What is a riblet?

I think I've seen these maybe once in a grocery store, down in South Texas. Never had them, never cooked them. According to Wikipedia "A riblet is an alternative to ribs. The actual riblet is the portion of a loin back rib (or baby back rib) that is cut off at the top (nearest the back bone) to give the rib a more uniform look. " Ok, sure, whatever. Mr. O brought some of these down to the river this past weekend and we cooked them up on his Mini Egg while doing the brats on mine. He said they were pre-marinated, so they went straight from the bag to the grill. We cooked them at about 450 for probably about 10 minutes or so, just till they got a nice char on them. Not sure on the time as the ice cold beverages had been flowing all day.

450F with mesquite chips for smoke


Both Eggs going, riblets on one, brats on the other.


Just about done


They came out pretty good, I think. Not a lot of meat per bone and we would have needed a bunch more if not for the brats and the sides, but they would make a great mid game snack for sure. I'm gonna have to keep my eyes open for these in the future.

I get riblets once in a while when they go on sale.

Last time I got 10# for $12 and made a great party appetizer for the 20 people we had for a Potluck style party at work.

I did mine on the CG smoked for 4 hours then next day at the party I heated up in a nesco

Sounds like "riblet" is a fancy name for the trimmings left behind when ribs are cut St. Louis-style. Whatever they are, you definitely did 'em up right!

ScreamingChicken wrote:

Sounds like "riblet" is a fancy name for the trimmings left behind when ribs are cut St. Louis-style. Whatever they are, you definitely did 'em up right!

That's exactly what they are up here - pork rib trimmings. Not bad, but also not my first choice as they can sometimes be either tough or stringy.

We've always called them rib tips.

No, the weren't the trimmings. Had actual bones, small ones, not cartilage. And not rip tips either.