eastern nc ribs with ranch butter smashed potatoes

this one's for george and all the dads <3

My husband, George, considers himself more mountain person than beach person in every regard except for one: his taste in barbecue. If that makes no sense to you, I know you ain’t from North Carolina!

In North Carolina there is a strong division between Eastern (beach) barbecue and Western (mountain) barbecue. In the eastern part of North Carolina, a clear, liquidy, tangy, vinegary, slightly (or very!) spicy barbecue sauce reigns. In the western part of the state, they use a barbecue sauce more akin to the one that the rest of the country refers to as barbecue sauce — dark brown, sweet, thick. I absolutely love all types of barbecue, but vinegary eastern North Carolina barbecue is my happy place.

And more importantly for this weekend’s celebrations — it’s George’s happy place! This week’s recipe is dedicated to all the What To Cook dads out there. It’s also dedicated to absolutely anyone who wants to cook delicious ribs, but doesn’t always feel like firing up the grill or smoker to do so. We are cooking melt-in-your-mouth ribs, smashed ranch butter potatoes, and vinegary slaw, because we can’t have an eastern NC style BBQ without slaw!

These Carolina-style ribs get their tenderness from slow oven cooking — we then finish them off under high heat, which creates a gorgeous caramelized crust. The apple cider vinegar sauce is traditionally used in pulled pork, but here we’re boiling it to create a glaze for the ribs. It’s tangy, peppery, and cuts through all that rich pork in the most addictive way.

PS, this is one of those rare What To Cook recipes that breaks our “under an hour” bylaw, but it only requires 30 minutes of ACTIVE cooking time, so still totally counts ;)

PPS, find a big printer-friendly PDF with all three recipes included beneath the slaw.

To save time, you can use your favorite store-bought BBQ sauce instead of making the vinegar sauce. I like Stubb’s, Bachan’s Japanese Barbecue Sauce, and SideDish just launched a refined-sugar-free BBQ sauce that is really delicious.

You can cook this whole meal from start to finish as it’s written, OR you can work ahead on some elements. If you want to prep ahead, here’s a plan of action!

Up to a week in advance:

• Make the sauce and store it in the fridge in an airtight container.

• Make the dry rub and store it in an airtight container somewhere cool and dry (like in your pantry).

Up to a day in advance:

• Season the ribs with the dry rub at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours in advance. If you’re seasoning them for more than 30 minutes before cook time, store them in the fridge uncovered.

• Make the slaw up to 24 hours in advance and store it in an airtight container in the fridge.

Day of:

• About 3 hours before you want to eat dinner, cover the ribs with foil, and put them in the oven at 275°F.

• While the ribs are cooking, boil the potatoes, then let them cool, smash them, and drizzle them with the ranch butter.

• When you crank the oven up to 450°F to sear the ribs, add the smashed potatoes to the oven.

• Cook the ribs until caramelized. Remove them from the oven and let rest. Continue cooking the potatoes until golden brown and crispy.

• Once crispy, remove the potatoes from the oven and shower them with chives, Parm, and flaky sea salt.

• Cut the ribs apart.

• Serve the ribs with slaw, potatoes, and the reserved BBQ sauce.

Today’s recipes make for an absolutely delicious classic summer BBQ. If you’re in the mood for a similar vibe but cooked on the grill, try my grilled steak caprese or this full easy-but-fancy grilling menu (grilled Caesar salad! burgers! chicken sliders!). If you’re in the mood for some western North Carolina style BBQ sauce, these crispy BBQ chicken tacos are so dang good and absurdly easy.

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