# Real Country Ribs and more



## Old Dave (Aug 10, 2013)

Several months ago, I purchased about 15 pounds of REAL Country Ribs which are cut out of the loin and not just cut up pork butt and cooked about half of them and then froze the rest for a later date with the fire. Well, the later date is now and I am looking forward to this cook as these things are just money. 







I had two 4 rib pieces so I cut between each rib section to separate each bone which gave me pieces that weighed about 3/4 to about a 1 pound a piece. I then sprinkled on a generous amount of SGH rub and they were ready for the fire. 






My next step was to prep some Rick Salmon’s Pit Beans as I wanted these cooked right under the country ribs so the drippings would go into my beans for some additional flavor. 






Next up was some scalloped potatoes with some chopped up Canadian bacon which should go good with the above items. 

I decided to do this cook in my Hasty Bake Gourmet cooker and figured I needed about an 6 to 8 hour smoke so I setup a fuze burn for at least that amount of time. 






I placed two fire bricks right down the middle of the firebox and then poured in a few pounds of the great Stubb’s all hardwood charcoal for the cook. On top of the charcoal, I placed some hickory chunks for my smoke wood. 






I placed the firebox back into the cooker and lit the left side of my fuze burn with a propane torch. This will slowly burn down the first side and around the bricks and finish up back to the start on the right side of the firebox. Probably give me about 9 good hours of cooking without much attention. 

I usually leave all the vents open and also the big service door open for about 30 to 60 minutes to give the cooker some extra air until I get it up to my operating temperature before I load the cooker. You don’t want to hurry a fuse burn.






I placed 6 of the larger country rib pieces on the upper grid and then my pan of Pit Beans under them for the additional flavor. I then added the balance of the cook like you see in the picture. 






The country ribs later into the cook. 






Just before I took the country ribs off, I brought them down to the lower grid and glazed them twice with a blend of Blues Hog Tennessee Red, Blues Hog Standard sauce, and some clover honey. I took the ribs off at an internal of 160 degrees which is about perfect for this very lean cut of pork. Again, this meat is not cut out of a pork butt or shoulder. 

I did let my beans go a little longer as I like them smoked for at least 6 hours if possible before I pull them.






I raised the temp for a short time to get my scalloped potatoes done as they were lagging behind. 











Country Ribs looked good coming off the smoker. 






My all time favorite bbq beans.






The scalloped potatoes just off the cooker.






My plate and it was all great!

Now for you Hasty- Bakers, I charted this fuze burn and will show you the results if I can. It may not come out too clear as I tried everything to make it better but maybe we can make something of it the way it came out. I sure need to work on my graphs!






This graph shows about 5-6 hours of the cook. The red line is the temp of the meat. The white line is the temp of the cooker. 

Starting with the temp of the cooker at about 175 degrees, it increased slowly to about 200 degrees about one hour into the cook, then to about 220 to 240 for the balance of the cook. The spikes are when I opened up the cooker to service something inside. Now, for what it’s worth, I never touched the cooker vents until I wanted to raise the temp at the end of the cook to speed up my potatoes. If I would have left it alone, it would have run about 9 hours without any attention and stayed in my cooking zone. Gotta love a fuze burn with this fine cooker.


----------



## Vermin999 (Aug 10, 2013)

Fantastic looking CSRs and sides Dave!!


----------



## bbquzz (Aug 10, 2013)

Great lookin' cook Dave and a nice post!


----------



## bigwheel (Aug 10, 2013)

Great post and pics. Havent bumped into any "real country style ribs" in a coons age. nice trick on the fire bricks. Mine are a little thicker than those but I get the idear..thanks.


----------



## dledmo (Aug 10, 2013)

That food is off the charts!  Looks amazing


----------



## Nick Prochilo (Aug 17, 2013)

That don't suck!


----------



## boozer (Aug 17, 2013)

Ahh,country style ribs, one of my favorites. Around here, they're referred to as "husker ribs" don't ask me why. looks like a great late lunch!


----------



## Max1 (Aug 22, 2013)

looking good there!


----------



## boozer (Aug 25, 2013)

Are country ribs usually all the same cut? the pieces above all look fairly uniform, but I made some today, and the ones I got, half of them look like the ribs above, and half appeared to be a completely different cut of meat.   
The ones at the top of the picture here look similar to the ones in the op pics above (except not as pretty), the ones at the bottom are different. I've made "husker ribs" several times before, and always thought they were the same as country ribs, but after reading this thread, I'm not so sure.


----------



## bigwheel (Aug 26, 2013)

Well this gets complicated but real country style ribs are cut from the boney end of a pork loin and in the final analysis are kissing cousins to pork steaks. What they peddle for country style ribs in this part of the world is actually thick sliced Boston Butts..which if a person cooked it low and slow with a bunch of smoke would be what the Cajones call Tasso aka pork jerky. Very flavorful and used for making a big pot of collards or beans fitting to eat etc.


----------



## Old Dave (Aug 26, 2013)

*Real Country Ribs*

This might help...

What Are Country Style Ribs? - by Steve Graves - Newsvine

Both are great cuts of meat for the grill but they do need to be cooked different for the best results. 

As for the stores, most only have the country ribs that are cut out of a pork shoulder or the butt. These are also called Western ribs when cut out of the shoulder. The thinner pork steaks are also cut out of the pork shoulders. 

Dave


----------



## bbquzz (Aug 26, 2013)

Never done "Country Ribs", but now might have to try, thanks for sharing Dave.


----------



## bigwheel (Aug 26, 2013)

Yes thanks Dave. Very informative.


----------



## boozer (Aug 26, 2013)

Ok, and apparently some butcher shops in nebraska give you a mixture of the two, and call them husker ribs. Next time I buy them I will ask for only the ones with the small rib bones in the end. They can keep the rest, if I want to cook pork butt, then I will buy a butt. Thanks guys.


----------



## Max1 (Aug 26, 2013)

LOL, reminds me of the Boneless, bone in porkchop rant.....


----------



## boozer (Aug 26, 2013)

Boneless pork chops? Nooo, Pork chops are the T-bone of hog! Don't tell me they cut up pork butts to make fake chops with too?


----------



## Max1 (Aug 26, 2013)

LOL, here we go again!


----------



## bigwheel (Aug 27, 2013)

I think the inference is...to qualify as a "chop" a hunk of meat must be equipped with a bone. It if dont have a bone it can be a steak but not a chop. That is why the phrase "boneless pork chop" is an overly redundant oxymoron perhaps.


----------



## Max1 (Aug 27, 2013)

I disagree Sir!


----------



## boozer (Aug 27, 2013)

bigwheel said:


> I think the inference is...to qualify as a "chop" a hunk of meat must be equipped with a bone. It if dont have a bone it can be a steak but not a chop. That is why the phrase "boneless pork chop" is an overly redundant oxymoron perhaps.



Much like the boneless chicken wing, or vegetarian burger?


----------



## bigwheel (Aug 27, 2013)

Well I guess similar..since you put it that way. What are we going to nag about Max? lol


----------



## Max1 (Aug 27, 2013)

HA! You admit it!


----------



## bigwheel (Aug 28, 2013)

I dont admit to anything..unless there is irrefutable proof..then I always have a good excuse. Just the way I was trained..lol.


----------

