Smoked Country Style Ribs

One of the best things about cooking and especially BBQ is experimentation.  A few weeks ago, I was at my local grocery store and they had a sale on Country Style Pork Ribs.  I had seen Country Style Pork Ribs cooked on BBQ Pitmasters last season, so I decided to pick some up and try them out.

Country Style Pork Ribs are not really ribs.  I could try to explain what they are, but I found a great link that explains them, so go ahead and check this out if you're interested:  What Are Country Style Ribs?

Yesterday was the day to try to cook them.  I decided to treat these just like I would pulled pork.  I figured that was a great place to start.  So, about 2 hours before I put them on the smoker, I drizzled the ribs with olive oil and coated them with my homemade pork rub.  If you do these, use your favorite pork rub.  I still have to share my pork rub recipe on this blog at some point.  After rubbing them ribs, I let them rest, covered, in the fridge for 2 hours.

Next I fired up my GMG Daniel Boone Pellet Grill.  I am still using the Gold Blend of GMG pellet (70% oak, 20% hickory, 10% maple).  I set the smoker to 225 degrees and once it came up to temperature, I put the ribs on the smoker and left them alone for 90 minutes.

After 90 minutes, I spritzed them with a 50/50 mix of apple cider vinegar and water to add moisture and a little flavor, and then I left them alone for another 90 minutes before repeating the spritzing.  After another 30 minutes, we were hungry, so I pulled them off the smoker and served them with my homemade BBQ sauce.  You can use your favorite sauce, or mine once I get around to sharing my recipe.

I really liked this cut of pork.  I cooked it to an internal temperature of 165-170.  This left it with more of a good pork chop texture than a rib or pulled pork texture.  Treating it like pulled pork was a great way to go because the bark that developed was amazing.  Overall, I give this first Country Style Rib cook a B+.

Next time, I think I will cook these all the way to 190ish so they get more tender.  While I like pork chops, I think BBQ should be more tender, which a higher temperature will do.  I may try foiling them after 2 hours or so to get them to 190 quicker.  Lots of fun things to try...now I just need another sale at the grocery store!