Smoked St. Louis Style Ribs Recipe | GirlCarnivore.com (2024)

FAQs

How long should you smoke St. Louis style ribs? ›

Louis-style takes roughly 6 hours to smoke and 30-45 minutes to rest, so plan your day well. With prep time, you're looking at about 8 hours. If you don't have a smoker, you can follow these procedures in the oven at the same temperature.

Spare Ribs and St. Louis Style Ribs

200-202 degrees F is the best internal temperature for spare ribs and their trimmed-down counterpart, St. Louis spare ribs.

The 321 Rib Method is a popular method used in the preparation of ribs. This technique calls for 3 hours of smoking, 2 hours of wrapping, and 1 hour of cooking.

To cook these ribs, I used the classic 3-2-1 method: 3 hours uncovered, 2 hours wrapped and 1 final hour uncovered. This style is very straight forward and can be done in the oven too, although I strongly recommend busting out the grill! This method ensures tender, fall-off-the-bone ribs, which is what we all crave.

Wrapping the meat in foil will limit the amount of smoke on the surface of the meat thus yielding a better color and flavor on the final product. It also adds moisture and speeds up cooking time. Wrapping should be done about half way through the cooking process or when internal meat temp is 150-160 degrees.

My favorite ribs for smoking are the St. Louis cut Spare Ribs. They are nice and meaty with a good amount of fat that will melt down within the ribs as they smoking, making for the perfect bite after 5-6 hours of low and slow smoking.

One thing is certain about ribs and pork: If you overcook them, they do become dry and tough. There is something very important to learn with the “low and slow” cooking method employed here. Food is ready when it's ready. Not to be evasive, but for the most part, you cannot judge simply by cooking time.

Anything under that temperature and your ribs will be chewy, stringy, and tough. At 195 degrees F, that tissue starts to gelatinize and turn into tasty, melty deliciousness. Most ribs hit their sweet spot for doneness around 198 degrees F, but some take until 203 degrees F to be perfectly tender.

Place ribs bone-side down in smoker at 225 F /110 C and cook for three hours. Remove ribs from the smoker and wrap tightly in aluminum foil to form an airtight seal. Return to the smoker bone-side up and smoke for two hours. Unwrap the ribs and return to the smoker bone-side down for one more hour.

Smoke the ribs until they are as tender as you like them. This will probably take about 5 hours at 225°F (107°C) or perhaps an hour longer if the ribs have a little more meat on them.

What is the best binder for St Louis ribs? ›

We like to use olive oil, mustard, or even mayonnaise as a binder. Just lightly rub the ribs down with your preferred binder, it does not need to be a thick layer. Just enough to hold your seasoning. Seasoning/layering - Now we need some good flavors to compliment the ribs.

Once the smoker has reached 225 degrees F, add the wood chips or chunks and the ribs to the smoker. Smoke for 4 to 5 hours then test for doneness. There are four criteria that should be met in order for ribs to be done. First, the internal temperature of the meat should be 185 to 190 degrees F.

Smoke the ribs until they are as tender as you like them. This will probably take about 5 hours at 225°F (107°C) or perhaps an hour longer if the ribs have a little more meat on them.

Every pitmaster has their own technique, but most follow something along the lines of what Steven Raichlen calls the 3-2-1 method. This guideline for reaching the proper temperature means cooking for about three hours without a wrap, then for two hours wrapped tightly in foil, then for another hour unwrapped again.

Essentially, 3 2 1 ribs go like this: 3 hours of smoking the ribs directly on the pellet grill. 2 hours wrapped in foil, still cooking on the grill. 1 hour of cooking, unwrapped and slathered in barbecue sauce.

Since St. Louis-style ribs are larger, they take longer to cook, so note that baby back ribs take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to cook at 300°F, but St. Louis ribs will take 2 1/2 to 3 hours.