Flap of meat under Spare Ribs

Does anyone trim the flap of meat off the bottom of
spare ribs? If so before or after smoking?
Thanks
Jack
Jack@DrofBBQ.com
www.DrofBBQ.com

DR.

We all look to you as the leader of BBG. I will look forward to the ansers. Got some ribs in the Weber as i type!!!

Jim

DR.

Sorry i did not resond to your question, i leave it on. More meat for me. Got to go and add some more hickory to the caols.

Have A good one!!
Jim

Not having them up for sale... I leave it on and when I have purchased ribs to go at several places here in the KY/IN area they always seem to have the 'Flap' attached. (Jucy's and SmokeHouse and Bootleg in Louisville, Moonlite in Owensboro, and even King Rib's in Indy !!)

quote:

Originally posted by RIDEANDSLIDEFOOD
DR.We all look to you as the leader of BBG. I will look forward to the ansers. Got some ribs in the Weber as i type!!! Jim

Well I'm not the BBQ guru that you may think I am. I learn something new almost every day and I'm just as apt to learn some new trick from a back yard BBQ guy as a professional. Sometime things just look differently to others than to a guy that's cooking every day.

I cut all my ribs into single bones servings after smoking and my customers seem to really like that. I do it because it's easier to reheat them and eat them. I don't know of anyone else that does that, but it just seemed to be the thing to do to me.

If I were to pick someone that does a great job I’d say Jack (prison chef) although I have never eaten his food he seems to know smoking, good BBQ and his equipment very well.
Jack
Jack@DrofBBQ.com
www.DrofBBQ.com

Although I am not a BBQer of any renown the one place I go to for ribs in my area has NEVER removed same from his product. Also the rib ends are not trimmed either so that leaves more goodies 4 me. YUM.

Also. While the purveyor does cut his ribs into single rib pieces for serving I specifically request that not to be done to my orders.
My order is usually for 2 slabs and I prefer to cut them as I eat.

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

Not having them up for sale... I leave it on and when I have purchased ribs to go at several places here in the KY/IN area they always seem to have the 'Flap' attached. (Jucy's and SmokeHouse and Bootleg in Louisville, Moonlite in Owensboro, and even King Rib's in Indy !!)

So Al does that part seem tough to you? Do you eat it? i usally eat St Louis style ribs and of course they are trimmed much better than spares. I had a customer order ribs just before close yesterday and noted he didn’t care for that part of his last order. I told him it’s just the nature of the pig and not much could be done about it. He wasn’t overly concerned and he was really funny because he told me (he buys a full rack) and he eats half of the rack on his 30 mile drive home from work. I don’t know how you eat ribs while driving? LMAO I can see rib bones hitting the ditch as he wings them out the window.

So anyway I started thinking about it and in order for the flap section to get tender the tops were very close to over cooked. Well not overcooked but they were smoked enough that they wouldn’t hold under heat for any time with out getting mushy. Most of my spare ribs are trimmed so they don’t have that problem but in every case there is usually one slab or two that may have a pretty sizeable flap on the bottom. Since I cut the racks into individual one-bone servings I don’t think it would be hard to remove the flap right after they are smoked. Any thoughts?
Jack
Jack@DrofBBQ.com
www.DrofBBQ.com

I have 3 racks of spares smoking as we speak - i always remove the bone and cartilage at the top but never the skirt. so depending on your upbringing, the end product is a st louis trim where a kc trim removes the skirt.

(some folks swear it's the other way around...st louis removes the skirt...kc leaves it on. i wont argue either way but st louis is what i call a well trimmed, skirt on rib)

the skirt, if you trim it, is of course great smoked and rough chopped for beans.

Jack,
That 'skirt' can be a bit chewie !! Thats what makes it good for me. While I don't want "Rubber" I do like my ribs to have a little 'chew' left in them.

I always remove the skirt. It helps to give the slab a more uniform thickness and even cook. The rib tips and end-points also come off. Those removed bits cook in about half the time of the slab and gives me something to snack on while I'm waiting for the "main event". pb

I buy St.Louis style ribs and trim the flap,but I still cook it.Removing it makes it easier to remove the skin from the backside of the slab.

The great rib debate is we smokers privalege for cussing and discussing! If lovingly prepared, I love all of'em!
Doc., I trim, including removing the thin membrane on the inner side! Dry rub liberally and refrigerate overnight. Crank up the Bradley Smoker, or the Okie Charcoaler and slowly getter done!

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen
Jack,That 'skirt' can be a bit chewie !! Thats what makes it good for me. While I don't want "Rubber" I do like my ribs to have a little 'chew' left in them.

Al same here I don’t want fall off the bone ribs. But that said some times I’ll have a slab in the steam table just a little too long for my taste and they get so tender you have to be careful when you load them up for a customer. I usually tell the customer these ribs are falling off the bone, and they always say “Oh Good Deal” or something to that effect. But to each his own. I recently started turning some of my slabs just to see if I could put a nice light crust on the top. The char it gives them really makes my dry rub sing. It works pretty well if your going to eat them the minute they come off the smoker but if they are going to be held for awhile the crust softens but still taste good. Anyone turning his or her ribs during the smoking process? If so share some thoughts with me. By the way I never remove the membrane I just don’t have time. I’m going to start using my Cookshack knockoff again later this week it cooks ribs very quickly and leaves them very very tender. Here is a picture.




Still Smoking the Good Stuff
Jack
Jack@DrofBBQ.com
www.DrofBBQ.com

Jack,

When I'm using an offset I do turn them - once of I'm serving them rubbed only - twice of I rub and paint with a little sauce.

