Test Kitchen Notebook

For Niman Ranch, living high on the hog means tastier ribs

It’s easy to write off ribs as just a vehicle for sauce, but the meat you buy does make a difference.

In developing these recipes, I found Niman Ranch’s meat was so good it even outshone the exceptional pork from a local grower at my farmers market. It’s worth tracking down online.

The “ranch” is actually a network of farmers committed to the idea that livestock treated well will yield better-tasting meat. It sounds silly, but you can detect the difference. The hogs are raised in fields, and provided with natural food, with no animal byproducts. Niman Ranch ribs have real flavor, with none of that uric hint that often taints industrial pork.

They also do not resemble that “other white meat” in supermarkets that has had all the fat bred out and will never be juicy. Even after the ribs had been cooked with soy sauce or with chiles, they tasted like good clean pork.

Baby backs and spare ribs, cleanly butchered St. Louis style, are available online at www.nimanranch.com, or by calling (866) 808-0340. The price reflects the quality: $35 for two racks of baby backs, $31 for a rack of 12 spare ribs, plus shipping. The meat is not frozen and is shipped overnight.

-- Regina Schrambling