Ask a Splendid Table: A rib recipe you'll stick with

Q Thanks to you, I have invested a sizable sum in country spareribs -- that is, meat from a free-range, organic, sustainable, politically correct Berkshire beast. Since my usual barbecue treatment will probably overwhelm this paragon of pork, how should I cook the treasure? And could it be for oven cooking, too?

A SKEPTICAL INVESTOR in Berkshire Pork

A With a certain amount of hope, I have to say your skepticism should vanish by the end of the meal. Today's recipe for Roasted and Crisped Pork Ribs With Garlic and Rosemary lets all that Berkshire goodness shine through.

Go local Q This year we have all the good intentions, but are newbies about how to carry them out. We want to do gifts that support local eating and local agriculture. Where can we get information?

PUZZLED ABOUT WHERE TO GO

A With the word "locavore" being added to the 2007 New Oxford American Dictionary, you're right in tune. One definition of "locavore" is a person who eats sustainable and organic foods harvested from within 100 miles of where he lives.

Where to go to find ways of giving this idea? One way to go is community-supported agriculture, which is actually buying a share of a farm's harvest through the growing season. You can give a percentage of a share or an entire share, depending on how each farm works. And you can pick farms in whatever area of the country you want.

How it's often done is that once a week, at a central point, the farmer drops off a sack of whatever food is ready to harvest and shareholders pick it up at their leisure.

For information on community-supported-agriculture programs nationwide and on smaller holiday gifts from local farms, go to www.localharvest.org, which maintains a national database, or www.sare.org (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education).

Butter worth its salt Q Why is butter salted? And do I have to use unsalted in all baking?

JOSSIE in Dallas

A Before refrigeration and fast shipping, butter was salted to preserve it. Even now, salted butter will keep a couple of weeks longer than unsalted butter.

You want to use unsalted butter in baking because it gives you better control over the outcome of the recipe. Salt reacts with other ingredients, not to mention how it influences flavor. Professional bakers call for unsalted butter because the amount of salt in salted butter can vary significantly from brand to brand and from region to region.

One pleasure from my childhood that I will never give up is softened unsalted butter spread on chewy bread and sprinkled with coarse salt. Those crunchy crystals and the creamy sweetness of the butter are ambrosia. No pre-salted bar can match it.

Lynne Rossetto Kasper hosts "The Splendid Table," Minnesota Public Radio's weekly show, www.splendidtable.org. Send questions to table@mpr.org.