By Dylan Clay
The most popular types of ribs for smoking are:
In terms of the types of ribs you’ll find in a grocery store, Pork varieties are the most popular and are the cheapest – often they’re smoked with fruit woods like Cherry.
Beef ribs are often scarce and are almost always more expensive – these ribs are often smoked with nut woods like Pecan or Hickory, or a wood like Oak is used.
Baby back ribs are sourced from the upper portion of the pig’s rib cage – where the ribs and the spine meet.
“Baby back” both refers to their smaller size as well as their location on the pig (the back/spine).
Baby back ribs contain less meat and fat, however they are more tender than spare ribs (which are belly meat).
Typical preparation involves removing the membrane and using a sweet dry for flavoring.
Due to being leaner, they will almost always finish faster than spare ribs.
Spare ribs are taken from the bottom of the ribs or the underbelly of the pig after the bacon is removed.
Most people would say that spare ribs are more meaty but less tender than baby back ribs.
Due to the extensive collagen, spare ribs also take longer to smoke.
Most of the “meat” for these ribs comes from the rib tips because of how they’re butchered. The more meat left on top of the bones means less bacon yield for the butcher.
For a Butcher, bacon is where they make a lot of their money as it’s a value added product.
Spare ribs will typically feed more people than baby back ribs, simply because they weigh more.
Often they’re paired with either a sweet or a savory rub – depending on where you’re from.
Spare ribs are also cheaper than St. Louis cut ribs (discussed below) which require additional trimming by the butcher – which means added cost to the customer.
In terms of ribs, they’re one of the cheaper varieties you can smoke.
St. Louis style ribs are trimmed versions of whole spare ribs with the sternum, rib tip, and flap removed.
Preparation is similar to regular spareribs with additional emphasis placed on trimming the cartilage and removing the silver skin.
The trim looks like this:
This means the trimmed rack has the ends removed, the bone off the side, and rarely has a flap; This trim results in a rack of ribs weighing 3 1/2 lbs or less.
At a grocery store you’re apt to find two types of beef “short ribs”:
These cuts are distinct from one another and are often cooked and prepared much differently.
The short plate is found in the forequarter of the cow – behind the brisket and below the rib primal.
The reason the short plate ribs are prized is due to the serratus ventralis muscle.
When plate short ribs are trimmed, they are cut into 4-5″ slabs and typically have the latissimus dorsi muscle removed (also called the Lifter) from the serratus ventralis.
This muscle is one of the most tender on the entire cow.
Short Plate ribs taste and are smoked in a similar vein to brisket – hence why they’re called “Brisket on a stick.”
Unlike brisket though, short plate ribs are really hard to mess up and are great for beginners. The only issue with them is that they’re hard to find depending on where you live and they’re rather expensive.
Short plate ribs are typically seasoned like brisket – often pepper and salt heavy.
The reason these bones are left in the chuck is because the bones are short and do not work well for steaks.
Meaning, the name chuck “short” ribs is because they are quite literally short rib bones found in the chuck.
Chuck short ribs can be sold as 4 bone slabs, however, at a grocery store, you’ll typically find them sliced up into singular bones and sold as “English Cut.”
When not sold as an English Cut, you may also see them sold as “Flanken” or “crosscut.” When cut that way though, they’re often grilled, not smoked.
Chuck short ribs have great marbling that’s often associated with rib steaks and also have super forward beefy flavors that you’ll find with chuck roast.
Chuck short ribs aren’t typically smoked (they can be though) rather they’re often braised; You may even see them labeled as “braising beef” ribs.
Back ribs are different from short ribs in that the meat is found between the bones (intercostal), rather than on top of the bones.
This is in a similar vein to spare ribs above – ribeye steaks and/or prime rib roasts are more desirable and make more money.
Meaning, any meat left on top of the bones means less money for a Butcher.
While beef back ribs don’t really offer much meat but make for an easy smoke. They’re also typically quite cheap, which is uncharacteristic of ribeye meat.
Country style ribs come from the pork loin.
If the butcher is specifically removing country style ribs, they’re likely taking the first four ribs from the loin that are closest to the shoulder.
The butcher then removes a small piece of the blade bone and havles the meat. The result are 4 bone-in and 4 boneless country style ribs.
The remaining ribs on the pork loin are then made into a smaller rack of baby back ribs.
Country style ribs come from the same place as loin back ribs. However, in this case, they’re a chunk of loin meat.
