I cook for just DH and me and recently bought a butt/shoulder. I have plenty of freezer space, so I can cook a ton of food and freeze for later. I trimmed it and chunked/cubed it, which is a lot of work and you'll wind up with less than that whole chunk of meat in your hand, believe me!

I made pulled pork with the chunks and Hatch chili with the cubes. The pulled pork was made in my pressure cooker and was pull-apart tender in an hour.

I would rather butcher a butt myself than bone pork rib pre/post cooking. You will be dealing with pieces of cartilage (depending on the cut) with the latter.

Do you have a butcher from whom you can order your desired quantity of butt, and let them do the butchering?

Thanks, Mimi. I never thought of asking the butcher to de-bone the ribs for me. Too late now. I'll do that next time. But for now, I've got to figure out what to do with what I've got.

I would debone the ribs just roughly, without trying to get all the meat. End up with some bone free meat for the ragu and some meat with bone bits. Use the latter to make a pork stock and use that to make the polenta.

I don't cook pork, so please forgive me if this idea wouldn't work. With other kinds of ribs, the meat comes off the bone when stewed, and the bones have lots of flavor and, I think, nutrients. So if the problem is that the pork bones shatter into the ragu, couldn't you tie them up with cheesecloth, or in a nylon mesh soup sock or something? Maybe check partway through to see if the meat and connective tissue had separated from each other and the bones? Then you could maybe remove the bones before the ragu was finished, and put the meat back in with the cloth having caught the slivers.

If you have slivers of bones....sounds to me like the meat has been poorly butchered....hacked with a cleaver and sawn up on a circular saw.
I bought a hunk of pork steak which is a slice of shoulder....butt.
Haven't cooked it yet but it's 1 1/4 pounds....and looks to be just right for a slow roast for me and some to freeze.

Did you buy the ribs at the same place? I have not had slivers of bone in the country style ribs. However, I have had, 2 times within the past year, tiny pieces of bone in TV dinners.

First, I thought I posted a response to John last night, but I don't see it this morning. John, when I was attempting to bone the ribs last night, I looked at the bones that were left and thought they would make a nice stock, but I couldn't figure out what I'd do with pork stock. Thanks for the suggestion to use it in the polenta!

plllog, I also thought about wrapping the ribs in cheesecloth, but I'm concerned that the flavors won't permeate the meat as thoroughly. However, I may do a hybrid of your suggestion and John's - bone some of the ribs before cooking, and wrap some of the ribs in cheesecloth. Then I can see which works better.

Yes, I bought the ribs at the same place. I live in the sticks. We have 2 grocery stores and a Walmart. I won't trade at one of the groceries because I think it smells bad. I've tried to get past the smell, but about 20 feet in I have to turn around and leave. And I dislike buying fresh meat at Walmart because it isn't "fresh meat." It comes in frozen and prepackaged.

Linda, I believe you might be correct - the meat was poorly butchered. Does pork steak have just one one?

Hi there! As others have said, it sounds like the meat was poorly butchered.

Some grocery stores (like Winco!) will sell picnic shoulder pork in small segments. It is boneless and might be more what you're looking for.

If you're just looking to make ragu, some places will cut up pieces of pork for "carnitas" and they will work as well.

I've never run into country style ribs with splinters from the bones. I do suspect you need to find a different butcher.

Country style ribs are my absolute ABSOLUTE favorite cut from the pig.

artemis_ma tell me more! what are your favorite things to do with them?

Let's Remodel -- I love to grill them with home-made barbeque sauce. Either tomato or mustard-based.

Otherwise I will bake them with roasted veggies in the oven. Usually if I have time I'll sear them first in the skillet but I don't always do this. I like to cook them until they almost fall off the bone (if any), but not to the pulled-pork length of cooking. Garlic, salt, pepper, mustard -- and surrounded by those roasted veggies. Sometimes I'll add balsamic vinegar when cooking.

That sounds awesome. I love a good mustard-based BBQ. Thanks for sharing.

Lately for me everything I grill I just want to soak in fish sauce and brown sugar for a caramelized Vietnamese deliciousness. Sometimes I add lemongrass or garlic.

