[PickyPrincess]

Some websites say they're are five different types of ribs, while others say there are up to ten different varieties. There is also the distinction between pork and beef ribs.

What are the differences between the various cuts of ribs aside from where they were positioned in the animal? Which do you prefer and why?

 

[Wooleybooger]

For St. Louis cut pork ribs the breast bone and cartilage is removed and they have less meat than the average spare rib. Somebody else's turn.

 

[Colbyt]

For pork, IMO, there are the cheap bargain .99 lb pork ribs, the baby backs pretty good stuff and the St Louie which are about 1/2 way between the first two I mentioned.

Unless I am buy the baby backs I would just as soon do country ribs which are sliced shoulder meat. Bone in from the store, boneless if you cut your own.

I have never seen beef ribs sold in the store. They are the bonus meal for the chef after cooking Prime Rib.

Then there are the short beef ribs. Nice tasty, pricey stuff that should be reserved for a treat.

 

[Shane R]

The little riblets that so many bar places have on the menu these days are the ends that were removed from whole spare ribs to make them St. Louis style, as Wooleybooger mentioned. Country style ribs are just a rib chop cut in half. Westerns are done different depending on how the meat cutters were taught and what is being merchandised in the weekly ad. Those can either be pork shoulder steaks cut in strips or sirloin chops split through the bone. I always thought they looked and cooked better when they were cut from the sirloin.

 

[LeonardoDaBenz]

For piggies:
1)BABY back ribs are generally 2lb (or maybe 2.5lb) or smaller per rack

2)LOIN back ribs are bigger, say 2.5lb and up. BOTH have "rounded" ribs

SIZE in this case determines their "name"

3)spares are usually 3-4-5 lb per rack and the bones are flat (not curved like backs)

As said, there are various ways they are cut/sold so....

Generally speaking, back ribs are higher up on the side of the pig and spares are lower down BUT they are in one piece while still on the pig.

Spares have more flavour to them and can be tenderer than backs due to the extra fat and cartilage. A lot depends on how either kind are cooked though.

Backs are much leaner and in some peoples opinions are easier to eat as you don't have to work around any cartilage to get the meat off.

I never buy beef ribs as ours are usually skinned to the bone and have very little meat on them.

But as said, when I prepare prime rib after cooking, I'm the one who gets the bones 😁

 

[Shane R]

My favorite ribs are rack of lamb. Unfortunately, that cut is running $18.99/lb and up currently.

 

[LeonardoDaBenz]

My favorite ribs are rack of lamb. Unfortunately, that cut is running $18.99/lb and up currently.

Hehe. Ours are $27/lb today. I kept on walkin'

 

[Shane R]

Here's the charts I got when I was an apprentice:

 

[Shane R]

Not to derail the thread, but beef neck is good for more than just ground beef. I went to Ecuador and was eating in someone's home. They served me some bone-in steak and I was trying to figure out what it was - there are things they cut differently in carnicerias. I finally realized the bone was vertebra and the meat was neck and it was delicious.

 

[Wooleybooger]

No derail Shane. PickyPrincess asked about beef ribs also. I currently have a package of beef short ribs, not much meat and flat bones not at all like the short ribs I had years ago that may be been back ribs. Flat but very meaty and a good amount of fat. Also had beef spare ribs once. Looked much like port spare ribs but of course smell differently when cooking.

 

[Shane R]

Here's my braise for the short ribs I cooked last Sunday:
~2- 2 1/2 lbs beef short ribs
1 15 oz can of beef broth
large handful of grape tomatoes (maybe 7-8), halved
2 bay leaves
2 dried guajillo chili peppers
2 Tbsp garlic
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp liquid hickory smoke

Salt and pepper the meat and sear it off in hot oil. Add the liquid and other ingredients and cover. Simmer for about 2 hours until the bones begin to fall out. Take the lid off and reduce the sauce another 10 minutes.

I had always used red wine before but I didn't have any on hand and used the tomatoes to get a little acid. I liked the results better than any batch I've done before and my kids devoured them too.

 

[Shane R]

One cut I've never warmed up to is flanken ribs. These are just short ribs thin sliced across the bones. I haven't found a preparation that yields a texture I like. They're meant to be grilled off hot. Put them in a crockpot or pressure cooker and they'll disintegrate. Maybe I need to try a thick marinade. But I can't think of a store in town that sells them unless I called the butcher shop on the hill and special ordered them. I'm not interested enough to do that.

 

[Wooleybooger]

One cut I've never warmed up to is flanken ribs. These are just short ribs thin sliced across the bones. I haven't found a preparation that yields a texture I like. They're meant to be grilled off hot. Put them in a crockpot or pressure cooker and they'll disintegrate. Maybe I need to try a thick marinade. But I can't think of a store in town that sells them unless I called the butcher shop on the hill and special ordered them. I'm not interested enough to do that.

That sounds like what I know as Chinese Riblets. I've eaten them several times. They were apparently cooked after being separated into individual pieces. I don't know the preparation though and I ate them with chopsticks, fun.

 

[Shane R]

Flanken is the beef version of the same style. The last store I worked in sold the pork ribs cut like that as "Korean style." or rather, we didn't sell them as it seems none of the Korean people in the neighborhood shopped our store, not even the Korean dentist who maintained an office 4 doors down. Funny thing is, I went looking for Korean rib recipes and you never see them using the cut.

 

[Wooleybooger]

I can find them here but cut to a length that fits the trays. I've no idea how they make the eatable but they can.

 

[Wooleybooger]

And now I just finished trying to eat some beef spare ribs. They were cut to about 4" length. Waste of time IMO.

 

[Wooleybooger]

This are the ribs I was referring to. Mosty bone and any meat was hard to get off the bone without a knife. These have been oiled and seasoned. Lots of fat and silverskin.

 

[Shane R]

Some of Ohio's more notable butchers discuss ribs:

This one's much shorter (it's just the first 20 minutes of the other video):

If you ever have a chance to visit their retail store, they also sell bison which they raise on their own ranch. Sometimes they have elk. And they make some interesting flavors of sausage.

 

[Wooleybooger]

I'm Journeyman Machinist and have been around saws and machine tools for 50 yrs. The saw that I think is the most frightening is a bandsaw set up for boneless cuts. That freaking band knife will remove body parts just by looking at it. After retiring I worked at a Kroger for a while in the meat dept. Besides stocking the display cases I was assigned to clean the cutting room three days a week. Nearly lost a finger to a band knife and it wasn't even running, I just bumped it while removing the lower guide. That finger is still partially numb 15 yrs later.

 

[Shane R]

I'm Journeyman Machinist and have been around saws and machine tools for 50 yrs. The saw that I think is the most frightening is a bandsaw set up for boneless cuts. That freaking band knife will remove body parts just by looking at it. After retiring I worked at a Kroger for a while in the meat dept. Besides stocking the display cases I was assigned to clean the cutting room three days a week. Nearly lost a finger to a band knife and it wasn't even running, I just bumped it while removing the lower guide. That finger is still partially numb 15 yrs later.

We didn't even have boneless blades at the last couple of places I worked. Anything boneless was to be cut with a knife.

But one of the guys that trained me as an apprentice was fearless (or half drunk a good part of the time) and did 97% of his cutting on a saw. I never saw him use a knife other than a boning knife to trim and to cut little chunks of meat for cube steak and stew and stir fry strips. He also taught me how to clean a saw when it was still running. You don't have to break it down very far that way. It's a good way to make a huge mess on the ceiling and back wall though.