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Delicious Simplicity

Country style ribs are actually cut from the shoulder. While they do usually include a piece of bone, it is much less prominent than in spare or baby back ribs. But the cooking principles are the same. Country style ribs should be cooked at a fairly low temperature until they are extremely tender.

This is because, like all cuts from the shoulder, they have lots of connective tissue and fat. Slow cooking softens the connective tissue and renders the fat, which mean the meat gets wonderfully tender without drying out. Further, because meat from the shoulder has so much flavor, it doesn’t take much seasoning to create a delicious dinner with country style ribs at the center.

An Incredibly Easy Marinade

Marinading meat is a great way to get flavor into meat, with one huge caveat. Only salt and sugar will actually penetrate. Anything else you include – herbs, spices and so on – stays on the surface. This is fine! I wouldn’t dream of marinading a leg of lamb without rosemary, for example.

But it also means adding a lot of crazy seasonings isn’t necessary. To get the benefit of a marinade you really only need salt, but if you’re cooking pork, a bit of sweetness is almost always welcome as well. For this recipe I use equal parts soy sauce and honey, which deliver the salt and sugar along with a bunch of other complex, delicious flavors that end up coating the outside of the ribs.

Planning and Serving

Though the ribs will benefit from resting overnight in the marinade, this recipe does work fine if you cook it immediately. But if you can plan a day ahead definitely do. Giving the soy sauce and honey time to work there magic will lead to a richer flavor throughout.

These ribs can be served with just about anything, but I particularly like them with broccoli raab, turnip greens or kale. If you like, you can also mix up a little extra marinade to pour over when you’re serving them.