Unfortunately for me, I'm in a condo for the next 16 months so until I get out of here it's the cookshack which I like very much but it doesn't give me the same clean flavor I get with my offset. (Maybe prisonchef could correct that for me if he would ever give out a few secrets but I doubt that's going to happen). They are still better out of the CS then I can get in any restaurant or roadside stand around here (for that matter, I can get a better product out of my kitchen oven then 90% of the restaurants serve).

I pull them from the cookshack a little before they are done, throw them on the grill (gas ) for 30 minutes in foil with a little brown sugar and some apple juice. then take them out, paint them, and let them set up on the grill for about 20-30 minutes.

Oh, and fall of the bone ribs, like a well done steak, get sent back to the cook.

I trim spares to St. Louis without the flaps. They go in the smoker but get pulled long before the ribs, that's a snack.

Doc, Smokin Tex? Cookshack made the original ST's, have one myself.

John,

I think the ST's line was put together by a former employee of cookshack. Here's a quote from donna at cookshack -

The Smokette is our original design. The ST smokers are also our design with slight modifications. Jim Smith, the owner of ST, is our former distributor. We think he may have copied our design!

No.

I suspect if I was doing it professionally, I would take that and the tips off, maybe not. I am paying for that meat as part of the weight/price per pound. You are paying for the whole thing and not using the meat is a loss price-wise. I would try to sell them for the same price, as you are getting pretty much all meat.


mark
On a related note, watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives yesterday, they featured Leo's, in Oklahoma. There, they kept the flap on as it is part of the whole rib experience. The banana strawberry cake looked good too.

mark

I always leave the flap on when I do ribs. I do the usual, a rub the night before and after letting them sit overnight in the fridge I smoke them with hickory, apple or pecan wood. My grill is a Chargriller Pro with the Texas smoke box. The ribs always come out great. The flap is just additional meat.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry - RibRater - Jay

John,

I think the ST's line was put together by a former employee of cookshack. Here's a quote from donna at cookshack -

The Smokette is our original design. The ST smokers are also our design with slight modifications. Jim Smith, the owner of ST, is our former distributor. We think he may have copied our design!

Hi Larry,

That's correct, Jim was a distributor. It's my understanding that he set up shop selling Smokin Tex's made by Cookshack, they still make the Smokette for at least one other company.

http://www.ahappycamper.com/products/smokers/hi-mountain/jerky-smoker.html

Hey John,

I think her point was that he was a distributor for cookshack, knocked off the product, and had it made in China. Not that he was distributing a cookshack product that was rebadged.

This was based on information donna posted over at the cookshack forum some time back.


Larry

Chiming in on the topic of the skirt-

I cook a lot of ribs in my business. I trim the skirt as well as the tips & ends, and I always remove the membrane. That membrane, of course, is as tough as leather no matter how long you cook it; and as others have pointed out, the skirt and the tips (feather bones etc) cook faster than the racks. I also remove the little patch of meat and fat on the thick end of the rack.

All this helps to make the thickness really even and consistent alont the whole rack, which I think makes for a better product. No good having the little parts be dried up while the other end is right; same if you cook for the thin parts and the thick parts aren't quite ready. More uniform thickness makes for a better product.

Rib tips sell pretty well too. Cut up and served on a bed of fries, they make a nice lunch plate or walking snack at a fair or rodeo.

I always trim the skirt off along with the tips. They get smoked later for a chef's treat or get shared with friends.

The reason I trim the skirt is that's how I do them in competition. And every time I cook ribs, I feel like it is a practice for th comps.

John

I usually leave the skirt on to smoke, then trim it off after the smoke.

I use them in the beans or the Brunswick Stew.

Jack I can see where single boning them would make it easier for you to sell (and eat while driving)
when i go to a sit down i like the slab whole.

larry,
give this a try as i have found it to work well in a 150. change from wood chunks to either bbqrsdelight pellets or smoke stix. put the ribs in cold as close to frozen as you can get. load 6 oz. pellets and set smoker at 210f and turn it on. the ribs i use are 4 1/2 ups. yep it's sacrilege but they give a greater profit margin. now for the trick part at 4 hours take them out. coat with honey and wrap in commercial film and heavy gauge foil and let them rest in the reefer overnite. next morning set the smoker to 250 and let them cook for around 2 hours still wrapped. unwrap, add 4 oz. of pellets and let finish in the cs or hit them on a grill. in all cases put the ribs on the highest shelf that you can.
oh and i leave the skirt on.
jack
ps. my usual blend is 2/3rds oak or sugar maple and 1/3rd pecan and i have have good results with equal parts of sugar maple,apple and cherry.

Jack:
50% of the time I remove the skirt when smoking the ribs, I use the skirt cooked to add to my BBQ Beans. I sell my ribs in groups of 3,6,9, or 12. Ninty nine per cent of the time cutting them for the customer and saucing them to their desire. Seems to worjk for me.
I like the flap after its smoked in my beans adds a nice flavor and people seem to enjoy it that way.
Keep up the great wqork in the new location!!

I always remove the flap. I prefer this "St. Louis" style cut of ribs.
"St. Louis" style ribs also includes removal of the larger bone and cartilage end
of the slab.
Thankfully, here in Dallas, the BBQ joint's all serve their ribs "St. Louis" style.
Not so in the "hallowed halls" of BBQ in the Austin area of Central Texas.
There, it's all left on the slabs.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr of BBQ

Does anyone trim the flap of meat off the bottom of
spare ribs? If so before or after smoking?
Thanks
Jack
Jack@DrofBBQ.com
www.DrofBBQ.com

Yes! I always remove the skirt flap from the ribs, and also remove the breast plate, and the white membrane over back of ribs as well.

You can grill/bake the flap & breast plate seperatly. Poke between the ribs with a rork before you do rub in you rub so flavor can get into the meat more.
:)