Thick fat layer on Costco Ribs

[bsnalex]

I plan on cooking this slab of belly spares I picked up from Costco. Usually I take the loin ribs, but I thought this week I'd go for the meatier belly ribs. Those of you with Costco memberships know their belly ribs tend to come with a thick (~1 cm) layer of fat/rind on top.

Do you folks slice that off the top? Or do you let it stay on and try to render as much out into the meat?

FWIW, I plan on smoking using a 4 burner gas with the right-most burner on high, leaving the ribs on the off-burners going 1-2-1. The loin ribs in the past have been great on 1-1-1 but I figure these will need the extra hour (and yes, I consider this to be smoking ribs )

[BraaiMeesterWannabe]

Never done belly ribs myself but I would probably take most of the fat off. Don't think it would all render in 5 hrs and you'll end up just eating fat I would have thought

[essexsmoker]

Yes, cut all the fat off the top. I'm assuming you have a bone in pork belly rather than belly ribs per se.

I would think they are quite thick and I would imagine they will take a fair bit longer than the loins.

[bsnalex]

Yes, cut all the fat off the top. I'm assuming you have a bone in pork belly rather than belly ribs per se.

I would think they are quite thick and I would imagine they will take a fair bit longer than the loins.

Label says pork belly ribs,

It's the big thick spares

[bsnalex]

Just to update, I ended up cutting the top layer of rind off. If I had been doing a slow cook in the oven, or in a proper smoker I could have left it, and done it for 8 hours or so, but this was a four hour job. That fat that remained was plenty.

[essexsmoker]

Yes, you only need a wafer of fat over ribs.