Yesterday I decided to attempt to make St. Louis-style ribs for the first time on the smoker. It was in the 90’s so babysitting a fire was hot stuff. I didn’t even take too many photos since it was too hot to leave my phone outside for any amount of time. Our back deck is full sun all day long. 🔥
What exactly are St. Louis- style ribs? St. Louis-style spare ribs are the meatier ribs cut from the hog’s belly after the belly is removed. St. Louis-style ribs are flatter than baby back ribs, which makes them easier to brown. There is a lot of bone but also a higher amount of fat, making them very flavorful.
I made a spice rub for the ribs. I just threw spices into a bowl with some brown sugar and kosher salt. After I trimmed the fat and silver skin from the ribs, I patted on the rub…both sides and the edges. I let it sit at room temperature for an hour while I was outside building a fire and getting it hot.
There are so many techniques for barbecuing ribs on a ceramic smoker I decided what I was going to do and go with it. There are 3-2-1 and 2-2-1 methods for ribs—three hours meat side up, two hours wrapped in foil meat side down, and 1 hour unwrapped with bbq sauce. The 2-2-1 trims off an hour in the beginning.
Since I’ve had issues overcooking and over-smoking meats, I played it safe. I did a 2-1 1/2-1/2, which worked. I was rolling smoke at a constant 250 degrees; I am getting better at keeping the temperature at bay.
I made a maple bbq sauce that was meh. The recipe I tried sucked, and I won’t make it again. I should have just made a bbq sauce I have in my bag of tricks, but whatever. 🤷🏻♀️
We deep-fried some shoestring fries on our outdoor kitchen stove, and I whipped up a watermelon salad. I usually put feta cheese in my watermelon salad along with red onion, lime juice, and honey…until I opened the feta cheese and it was green. Dammit! Ugh.
I improvised and made watermelon, bleu cheese, fresh basil, and a balsamic reduction. It was good but not as good as the feta cheese one.
The ribs came out ok. The big mistake I made was adding the brown sugar to my rub. It caramelized the rib side that was grill side down for two hours and turned that side black.
When it was time to wrap the ribs in foil, I put some butter and bbq sauce on the foil, then set the ribs on the mixture; meat side down this time. I know I am learning, but fuck, this barbecue/smoking thing is hard to figure out with so many variables. Pitmasters have my utmost respect.
When we tried the ribs, the meat side was meaty, moist, and delicious. They had a slight tooth pull then came off the bone easily, which is what I wanted. The black side was a complete and utter shitshow.
The quality of the ribs has a lot to do with the success of pitmasters and professional barbecue joints. Supermarket meats don’t compare and are total crap. I need to up my meat game when I figure the barbecue methods out. I don’t want to waste money on expensive meats until I am sure I won’t ruin them.
So my St. Louis ribs get a B- not bad for my first try. Just for the record, my scoring is very picky and technical…I am a tough food judge and definitely harder on myself, just like at dance.