St. Louis Style pare ribs

BBQ ribs are great to cook when you have family or friends over for a party or if you don't want to spend money on over priced ribs at a restaurant. St. Louis style is a whole spare ribs with the top and pointed side of the ribs are cut off. It's very easy to do at home so save your money by not having a butcher do it.

So to get started you will need to make a rub. This rub I put together so I can get a balance of sweet and heat, but you can use any rub you like on your ribs. You will need 1 rack of ribs or more depending on how many people you are feeding. I cut mine in half so they would fit on my grill. You may not have to depending on the size of your grill or is you are using a smoker. You can remove the membrane on the back of the ribs which most people will tell you to do or, you can score it with a knife making it chewy like jerky.

For the rub you will need just some basic seasonings.

2 cups brown sugar (light or dark it doesn't matter)

1 Tbs paprika

1 Tbs dry mustard

1 Tbs chili powder

1 Tbs cayenne pepper

1 Tbs onion powder

1 Tbs celery salt

Equal parts of SPG (salt, pepper and garlic)

Mix all those seasonings together and rub it on the ribs. The brown sugar will create a caramelize layer on the ribs while they cook. Let the seasoned ribs set out so it can absorb all those seasonings while you set the grill up for indirect heating.

With the hot coals on one side make a drip pan out of aluminum foil and place it on the cold side of the grill to catch all the grease and juices so it will make it easier to clean up. Your temperature should be at 250 degrees and spare ribs will take 3-4 hours to cook low and slow. Just hold that temp and if you have a little bit more room like I did, throw in those rib tips.

If you like bbq sauce on your ribs, you can baste any bbq sauce you like on them every 45 minutes. If not, just leave the ribs alone and sprinkle some dry rub on them when they are done, for some Memphis style spare ribs.

Pork meat is done when they reach 160 degrees. But like all cooked meat you have to let it set, so you don't loose any on the juices and let the meat finish cooking. For ribs it's best to leave them setting for about 10 minutes. Then go ahead, cut them up and enjoy the fruits of your labor.