Let'sremodel, will you post more info about what you do with the fish sauce and brown sugar method? I never cooked country style ribs before a couple of years ago when I read about them here. I was never any kind of a rib fan, having been raised on what I think were short ribs and I hated the way my mother fixed them. But then I saw country ribs at our farmer's market butcher stand and decide to try them. I used AnnT's recipe and it is so delicious, I've never tried another, although I use red bell pepper instead of green because I prefer it. Oh, and I use a little less cayenne because I'm a wimp.

Ann, I hope you don't mind me reposting your recipe (posted in 2008).

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Ribs - Country Style Ribs
=========================
This is adapted from a Paul Prudhomme Recipe.

Seasoning Mix

1 Tablespoon Salt
2 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

3 to 4 pounds of country style ribs
1 onion chopped
1 large green pepper chopped
1 cup of chicken stock (may need more)
. Mix ingredients for seasoning together.

Place ribs in a ungreased baking pan and rub the meat with the
seasoning mix. Rub meat with a small amount of oil and roast in a 500°
oven for 30 minutes turning often until the ribs are brown and the fat
is crispy. Reduce temperature to 350° and sprinkle the meat with the
onions and green peppers and add the chicken broth. Return the pan to
the oven and roast additional hour or until meat is tender. Check
occasionally and add more broth as needed.

Serve over white rice.

Made the Pork Ragu yesterday. To my surprise fewer than half of the ribs had bones. I hacked the meat off of those as John suggested, but didn't make pork stock. I just didn't think there were enough bones to make it worthwhile. Although I didn't find bone slivers this time, I did find some smallish flat pieces of bone that I cut off. After braising for several hours, I pulled the meat out, discarded the obviously pieces of fat, and shredded the remainder with my fingers being on the look-out for bone fragments the whole time. I didn't find any.

The Ragu is in the fridge. I will re-heat and serve it tonight with pasta or cheese grits. I'm out of polenta.

Before "mellowing" in the fridge overnight, I found the ragu to be a little blander than I remembered from last time. Any suggestions on sparking it up? Seems I've read somewhere that a little acid at the finish is good for a braise. What would you suggest? How about balsamic vinegar?

Olychick here is one of the recipes I follow. it is from gastronomyblog.com.

I've used this marinade and cooking method for several cuts of pork. While It is not a recipe for boneless country ribs, you could probably cook them this way.

Sườn Nướng – Vietnamese Grilled Pork Ribs

• 2 to 3 pounds pork ribs, separated
• 2 large shallots, finely minced
• 4 ounces fish sauce (approximately 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 5 ounces granulated sugar (approximately 1/3 cup)

To prepare the marinade, whisk together the shallots, fish sauce, salt, pepper, and sugar in a medium-size bowl. Transfer the marinade to a gallon-size Ziploc bag, along with the ribs, and let the meat and marinade marry in the refrigerator overnight.

Let the ribs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling. Over medium-high flames, grill the ribs on both sides until slightly charred and fully cooked through, approximately 6 to 10 minutes per side. Optional: brush the ribs with leftover marinade.

Once the ribs are fully cooked, transfer to a serving platter and let rest for 5 minutes.

Yum! Thanks!

Sounds delish, but never re-use a marinade on already cooked food.

I'm really late to this conversation and have nothing really to contribute other than I fully understand the bone shard dilemma. Lately, I've been finding shard in pork ribs, beef ribs, and even cut up chicken pieces. I think Linda is absolutely right about the technique being used in butchering nowadays. It's especially noticeable with chicken thighs. The saw cuts near the joint but often misses and instead cuts the bone itself. Thus leaving a lot of slivers and bits & pieces of bone behind. I find the same thing with spareribs. It's very frustrating. I try to wipe down each individual piece, but sometimes the bones aren't caught.

A few years back when the big companies first started adding poultry to their kielbasa and smoked sausage, I asked my butcher why they mentioned on the label that it was "mechanically separated". He said it was to account for any slivers of bone found.

"----I asked my butcher why they mentioned on the label that it was "mechanically separated". He said it was to account for any slivers of bone found."

I don't know. I thought "mechanically separated" is a method for making beef "Pink Slime". They also use that for making "chicken slime"

dcarch