First Spares To St. Louis Ribs For A Myron Mixon Contest

Myron Mixon/Jack's Old South is doing a competition during the month of July to send in a picture and a brief description of your favorite BBQ meal. The grand prize (supposedly selected by Myron himself) wins a free cooking class for 2 with Myron at his new restaurant in NY, Pride And Joy. 

I hadn't done ribs in a while, so thought this would be the perfect excuse. BiLo suckered me in with a .99 per pound sale, but once I got there it was Baby Backs. I went over to the St. Louis and they were $2+, but I looked over and the whole Spare Ribs were actually .99 per pound too. I've never cut Spares down before but wanted to step up to the plate and picked up 2 racks. 

My sister and her husband went to Savannah for their anniversary and stopped by Southern Soul BBQ. I got about 30 pictures sent to my phone while they were there and a jar of rub ... it wasn't a lost cause for me. I figured this would be the perfect use for them too. A South Georgia rub to go on ribs for a contest for a South Georgia man. 

Thanks to the weather, I had to wait weeks before I could do this cook. The news still showed a chance of scatter thunderstorms for the afternoon, but it looked great outside and I was willing to take my chances. I hadn't done ribs in months, so I was jonesing for them.

I started trimming some of the huge chunks of fat off.  

And then cut them down to St. Louis cut. I think I was closer to Carolina Cut (includes the joints) than St. Louis though. We had to throw them in the freezer over time, and they weren't completely thawed. Of course the area that was the least thawed was right at the top of the bones, so I had to guess where it was and cut. For those that don't know, to get St. Louis cut, you find the top of the longest bone and cut straight across at that level. 

The ribs are trimmed down, and still need a little love to get ready. The extra meat I'm going to put in my meat grinder (finally), and use later for meatballs or something else. 

I tried not to do a huge coat of the rub so I wouldn't use it all, but these bad boys were so big it didn't work. There's still a little in there, but it'll have to be on a tenderloin or something smaller. 

I have to give credit on the dessert to Dawn. I've done peaches on the grill before, but she questioned how they'd do in the smoker. We threw them on a tray, sprinkled some brown sugar and cinnamon on top, and threw them in for the last hour or so. 

Dawn made her jalapeno sweet cornbread and baked beans to go with it. For my entry picture I have the ribs, jalapeno sweet cornbread, and baked beans. With smoked peaches and ice cream for dessert. All capped off with an after dinner drink. 

Both racks were a little over (a little more fall off the bone than I strive for). If you got them at a restaurant it would have been what you would expect "fall off the bone" to be. I prefer mine to have a little bite to them. They were still really good, but as Dawn says, I'm a rib snob and they didn't meet my standards haha. 

As for the rub, the ribs tasted great. They didn't get as dark as other rubs tend to get, so there isn't a large amount of brown sugar in it. It was a good, classic BBQ flavor. 

If you're wondering, smoked peaches are AMAZING. Even when I did them on the grill, they were still a little tough to eat. I hit them on the head in the smoker, and they were soft and juicy and you could get just a hint of the smoke flavor. I'm not a huge peach fan (I don't hate them either), but this could be one of my favorite desserts now.