Baby Back Ribs substitute

Substitutes for Baby Back Ribs with ratios

1. 2Country style ribs

   Different texture

   Use the same amount by weight

   Not ribs.

   What changes

   These are strips cut from the pork shoulder, usually boneless or with a piece of shoulder blade, so they are chunks of well marbled meat rather than bones with meat between them. They take a rub and a barbecue sauce perfectly and turn meltingly tender, but you cannot pick them up and there is nothing to gnaw.

   Best for

   oven and slow cooker barbecue, braising, budget cooking, pulled pork style dishes, when you only need the flavor, not the rack

   Cook them to 195 to 205 F, the same finish temperature as real ribs, which usually takes 2.5 to 3 hours at 300 F covered. They are cheaper per pound than either kind of rib and there is no bone weight, so buy about 2/3 as much.

2. 3Beef back ribs

   Different taste

   Use the same amount by weight, but buy 25 percent more for bone weight

   Cut from the same place on a cow, next to the ribeye, so the format is familiar: a rack of curved bones.

   What changes

   The meat is deeply beefy and much more mineral than pork, there is less of it because butchers trim closely toward the ribeye, and it needs longer. Barbecue sauce that tastes right on pork can read as too sweet on beef.

   Best for

   smoking, beef barbecue, Korean and Asian braises, when pork is not an option

   Plan on 3.5 to 4 hours at 275 F. Lean on salt, pepper and garlic rather than a sugary rub, and expect noticeably less meat per bone than you get from baby backs.

3. 4Beef short ribs

   Taste and texture differ

   Use the same amount by weight

   The richest option here by a distance.

   What changes

   Short ribs are thick blocks of heavily marbled meat on a short bone, so instead of a rack you get individual meaty pieces that turn unctuous and almost gelatinous. They are excellent, they are just not really ribs in the barbecue sense, and they cost considerably more.

   Best for

   braising, smoking, red wine and soy braises, special occasion cooking

   They need 3 to 4 hours braised at 325 F, or 6 to 8 hours smoked. There is a lot of fat to render, so skim the braising liquid or chill it and lift the cap off.

4. 5Rib tips or riblets

   Different texture

   Use the same amount by weight

   The cartilage-heavy strip trimmed off a spare rib rack to make it St.

   What changes

   Louis style, sold cheaply on its own. Loaded with flavor and gelatin, and very good tossed in sauce, but they are full of soft cartilage rather than proper bones, so the eating experience is chewier and messier and there is no rack to slice.

   Best for

   smoking and burnt ends, appetizers and snacks, budget barbecue, sauced and tossed dishes

   They cook faster than a full rack, about 2 to 2.5 hours at 275 F, and they benefit from being sauced and finished hot at the end to caramelize.

5. 6Lamb ribs or lamb breast

   Different taste

   Use the same amount by weight

   Structurally close, a fatty rack of small bones that cooks low and slow.

   What changes

   The flavor is unmistakably lamb, rich and slightly gamey, and there is a great deal of fat to render. Wonderful with cumin, coriander and chile, unconvincing with a sweet American barbecue sauce.

   Best for

   Middle Eastern and North African spicing, cumin-and-chile grilling, slow roasting

   Render the fat properly by cooking low, around 300 F for 2 hours, then finishing hot and dry. Underrendered lamb fat is unpleasant in a way pork fat rarely is.