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At Tom Hixson of Smithfield, we offer a range of pork ribs, from large St Louis racks, to meaty spare ribs, to name a few. All of our pork is sourced from the finest producers across the globe, who work alongside our team to provide you with the highest quality pork products.
A firm customer favourite is ribs sourced from the finest Iberico pigs, including the Spanish black pig. Iberico meat is known across the world for its distinctive flavour as a result of the swine’s unique diet of acorns, as well as its increased fat marbling compared to more traditional pig breeds. Try our Iberico French Trimmed Rack for your next show-stopping dinner centrepiece. If you want ribs for a more casual dining setting, try the Iberico Baby Back Ribs, which are full of flavour and incredibly succulent.
If you’re planning a BBQ for family and friends, try the Pork Baby Back Ribs which are perfect for cooking on the grill. Why not take a look at our meat boxes, perfect for cooking for a summer party BBQ or just getting a great deal on some top-quality produce. Our Deluxe BBQ Box in particular is ideal for feeding a large crowd from your grill, as well as Iberico Spare Ribs and USDA Short Ribs. The meat box also contains Wagyu burgers and Iberico collar ideal, which are ideal for slow cooking.
If you prefer to cook your meat using the ‘low and slow’ technique then we would recommend our Smokers BBQ Box, containing large cuts of Boston Butt and USDA Brisket capable of feeding very large groups as well as two kinds of pork ribs that ensure you have plenty to go around.
Popular pork rib cuts include large St. Louis style ribs, smaller baby back ribs, and spare ribs. Each offer similar flavour profiles, however they differ in shape, size, and meat left on the bone.
Our St. Louis Rack Of Ribs, are the most popular BBQ ribs we stock and are square-cut from the bottom section of the swine’s ribs, close to the belly, these are considerably meatier and overall larger in size than baby back.
Our Spare Ribs are cut from the top of the rib cage, while this does give less meat than the St. Louis cut you can enjoy a much more tender meat from spare ribs.
Our Baby Back Ribs are cut from the same bone, with the natural tapering of the pig’s rib cage contributing to the fact the rack is shorter at one end. In terms of flavour these are fairly close to spare ribs but the baby back ribs contain tender, leaner meat.
Pork ribs offer a great flavour on their own, due to their high fat content, which renders into the meat during the cooking process. While it isn’t necessary to marinate or brine pork ribs, they are the perfect carrier for sweet and sticky sauces or tasty dry rubs.
Traditionally ribs are cooked on a grill, usually on an outside barbecue, however, you can also cook them in either an oven or slow cooker, best done on a low heat over a long period of time to allow the meat to tenderise. Oven-baked ribs are the simplest way to get good tasting ribs, however, these might not be as flavourful as the slow cooker.
Yes you can cook your pork ribs in the slow cooker especially if you want the best possible taste for ribs that contain a thicker layer of fat, such as our delicious St Louis ribs, then slow cooking can give you a beautiful tender finish particularly when paired with BBQ sauce.
“2-2-1” refers to the timings of the different stages of cooking ribs, this cooking method is a fool-proof way of getting deliciously tender meat. The 2-2-1 method involves first smoking the unwrapped ribs for two hours, then wrapping them in foil and smoking for a further two hours. The last step involves unwrapping the ribs to cook for the last hour to firm up.
This method is similar to the popular 2-2-1 method but is more commonly used for spare ribs. The 3-2-1 method follows these rules: For the first 3 hours, you infuse the meat with smoke flavour. For the next 2 hours, you steam the meat to make it succulent. For the final 1 hour, you baste and glaze the meat with a BBQ sauce.
Despite the name, baby back ribs do not come from piglets. They are taken from around the loin. The loin is the muscle that runs down the pig’s back on either side of the spine. They are shorter than pork ribs and take less time to cook. Pork ribs, on the other hand, come from the belly of the pig and are longer, and often very succulent.
The UK Food Standards Agency recommends that pork needs to reach an internal temperature of 75 degrees Celsius for two minutes to kill off any potentially harmful bacteria.
All our pork ribs are frozen and during the delivery process could begin to thaw out. We therefore recommend that you do not re-freeze your ribs once they are received. If you buy fresh ribs, you can freeze them - simply defrost in a fridge 24 hours before use.
