Which pork ribs are fattier?

(M) #1

Spare ribs or baby back?

(Geoffrey) #2

Spare ribs.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #3

Ribs fall into one of 2 categories…… they are either ‘Very Good’ or ‘Excellent’ :grinning:

#4

Spare ribs are, they’re the larger part of the ribcage.

(M) #5

Thank you, I’d rather get the fattier kind but I also would like them to be flavorful and sometimes fattier is not necessarily more flavorful. I ate ribs last night (baby back) and had an extremely hard time sleeping. Am I just not used to them being pescatarian for so long? I added eggs and chicken and a bit of beef and have not had that problem.

Also, was reading dr axe’s blog about pork. he wrote basically that pigs are dirty animals and we shouldn’t eat pork. A lot of people say that. Just ignore this right? I am eating pasture raised corn soy free pork from local farm.

#6

Can’t get cleaner hogs than what you have described…unless you hand rear them yourself.

It’s one of those subjects that can be divisive.

Certainly pigs will eat near anything, but if reared correctly to produce good quality end product, there’s little not to like with the porcine produce.

Of course, (treading carefully!), I know there are some religious elements against eating pork/ham/bacon, and that’s fine.
At the same time I knew plenty of Jewish and Muslim students when I was at Uni who were quite happy to tuck into a bacon sandwich now they were unshackled from living at home.

I’m old and young enough to remember that it was only fish (no meat) on Fridays here in Northern Ireland…and that was true for both Protestants and Catholics.
" It simply meant abstaining from eating the flesh of warm-blooded animals- since the thinking goes, Jesus was a warm-blooded animal. Fish, though, which are cold blooded were considered okay to eat on fasting days. Hence, Fish on Fridays and “Fish Friday” (among many other religious holidays) was born."
" What is the best day to buy fresh fish from the fish market?

Shop on the busiest days if you want the most variety.

Most seafood retailers’ busiest days are Thursday through Sunday, so that’s when customers can expect to find the greatest variety of offerings."

Nobody here really bothers with that now, but, the fresh fish hawl is still landed Wednesday/Thursday morning to be sold on Thursday at the markets.

(Geoffrey) #7

BLASPHEMY I SAY! There’s nothing better than bacon (meat candy) or pork ribs. Love a good ham also.
I hunt and take my own wild hogs so it doesn’t get any dirtier than that, lol!
And this is my favorite way to eat them…smoked whole on the pit. Yum!

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#8

That sounds like what some religions still hold.

Pork should be cooked to well done is all. Just like chicken. Both of these can carry bacteria we don’t want. Nothing wrong with either pork or chicken if cooked properly.

(Doug) #9

Baby Back - hooked to the spine, usually more meat versus fat than other cuts.

Spare Ribs - the general ‘ribs’ - going farther out from the spine, more fat, some people say they have better flavor than baby backs - but I don’t know; never tasted them side-by-side. I think @Pjam is correct - hard to go wrong with either one. Usually a good amount of fat.

“St. Louis” ribs are spare ribs which have been trimmed a little, some of the gristle and cartilage taken off that are on the bottom of the spare ribs. Maybe not a thing outside the U.S…? Usually a good amount of fat.

“Rib tips”= what gets cut off of spare ribs to make them ‘St. Louis ribs,’ and/or the small bones and cartilage and attached meat that go on around to the breastbone. Can be really fatty or less so, depending on the pig.

If just looking for “fatty ribs,” I’d say spare ribs are where to start.

#10

Country style boneless pork ribs - they are not actual ribs but often come from the shoulder. They are fatty, can be cooked all kinds of ways and are very tender. They tend to be on the inexpensive side. They are my favorite by far.

(Robin) #11

Pork Belly? Have they been mentioned yet? Often so fatty and heavy I feel stuffed and needing a nap.
Totally worth it.

(Geoffrey) #12

Sounds like total satiation to me. Good feeling. :+1:

(Rossi Luo) #13

We can’t understand the logic, as pork is our regular food everyday, its inside is clean.
The fat part of pork with flavor is the belly part of a pig, it’s delicious even with simple cooking recipe.

#14

Wow, so you have all these things there, never heard about St. Louis :slight_smile: I imagine that should be fatty as I have found those tips in a cut that we Hungarians have (it’s the meat just beyond the ribs) and it’s allegedly SUPER fatty (but my slab wasn’t so I was very confused. but as it’s a very big area, maybe no wonder)…
We don’t have spare ribs and baby ribs here, just ribs as far as I know. And it’s fatty and tasty (or I remember so, I don’t eat it nowadays as when I first did it was disappointing. should try again, it happens, some pieces are just subpar). But not too fatty like pork belly, just right when I fancy fatty stuff and don’t mind bones :slight_smile: Amazing smoked too, I really need to get some more from the pig farm nearby (and it was cheap, I don’t even understand).

#15

I didn’t even try… It’s an animal like the others… Well not one of the ones I would eat raw but very well cooked, it’s great, my body definitely approves… :wink:

I find that true for pork in general. I only need salt, it sounds totally unnecessary to add anything else to me - except for very lean pieces, they need something but the fat? That’s wonderful and adds the flavor the lean meat can’t :wink: But I need the meat flavors too. Meat and fat, they are so good together…

(Jane) #16

I remember fish sticks EVERY Friday in grade school back in the 60’s. Hard to believe the Catholics had so much influence in Houston, TX. They could always bring a sack lunch, ya know?

(Doug) #17

It varies from pig to pig. Sometimes you find an amazing amount of fat. :smile:

(Doug) #18

Good point.

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#19

They are my absolute favorite cut of pork. You just can’t go wrong with those. Regardless of cooking method, they come out perfect and tender.