Why spare rib? My butcher puts out a flyer advertising "Country Style Spare Ribs." My brother read this and assumed from the word 'spare' that this would be a slab. When we found out that they were cut country style ribs, the butcher did not understand our confusion. One of his meat cutters did utter, under his breath, "they are country style ribs, no one calls them country style spare ribs." The butcher's wall chart also said "country style ribs."
Now I know the difference between country style ribs, spare ribs, and sliced up pork butt. My question is, why the word "spare"? And if anyone knows the origin of the word, would 'country style spare ribs' actually mean something different than 'country style ribs'?
Original Post
