Pork ribs 101

[Roaniecowpony]

These guys are always enlightening. They have a bunch of videos. This was a good one.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

You can clearly see why a spare rib tastes different than the babybacks. Babybacks have loin meat and spares have the belly.

 

[Greg Jones]

I’m not a butcher, and I never played one on TV (for those of you old enough to appreciate that comment!). But I did grow up on a farm where we butchered our own beef, pork, and poultry. I’ve never seen any video that explains the breakdown of the pork belly/ribs better than this one-outstanding! Thanks for sharing @Roaniecowpony. Plus, the sharpness of his knifes must be watched to be appreciated! Thanks again for sharing..

 

[C. Keeper]

I’m not a butcher, and I never played one on TV (for those of you old enough to appreciate that comment!). But I did grow up on a farm where we butchered our own beef, pork, and poultry. I’ve never seen any video that explains the breakdown of the pork belly/ribs better than this one-outstanding! Thanks for sharing @Roaniecowpony. Plus, the sharpness of his knifes must be watched to be appreciated! Thanks again for sharing..

Did you stay at a Holiday Inn Express?

 

[MikeyB]

Love the Bearded Butchers, I’m hear that their Black seasoning is very good.

 

[Ostrichsak]

In addition to what has been mentioned already about this video, I personally appreciated the fact that he uses Victorinox Fibrox in a professional capacity. It's the only knife (well... several, actually) I have in my kitchen. My guess is that he's slightly better with his than I man with mine however.

 

[kstone113]

I like both spare ribs and baby backs. I smoked some spare ribs yesterday. One thing I've adapted having a pellet grill is I do ribs unwrapped the whole way and once a few hours in and the bark sets in, I spray every 30 to an hour.

 

[sdynak]

Very cool.. Great share.

I don't have a meat hook but now will have one on the way!

This guy is smooth. I would certainly classify as the rookie butcher based on his criteria LOL.

It would be so valuable to work with him for a few days just to learn the cuts and how they are made up. He knows his stuff.

 

[Jim6820]

That is a very accomplished butcher! My grandson is a meat cutter with several years experience and he’s pretty good at his job, but I’m sure he would be amazed at the skill of the “Bearded Butcher.” I’ll send him a link.

That was, indeed, a very good demonstration of the different style of ribs and how they are cut.

 

[MikeyB]

These guys are top notch.
They have a ton of informative videos.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

... Plus, the sharpness of his knifes must be watched to be appreciated! Thanks again for sharing..

And they're not some unobtainium alloy from the bedrock of the Euphrates riverbed. Just plain ol' Victorinox. That means he sharpens them all the time. That means you can have the same thing for about $70 a piece. But you're gonna have to spend about double that in sharpening equipment to keep them that way.

 

[Stratratbj96]

That’s a great video! Very enlightening.

 

[Greg Jones]

But you're gonna have to spend about double that in sharpening equipment to keep them that way.

I’m a woodworker, mostly using hand tools. I’m well invested in sharpening equipment!

 

[Roaniecowpony]

I’m a woodworker, mostly using hand tools. I’m well invested in sharpening equipment!

Last year, I finally had enough of sharpening big kitchen knives on a little 6x2 diamond steel. I bought 3 grades of 10"x 4" diamond steels, a stand, magnetic leather strop and some diamond paste. This setup was a bit pricey and while it's not up to the edge you can get with a 6000 water stone, it will make an edge that's incredibly sharp in a hurry, even with abused knives.

 

[BethV]

What an amazing video! Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[chadinsc]

that was a great video. i hunt hogs so i butcher a few a year and i have been doing what i thought was spare ribs but i have been doing the full slab with baby backs attached also. im going to up my butcher game this year. also i use the lansky system to sharpen my knives. it uses a guide to keep the same angle for every pass. it does great but 6inch is about its max without having to do a blade in sections.

 

[Greg Jones]

Last year, I finally had enough of sharpening big kitchen knives on a little 6x2 diamond steel. I bought 3 grades of 10"x 4" diamond steels, a stand, magnetic leather strop and some diamond paste. This setup was a bit pricey and while it's not up to the edge you can get with a 6000 water stone, it will make an edge that's incredibly sharp in a hurry, even with abused knives.

That’s a nice setup you have there. I actually prefer diamond stones (I have a 300/1,000 combo) on damaged or badly dulled blades. Here’s my setup-the white stones are Japanese Shapston Glass stones, in 1k, 4k, 8k, and 16k grits. In case anyone is wondering, the glass cleaner is to lubricate the diamond stone and the spray bottle has water with a few drops of Dawn to lubricate the ceramic stones.

 

[chadinsc]

That’s a nice setup you have there. I actually prefer diamond stones (I have a 300/1,000 combo) on damaged or badly dulled blades. Here’s my setup-the white stones are Japanese Shapston Glass stones, in 1k, 4k, 8k, and 16k grits. In case anyone is wondering, the glass cleaner is to lubricate the diamond stone and the spray bottle has water with a few drops of Dawn to lubricate the ceramic stones.
View attachment 14659

who made the attachment for your grinder? or was that originally a sharpener? thats an amazing set up! i have a variable speed delta grinder i would like to do that to

 

[Greg Jones]

who made the attachment for your grinder? or was that originally a sharpener? thats an amazing set up! i have a variable speed delta grinder i would like to do that to

The grinder is a somewhat older Delta 8” slow speed grinder that’s been a real workhorse in my shop. That’s a Wolverine base on both sides, while the right side has a Tormek jig mounted in the Wolverine. I’ve got a follow-up question I’ll send you a message on as I’ve taken us really off-topic of ribs.

 

[Ostrichsak]

And they're not some unobtainium alloy from the bedrock of the Euphrates riverbed. Just plain ol' Victorinox. That means he sharpens them all the time. That means you can have the same thing for about $70 a piece. But you're gonna have to spend about double that in sharpening equipment to keep them that way.

Not too sure about that last part. I'm sure how much you use them has a massive impact on this but just based on my standard usage (typical kitchen use, perhaps less) the ones I use most frequently have still held an edge quite well. I thought that I might need to hone them up a bit or possibly put a fresh edge on them more frequently but so far... so good.

I'm really impressed by these Victorinox knives and, after tons of research, I'm quite happy I chose them to stock my kitchen when I decided entirely new knives were in order and my multi-decade hand me downs were ready for retirement.