Help with trimming to St. Louis style

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Joined
Jun 21, 2008
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84
Location
Rowan County NC
I watched vids on youtube on how to do it and those guys make it looks easy. Guess it would help if I had a really sharp knife. I have never done this before, they look kinda small to me. How do you know where to cut? Is the really white lookin thing the bone or cartlidge?
 
Their is a good video on the weber virtual website.You just put ribs bone side down and feel for where the bone ends on the big end of the slab,cut straight across at the end of the bone.
 
0341SteelRain said:
I watched vids on youtube on how to do it and those guys make it looks easy. Guess it would help if I had a really sharp knife. I have never done this before, they look kinda small to me. How do you know where to cut? Is the really white lookin thing the bone or cartlidge?

You are looking to form a rectangle. Find the longest bone and cut lengthwise from that bone. It looks like you are cutting through bone, but the flap on top is held to the ribs by what looks like cartilage to me. Then trim the tips and you got St. Louis style. It's easier to cut through that stuff than you might imagine. You'll only need to do it once to figure it out.
 
You cant go too far wrong by just following the white fat line which runs crosswise near the bottom of the rack..by bottom I mean the end opposite of where the bones stick out. On most racks it is clearly visible looking at the meat side and on some it more able to be seen on the bone side. If you get an imbred Arkie hawg sometimes you got to check both sides and take a wild guess. You need a super sharp Forschner 6" curved boner with the firebox handle to do it right. You might have to veer slightly upward but not much when you bump into the breast bone. It sits on one end of the rack at usually less than a 45 degree angle. Sure the websites mentioned will have pics of the white line which will help a bunch as opposed to trying to describe it in writing.

http://www.justknives101.com

bigwheel
 
SteelRain,
Now that is a loaded question. Knifes are a very personal thing. Kind of like asking what is a good smoker.......

Top End: Global, Wusthof, Kershaw, Henckels Five Star (Make sure it is the 5 star series. They are now importing cheap Chinese steel under there name),
Cutco (Free Life time sharpening service.)

Knives for the rest of us: Forshner (Rated # 1 by cooks Illustrated)

I own a mixed bag of knives. My everyday knives are the white handled knives. they are from Tramontina. High Carbon German Steel knives made in Brazil. I got them at the local restaurant supply store. They are cheap, NSF rated and hold an edge well.
Knives.JPG
 
Keith F said:
SteelRain,
Now that is a loaded question. Knifes are a very personal thing. Kind of like asking what is a good smoker.......

Top End: Global, Wusthof, Kershaw, Henckels Five Star (Make sure it is the 5 star series. They are now importing cheap Chinese steel under there name),
Cutco (Free Life time sharpening service.)

Knives for the rest of us: Forshner (Rated # 1 by cooks Illustrated)

I own a mixed bag of knives. My everyday knives are the white handled knives. they are from Tramontina. High Carbon German Steel knives made in Brazil. I got them at the local restaurant supply store. They are cheap, NSF rated and hold an edge well.
Knives.JPG

thanks bud, will look into the Forshner
 
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