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Where Different Ribs Come From |
Pork Loin, Country-Style Ribs
Country Style Ribs are prepared from the blade end of the loin and include no less than three and no more than 6 ribs. | Pork Loin, Back Ribs
Back Ribs, also referred to as Canadian Back Ribs and Baby Back Ribs, originate from the blade and center section of the loin. Back ribs contain meat between the ribs called finger meat, and shall contain at least eight ribs. | Flat Bone - Button Ribs
Small circular in shape, flat with varying amounts of meat. | | Pork Spare Ribs
Spare Ribs are the intact rib section removed from the belly and may include costal cartilages with or without the brisket removed and diaphragm trimmed. Spare Ribs shall contain at least eleven ribs. | Brisket Bone (Rib Tip)
Rib Tips are small, meaty pieces that have been cut from pork spare ribs during the trimming process when making a St. Louis Rib. | Pork Spareribs, St. Louis Style
St. Louis Style Ribs originate from pork spareribs and are prepared by removing the brisket bone approximately parallel to the rib side, exposing cartilage on the brisket bone side. Skirt meat is removed. |
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Rib Terms |
| Pork Loin Ribs (Baby Backs) |
| | Back ribs shall consist of at least 8 ribs and as many as 14 ribs. Generally, a rack of ribs will be 12 to 13 ribs. The back rib is the vertebrae section of the pork loin. When specified, the "skin" (peritoneum) shall be removed from the inside surface of the ribs along the intercostal meat. |
| Spare Ribs |
| | Spare ribs are the intact rib section removed from the belly and may include costal cartilage, with or without the brisket bone removed and diaphragm trimmed. They will contain at least 11 bones. |
| St. Louis Style Ribs |
| | St. Louis Style ribs are cut from the spare rib and are prepared by removing the brisket bone parallel to the rib side, exposing cartilage on the brisket bone side. Skirt meat can be removes. If left on, the outside edge of the skirt should be trimmed. |
| Pork Brisket Bone (Rib Tip - Breaks - Tips) |
| | are the small meaty pieces that are removed from the spare rib during the process of making a St. Louis rib. Cut from butcher hogs, they are very meaty. |
| Kansas City Style or Bar-B-Q Cut (KC Cut - Colorado Style - South Side Cut) |
| | a spare rib which has had the hard bone removed, and in some cases, the point squared. |
| Riblets |
| | from the loin or spare ribs, generated by straightening the loin or cutting down a loin or spare rib. Will vary in size and weight. |
| Flatbone - Button Bone Riblets |
| | The last four to six bones of the back bone, not having ribs connecting them. A cover of meat will connect each. |
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Rib Industry Terms |
| Baby Backs |
| | A term used to describe the size of a Loin Back Rib. Unfortunately, many times the term is applied to any size Loin Back Rib. A true Baby Back Rib is 1 3/4 lb. or lighter. |
| Reduced |
| | A rib that has had a riblet removed or any meat removed so the weight of rib falls into a lighter weight range. |
| Cut Downs |
| | Refers to cutting down a rib from one or both sides of the rack in order to drop the rack into a lighter weight range. This is usually seen more with Loin Back Ribs. When a rack is longer than usual and the bone has very little curve, this is a sign of a cut down. |
| Cheater Rack |
| | A nine bone rack of ribs. |
| Shiner |
| | Ribs that have meat scraped from the top side of the rib, exposing the bone. When there is too much bone exposed, the bones will actually fall out during the cooking process. This will affect portioning, which in turn raises the plate cost. |
| Red Bone |
| | When removing the brisket bone from the spare rib, it is common to cut into the actual bone on the flat bone (wide bone) end of the spare rib. Normal would be up to three Red bones. If there are more than three Red Bones, there is a good chance the St. Louis cut is a forced cut and not a natural cut through the cartilage. |
| Feather Bones |
| | Smallest bones on the Spare Rib and Loin Back, located on the ham end on the hog.They generally will have more of a curve, and in some cases, actually are more of a cartilage. |
| Flatbone |
| | On the Spare Rib and St. Louis Rib, this is the wide bone on the shoulder end of the loin. The Loin Back does not have a true flat bone but the heavy short bone on a Loin Back is also off the shoulder end of the loin. |
| Skirt Meat - BBQ Tender |
| | The flap of meat found on the inside of the Spare Rib. It has a tendency to dry out during cooking and if the outside edge is not trimmed off, it can be very chewy. Many BBQers remove the skirt and put it into chopped BBQ. |
Rib Membrane (Skin) |
| | Both the Loin Back and the Spare Rib have a skin on their interior. This skin is heaviest at the back bone and becomes very fine at the belly end. The membrane's density has much to do with the age and size of the animal.
Many Quers want the skin peeled off all Loin Backs prior to cooking. Others will rasp/score the rib after cooking prior to finishing on the grill and still others feel the with light size Loin Backs, the high temperature of a broiler will sear the membrane off. (Large Loin Backs 2 lbs and up should always be skinned as they are from older and larger hogs.
Spare Ribs and St. Louis Ribs from (smaller) Butcher Hogs have very light membrane and when the skirt is removed, the heaviest portion of the membrane is also removed. |
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A Little Bone Knowledge |
The shape and size of a rib bone can tell a lot. It's all in the shape.
(Both examples are from the center of the rack) |
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Other Kinds Of Ribs |
| Beef Ribs (Back Ribs, Texas Ribs) |
| | Will generally consist of seven ribs (with intercostal meat attached). Beef ribs are the ribs removed from the Prime Rib during the boning process in making a boned and tied rib roast or when boning for lip on Rib Eyes.
The thoracic vertebrae shall be removed, although a small portion of vertebrae may remain at the rib end. The normal length of a beef rib shall be not less than six inches nor more than eight inches in length. Back Ribs may be separated into portions by cutting between the ribs for their entire length. They may also be separated into strips by cutting parallel at an approximate right angle the length of the rib. |
| Lamb Ribs (Denver Rack) |
| | Are a portion of the breast and shall contain no less than seven ribs. The width shall be not less than three inches and not more than seven inches. No more than one half inch of cartilage shall be left on the first five bones. The fat cover and diaphragm and continuous muscles should be removed. Generally, the outside of the rib will be trimmed of fat so at least 70 to 80% lean meat remains. |
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Pork Grading Terms |
| Pork grading involves two basic factors. Size of animal and gender of animal. Some of the terms that are used are: |
| Butcher Hog |
| | An animal, male or female, that is raised strictly for meat. Weight range 195 lbs. to 320 lbs. |
| Barrow |
| | Male butcher hog |
| Gilt |
| | Female butcher hog |
| Sow |
| | Female breeding hog. Weight range from 300 lbs. to 700 lbs. |
| Stag |
| | A castrated male hog. Darker meat, weights to 700 lbs. |
| Boar |
| | An uncastrated male used for breeding purposes. Darker meat, weights to 1,000 lbs. |
