New York is a miserable town for ribs. This is related to our weak-to-nonexistent barbecue scene, but the lack of wood fired smokers can’t fully explain why so many of our restaurants insist on drowning their ribs in gloppy sauces that completely overwhelm the meat or why these sauces are usually little more than sweetened, glorified ketchup.

And when did “falling off the bone” become a superlative? This phrase is routinely and inexplicably used in New York – sometimes in restaurant reviews, sometimes even on menus – as the acme of rib tenderness. But the joy of eating ribs is that it’s fun to use your hands, to pull the meat off with your teeth, to gnaw on the bone. If I wanted a pile of mushy meat, I’d order chopped pork shoulder or pulled pork, not ribs. Rib meat falling off the bone not only defeats the whole point but also means the meat has been braised or parboiled to death.

Fortunately, all is not lost: It is possible to eat good ribs in New York. And I should know, because I’ve been making the city’s best ribs myself for 15 years. And I’m about to tell you how to make them, too.

Before we get to that, a quick rib primer is in order. First and foremost, by “ribs” we mean pork ribs (this holds true virtually everywhere in America except for Texas, where the default ribs are beef). These break down into three main types:

Spareribs. These are the rib section from the hog’s belly – the same part bacon comes from. A full rack usually weighs about 3 pounds. These are my favorite ribs. There are several different ways they can be trimmed or cut, such as the St. Louis style and the Kansas City style (for more information on these and other rib-related matters, see the excellent text and photos atwww.virtualweberbullet.com/ribselect1.html),but I’m not fussy about any of that. Just give me a good rack of spareribs, trimmed any which way, and I’m happy.

Baby back ribs. These come from the blade and center section of the loin, near the hog’s back. The word “baby” refers to these ribs’ smaller size; it does not mean that the ribs come from a baby pig. A slab of these ribs usually weighs no more than 2 pounds. Many people prefer back ribs, which tend to cost more than spareribs, but I find them too sweet and not meaty enough.

Country-style spareribs. Cut from the blade section of the loin, these are really pork chops, not ribs. They’re wonderful in their own right, but that’s a subject for another day.

Okay, so now it’s time to learn how to make some really good ribs. I’m an enthusiastic cook but usually not a boastful one, so believe me when I say these really are the best ribs in New York. How good is this recipe? So good that virtually everyone who’s tasted my ribs has waxed hyperbolic about them. So good that a vegetarian friend of mine couldn’t resist trying them and subsequently rejoined the ranks of the carnivores. So good that the vegetarian’s husband later sidled up to me and whispered, “I think you just saved our marriage.”

And here’s the best part: The recipe, which is based on North Carolina style barbecue but doesn’t require a smoker, is ridiculously easy. The primary step involves soaking the ribs in vinegar and red pepper flakes (just like the ones at your local pizzeria), ideally for a few days, but a few hours will do. Then you grill the ribs while basting with this same concoction.

And that’s it. No top-secret sauce formulas, no carefully calibrated grill temperatures, no fuss of any kind. The result is texturally similar to Chinese spareribs – meaty, juicy, definitely not falling off the bone – while the vinegar/pepper marination creates a sort of pickling effect that’s simultaneously spicy and vaguely fruity. And omitting the gloppy barbecue sauce means these ribs aren’t messy.

Since the cooking phase is almost as simple as grilling burgers or hot dogs, you don’t need a fancy, expensive grill or even a backyard – just get one of those cheapo grills at the supermarket and bring it into a nearby park, or use one of the park’s pole-mounted grills. So in addition to being the best ribs in New York, these ribs are also ideally suited to New Yorkers.