Abstract:

I love me some county style pork ribs; and what's not to love? It's a relatively cheap cut of meat that's high on flavor and forgiving to cook. However most recipes for country style ribs depend on the crock pot, or only see the grill for a finishing step after spending time in a pot of simmering water. I say why boil when you can barbeque? By taking country style ribs to the charcoal, and treating them like the roast they are, this economical piece of pork is able to achieve that rich, smoky, pull-apart tender BBQ status.

Purpose:

Most of the time when you think of true barbeque, it's a subprimal extravaganza. Fifteen pound Boston butts, twelve pound beef briskets and the like. However, I'm just one dude, and my little family doesn't eat that much at a go. Even when I tell the butcher to cut my roasts at three and four pounds, we still end up eating on them for the better part of a week. I've always had a thing for country-style pork ribs, but now as I'm the proud owner of a Big Steel Keg, my pride just won't let me handle this cut in the crock pot any more. I'm looking for that pink tinged periphery that liquid smoke can't give you. I'm looking for that chocolate-brown bark that never comes to fruition in a slow cooker. I want real barbeque country style ribs.



After a few trials, I think I've got something that I can share. As I've mentioned before I'm no barbeque expert, but I can follow the science. Back in the day when I did real research, I adopted a mindset where the best research was the stuff that put it all out there. If your methods were sound and someone didn't agree with your conclusions, then you were likely doing it right. Likewise, there is a voodoo associated with barbeque that needs to be demystified; and while I'm not saying this write-up is a piece of sage-caliber cookout wisdom, I'd like to think that if a recipe can draw out a few BBQ pundits, then I'm doing my job.