Riblets are essentially “button ribs” or “paddle bones.” They are found towards the end of the pork loin and the “bones” aren’t actually rib bones, they’re from the backbone.
Rib tips refer to the meat and cartilage found at the top of spare ribs.
Defining “Riblet” Because Tons of Websites and Restaurants Get this Incredibly Wrong
“Riblet” is more or less a marketing term.
Riblets have been used to refer to:
- Specific portions of spare ribs.
- Loin ribs sold with the same names.
- Loin ribs that are cross cut.
- Riblets and rib tips used interchangeably.
- Button Ribs.
What About Applebee’s “Riblets” Then?
Looking into archives from online Newspapers sort of paints a picture for us:
“Riblets, the trimmed ends of pork tenderloins slowly hickory-roasted in a spicy barbecue sauce, have become a menu favorite at Applebee’s.”
Further down Michelle quotes Franklin Carson who owned 30 Applebee’s Restaurants at the time:
“A meat guy came to Atlanta, where I worked at the time, and I started steaming, smoking and cooking them in the sauce,” he said. “There are only two riblets on a hog, so it takes three hogs to make the dinner. No one else wanted it (the riblets), so we control the market.”
Michelle Jones, Tampa Bay Times, Oct. 19. 1997
Franklin said “two riblets.”
This means 1 “riblet” section per half or 2 “riblet” sections per pig.
Diving Deeper:
Looking at the Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications (IMPS) for Pork they specify 2 types of pork “Riblets” – from the pork shoulder and the pork loin.
The shoulder section:
Item No. 403D – Pork Shoulder, Riblet – This item consists of the rib and breast bone (sternum) that are removed during the fabrication of Item 403, Pork Shoulder. The back bone (vertebrae and feather bones) must be removed. This item must have no
IMPS, Page 26
less than 2 ribs.
These ribs are marketed by places like Snake River Farms as “Pork short Ribs.”
They Look like this:
The loin section:
Item No. 424 – Pork Loin, Riblet – This item is derived from the transverse processes and associated lean from the lumbar vertebrae of any IMPS bone in pork loin after removal of the tenderloin and the loineye. Riblets must; contain no less than 4 transverse processes (sometimes referred to as “paddle” or “finger” bones); be held intact by associated lean; and include no more than two rib bones.
IMPS, Page 37
I also reached out to guest relations for Applebee’s and was told the following:
Suffice to say, Applebees is referring to the “finger ribs” – colloquially called “Button ribs” to be Riblets.
Butchers refer to these as paddle bones.
They are the bone structure immediately between baby back ribs and the hipbone as well as the related intercostal meat (the spinal bones are removed).
Again, these aren’t actual rib bones as they’re not connected to the rib cage.
What are Rib Tips?
Rib tips are more defined term due to a trimming style called the “St. Louis” cut.
Rib tips come from the bottom portion of the spare ribs.
The reason the rib tips are typically removed from spare ribs is because they have tubes of cartilage that run throughout the meat.
Many people don’t find this part of the spare rib to be particularly appetizing.
Personally, I think they’re fun to eat – almost like a pork chicken wing as apposed to a pork rib.
So rib tips and riblets are not the same thing. One is from the backbone of a pig and the other is from the underside of the belly.
