between 92 and 96 degrees Celsius. And in between there you just want to feel it with your hands and see if it's done. I'm smiling on the outside. But on the inside. Well my little pitmaster heart is crying. Because I had to switch to the rack. Obviously when you start cooking the ribs for a long time they become tender and soft. And well they're hanging by a hook. And yeah obviously gravity won. It's not like I didn't antipis... antipistate... anticipated this. It's not like I didn't antipis... anticipated. Yes that's the one. But it kind of took me by surprise how fast it went. Because I was expecting it to have like 88 degrees. 90 degrees. Come in. Record another segment. And put it on the rack. But before I knew it I heard a loud thump. Luckily we're smoking in the Borneak. And all it did was drop onto these beautiful clean grates. That basically caught the ribs. And well it didn't harm the ribs any further. And now they are done. We can take them off. And take a closer look at why you still should be hanging up your ribs. Even though they might fall. It's worth it. I gave these rack of ribs about 10 minutes to rest. Normally I would rather do it a little longer. But I can't hold on to anticipation. Anticipation. Anticipate. I love that word now. I got my head sorted out. I'm completely normal again. Let's get that thermometer out. So basically how do you know your rack of ribs is done? Well basically when they fall off. And this is the rib that didn't leave me hanging. It let me down. But look at the bark on these ribs. It's absolutely fantastic. This looks so good. Now let me demonstrate how soft and tender they are. There we go. Super soft. Super tender. You can just pull the bones out. Absolutely spectacular. And that is why you need to have the full belly rib. At the bottom there's this little fat piece. With lots and lots of meat. And that's going to make this meat extremely juicy and tender. And even though you have that cartilage. And if you cook it right. I'm just wiggling here. So if you think what is this guy doing in the meantime. Well if you do it right. You can just pull that cartilage out. See like that. And just feed it to the dog. Because personally I think it's totally worth it. Just take the whole belly. Put it on the smoker. Smoke it. And then you're just going to end up with something beautiful. Something more beautiful than just an overpriced St. Louis style cut of ribs. Think about it. I hope you guys enjoyed this video. See you in the next one. Until then. H Mark. And keep on grilling.