Chinese Pork Spare Ribs
An oven method recipe that originated from a fifty-year Chinese Chef.
I’d all but given up on finding a decent way to cook pork ribs. I’ve tried spare ribs, baby back ribs and a variety of cooking methods that I could never seem to get right. Up until this recipe, Kitchen Tapestry recipes were limited to “country ribs” which are not ribs at all. But this oven method seems to work, with acknowledgement to a food blogger, Bill, at The Woks of Life. Bill claims his father was a Chinese restaurant chef working in the Catskills of New York for fifty years, ten of which were in his own restaurant. Bill pared down his dad’s recipe for a single rack.
Get St. Louis Style Spare Ribs
St. Louis Style Spare Ribs are simply spare ribs that have been trimmed to a rectangular shape with the chine bone removed. They therefore cook more uniformly and are easier to carve. Incidentally, spare ribs and baby back ribs are both ribs, but from different parts of the hog. Baby back ribs require less cooking time than spare ribs, so this recipe isn’t designed for them.
We found that Bill’s recipe was too sweet for our taste, so I have pared down the amount of sugar and omitted the honey from the original recipe. The original recipe also called for Chinese Bean Sauce and in the US, you can generally find this in the Asian section of your supermarket under the brand name Lee Kim Kee or Koon Chun. Although it has a slightly different flavor profile, you can also use Miso. Both Chinese Bean Sauce and Miso are made from fermented soy beans, but have different flavor profiles. If you use Miso, omit the salt from the recipe as it is far saltier than Chinese Bean Sauce.
This roasting technique would also work with other sauces and rubs, and it produces a genuinely tender rib with a good “bite” to it. If you prefer a “falling off the bone” texture to your ribs, add an additional thirty minutes to an hour of cooking time once the foil goes on.
My final comment on this recipe is that this will not yield the classic red color you see in spare ribs at many Chinese restaurants. That color is produced by using red food dye, which adds nothing but chemicals to your food and zero flavor. I do not include it in my version of this recipe.
Chinese Pork Spare Ribs
An oven method recipe that originated from a fifty-year Chinese Chef.
Ingredients
- 1 rack (about 3 lbs) St. Louis style pork spare ribs
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp fine sea salt (omit if using miso)
- 3 tbsp ketchup (like, Heinz)
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp dry sherry
- 1 tbsp ground bean sauce or dark miso
- 2 tbsp orange juice
- 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together except the ribs and retain about 3 tbsp of the sauce and set aside.
- Remove the sinew from the back of the ribs and place the rack on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil.
- Slather the marinade on both sides of the ribs and place in the lower par of your refrigerator uncovered. Allow to sit for 7-8 hours.
- Remove the ribs from the fridge two hours before cooking.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Set a rack in the top third of the oven.
- Line another sheet pan with aluminum foil and place a rack on top. Coat the rack with non-stick spray.
- Place the ribs on the rack bone-side up. Cook for 30 minutes.
- Remove the ribs from the oven and turn the rack over. Cook for 30 minutes.
- Pour 1 to 1-1/2 cups water into the sheet pan, and cover the whole sheet pan with aluminum foil. Cook for 1-1/2 hours.
- Remove the sheet pan from the oven, remove the aluminum foil and slated the reserved marinade on both side of the rack. Roast for another ten minutes.
- Repeat the previous step and roast for another minutes.
- Remove the ribs from the oven and turn the broiler on high.
- Place the sheet pan with the rack of ribs, bone side up, under the broiler for 1-2 minutes to pick up a little char. Watch carefully and do not burn.
- Tent the ribs with aluminum foil for ten minutes before carving and serving.
Notes
- St. Louis style ribs are a special cut of spare ribs where the chine bone and the tips of the ribs have been cut for a uniform rectangular shape, and make for easier carving.
- You Tube has instructional videos in how to remove the sinew from the back of the rack. St. Louis style ribs may or may not have the sinew left on.
