What are Country Style Ribs and How Do I Grill Them?

In this recipe (What are Country Style Ribs and How Do I Grill them) we first explain what exactly is a country style rib as there are two different cuts sold as country style ribs. Then we outline our go-to method for grilling country ribs. This process includes reverse searing the ribs and loads of sexy barbecue sauce.

What are Country Style Ribs and How Do I Grill Them? Excellent questions. First off, they are the meatiest of all the pork ribs. They have more meat than all but the fattest baby back ribs.

Second, there are two cuts of pork sold as country style ribs, although one is not a country style rib.

The fake ones come from the pork shoulder.

These are the fakes:

The fake ones are still delicious. Here’s a recipe for the false country style ribs slathered in tasty sauce.

And here is a slightly fancier Country Ribs Recipe.

What Are Country Style Ribs?

There are two cuts of pork sold as country style ribs or just country ribs. True country style ribs are cut from rib end of the loin primal near the shoulder. They are very similar to pork chops in terms of tenderness and fat content and should be cooked similarly to chops. The “other” type of country ribs are boneless fingers of pork shoulder and need to be cooked like pork shoulder (low and slow to melt all the collagen), albeit, due to the size don’t take nearly as long.

Scroll down to see the pics of two ways true country style ribs are packaged and sold.

Some, not many, butchers sell them as a slab of country style ribs but most sell them cut into fingers of delicious porcine plunder.

Here’s a slab of country ribs:

They also come boneless but I prefer them bone in:

Now that we know what they are and the difference between the two, let’s get down to grilling some bonafide country style ribs.

Also, if you want to know what St. Louis Style Ribs are and how to grill them, we can help.

What are Country Style Ribs Ingredients:

• Country style ribs
• Salt
• Pepper (optional)
• Your favorite rub
• Your favorite BBQ Sauce

I realize there are no amounts in the ingredients list here. This is more about the method than a very detailed recipe. And that method is the reverse sear. What that means is we are going to smoke and then sear the meat at the end rather than the other way around. So let’s get going and I’ll explain why this method is so wonderful.

Country Style Ribs Prep

Season the country style pork ribs with salt, pepper and your favorite BBQ rub. We have a great deal on awesome rubs, sauces, and other products you won’t find at your local grocery store.

How to grill country style ribs

Then prepare the grill for two zone grilling also known as indirect grilling. What this means is the hot coals go on one side and the meat on the other, with a target temp inside the grill of 300F.

A couple chunks of smoke wood go on the coals as the country style ribs hit the grill grates on the cool side of the cooker:

Since these are true country style ribs from the loin, they won’t take long to get to about 110F degrees internal temp.

You read that right. We have a couple more treatments before these are perfect and up to the proper temp, so don’t over cook them at this point.

Once they hit 110F degrees, slap the grilled country style ribs over some hot coals and get a little char action on the outside:

Does Reverse Sear Taste Better?

If I had seared the meat first, it wouldn’t take on much smoke flavor as the outside skin would be too warm. Once the outside of the meat gets above about 140F, it won’t take much smoke flavor at all. So smoke first, to imbue the meat with that smoky flavor. Then sear to get the lovely browning and caramelized the proteins. These grilled country stile ribs will be perfect about 145 degrees internal, so smoke them to about 135F and then sear them to 145F. We still need to sauce them.

Now the best part about country style pork ribs is that the sauce will completely envelop each one.

How?

Forget the grill brush, just grab a pot and some tongs, fill the pot with the sauce and dunk each country style rib in:

Check out this sauce action!

And just because I got so many great sauce dripping shots, here’s one more:

Round Two of Smoke

Now place the sauced and grilled country style ribs over on the side with no heat and close the lid to thicken up that sauce while imbuing more smoke.

I took the time to throw on some ears of corn over the coals to add an easy side to this recipe:

Leave the lid closed, except when you need to rotate the corn, until the internal temperature of the ribs reaches 145F-150F, and that sauce thickens up and gets extra, extra sticky. And yes, you only need to take the pork to an internal temp of 145 according to the USDA.

Time to plate the reverse seared country style pork ribs:

If you’re interested in an alternative to the 3-2-1 recipe for grilling ribs check out this link.

What are Country Style Ribs?

Now we have an answer to our question. What are country style ribs and how do I grill them? They are the meatiest of all the pork ribs which are cut from the pork loin or pork sirloin. And to grill them properly is to reverse sear them and slather with an outstanding sauce so there are layers upon layers upon layers of flavor. There’s the rub, then the smoke, then the caramelized proteins, then the sauce. Win, win, win, win, and WIN!

Are country-style ribs good?

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Recipe Card:

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4.78 from 9 votes

What are Country Style Ribs and How Do I Grill Them?

What are Country Style Ribs? The meatiest of all the pork ribs and come from the loin or sirloin of the pig. The best way to grill them is the reverse sear

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Entree, Main Course

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Barbecue, BBQ, Pork

Keyword: Barbecue, Barbecue Pork, Barbecue Ribs, Barbecue Sauce, BBQ, BBQ Pork, BBQ Ribs, BBQ Sauce, Country Ribs, Country Style Ribs, Grilled Country Style Ribs, Ham Recipe, reverse sear, reverse seared, What are Country Style Ribs

Servings: 6 People

Ingredients

• Country style ribs
• Salt
• pepper optional
• your favorite rub
• your favorite BBQ sauce I used Stubb's Sticky Sweet

Instructions

• Season the country style ribs with salt, pepper and your favorite rub
• Cook them indirect on the grill which means coals on one side and the meat on the other
• Target temperature inside the grill is 300 degrees
• Throw some smoke wood on the coals and close the lid
• Once the ribs reach about 110 degrees internal temperature, sear them over the hot side and then dunk them in a pot of sauce
• Place them back on the side with no coals to get them to the full 145 degrees they need to get to according to the FDA and to caramelize and thicken that sauce
• Remove from the grill and serve

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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BBQ Grilling

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This article was initially published on: May 27, 2016