I like to trim my spare ribs down to what is called a St. Louis Style Rib. By cutting pork spare ribs down to St. Louis style you get a more uniform rack of ribs. St. Louis style ribs make cooking and serving them much easier. More St. Louis style ribs fit on the smoker and they are easier to tell when done.
St. Louis style ribs are prepared by removing the cartilage from the “top” of each rib rack. If you go to a BBQ restaurant and order “rib tips” this is where they’ve come from. Some meat processors sell these “rib tips” by the case. It can be an economical way to serve ribs to large groups.
When you trim lots of racks of ribs you end up with quite a few freezer bags full of trimmings. One of the most common questions asked on BBQ forums is “what do you do with your rib trimmings? There’s a lot of different techniques/recipes for rib trimmings. Here’s one of the ways we utilize rib trimmings at are house. (Click each picture to enlarge.)
Place all your rib trimmings in the crockpot.
Add a can of green enchilada sauce and cook until tender
Shred the pork. Make sure you discard all fat and cartilage
