My grocery store tends to carry a cut of pork they call “country style ribs.” Confusingly, these are often boneless. I looked at the Wikipedia article and what I’m getting looks nothing like those. What I’m getting are more or less cubes of well-fatted meat, again often boneless.
When I’ve gotten these in the past, I’ve just slow-cooked them in barbecue sauce to make something passably bbq-ish.
Could I sear them and then braise them to get something more like carnitas?
Any other ideas?
I cook them the way you do. Toss into the crock pot with some onions and beer, then hit with sauce. Cheap and easy meal.
Nope, those “country ribs” aren’t really ribs. But they are mighty tasty little pieces of pork.
To make carnitas, you need a pig & a cauldron of lard.
Or use this method–which is EZ! And delicious.
also add a little liquid smoke to the crock pot–i sometimes cook a “butt” that way and make pulled pork, pretty much like carnitas. a whole lot easier and less time consuming than smoking on the bbq pit.
You cook them like ribs. The meat is similar in composition, but without the bone.
I often grill them with a lot of barbeque sauce.
Hit them with a bit of ah-so sauce, and cook on the grill.
The sweet tang of the ah-so combines with the pork fat, and the caramelization of the sugar in the sauce.
<drool>
Thanks, all!
The carnitas I’ve had at two local Mexican restaurants isn’t shredded, it’s basically cubes of pork about two inches to a side. More research has suggested that shredded is more common.
I’ve had these both with and without the bone. I love them and prefer them to regular ribs, which are never meaty enough for my taste. I sometimes par-cook them and then do garlic, bbq sauce, etc. the last 1/2 of the cooking time. Sometimes I’ll put them on a rack in the oven and cover them with foil.
My family loves these, I have always seasoned them, coated them in BBQ, wrap them individually in foil, and toss in the oven on super low. I have always let them cook most the day and they always come out tender and tasty. Wrapping them individually seems to keep them from getting even the least bit dry.
We used to have these occasionally when the guys would come over for Wednesday Night Barbecue. This is how I made them:
Get a package of five 2"x2"x12" Country Style pork ribs. In a one-gallon zip-lock bag put some garlic salt, black pepper, mole powder (powdered red pepper), cumin, crushed garlic, maybe some minced onion, vegetable oil, and lemon or lime juice. Close the bag and kneed until everything is pretty much mixed together. Add the deadpig and kneed the bag again until it’s coated. Put into the fridge for as long as possible. (I like to put it in overnight, turning and kneeding when I think of it.)
Cook over hot charcoal. Serve with sautéed apples-and-onions.
Purely unintentional.
But now you KnowToKneed.
(OK, 'Gently massage the marinade from time to time into the meat.)
Well, the ones I’ve got are at home brining in some water, salt, onion salt, brown sugar, and black pepper.
Alas, I’ve nothing like a real grill to grill them on, and I really want to eat them tonight, so I’m thinking about searing them in a hot pan, then wrapping them loosely in foil [edit: with some sliced onion and new potatoes] and roasting them in a 350[sup]o[/sup] oven for an hour or so.
Thoughts? Reactions?
Fair Warning: I stock up on these when they go on sale. We could eat this recipe virtually every day.
Throw the ribs (frozen or not) in a pot.
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Rosemary
1 Tablespoon Oregano
The juice from 1 lime
Cilantro or parsley
Garlic to taste (we use buckets of it)
Put all in the pot. Cover with water. Boil until the water is getting low, then keep an eye on it, because it will burn quickly. Basically cook it down until their is a bit of sauce left. Squeeze in a little more lime juice if you like.
Devour.
Check out Rick Bayless’ awesome take on Country Pork Ribs. He’s cooking with the master, Julia Child-- Scroll down for the streaming video…