St. Louis-style is a beautiful cut of ribs from the belly half of the rib. They tend to be a thinner, more uniform shape with a higher amount of fat, making them very flavourful. Everyone has their own process but here is a method we put together with Blair from Bears Barbecue that is a great, straightforward method to nailing this cut.
First things first, heat the smoker to 250F-275F then head inside so we can prep the ribs. We always remove the pork ribs from the fridge about 20-30 mins before cooking to come to room temperature.
While doing this, look for any fat or excess meat I do not need on the pork ribs and trim these areas you don't have to be too thorough trimming the fat we're just looking to expose the most of the meat so our rub will adhere during the cook.
Once that is done, flip the pork ribs over to the membrane. The membrane needs to be removed and the best way for this is to get some paper towel and a spoon, use the spoon to lever the membrane and then grab it with the paper towel for a good grip and rip that off.
The meat is now ready to go into the smoker. For the first 2-3 hours you will be infusing the meat with smoke flavour and just keep an eye on them if they are looking a little dry you can spritz them with some water, this will also enhance their final colour and bark.
Once you get to a happy bark colour and internal meat temperature is about 165F you can wrap the ribs. in this you can add some juice, water, butter, sugar or anything you would like and pretty much this process will steam the meat and will make it incredibly moist and tender.
Keep the meat wrapped till it reaches about 200F - 210F internal temperature and they are done and ready for a rest for about half hour to an hour. You can either serve these ribs dry rubs or wet with sauce. For saucing, heat up the sauce and put the ribs back on the smoker and apply sauce gently and evenly and let it continue to cook for a further 20 mins just to set the sauce.
Serve with your favourite sides such as a simple coleslaw or our awesome cornbread recipe.
