Sticky, tacky, gooey, good.

Posted by Michael on Jun 8, 2009 in Recipes | 0 comments

Everybody craves some Chinese take-out on occasion and one of my favourite guilty pleasures are those little sweet and sour pork ribs.

You know the ones, sticky, gooey, sweet and meaty.  That syrupy fall-off-the-bone goodness.   Some are better than others for sure.   Some actually have some hint of Chinese flavour to them while others are just pork in some good ol’ Aunt Jamima corn syrup, perhaps with some soy sauce for colour.

Well, here’s a simple preparation that you can try on your own the next time you get that craving.   Just slap together some of these ribs, stir fry some veggies, cook some rice and you’ve got the Chinese take-out experience, only with arguably better results than a lot of those joints.   With these ribs, you’ll note the pronounced flavours that come together to form the tacky coating on these finger-licking gems.   Fresh garlic, unmistakeable fresh ginger, the depth of the oyster sauce and the sour note of the vinegar, combined of course with the sweetness and great sauce-making ability of ketchup make for a great way to finish a pork rib.

I’ve seen lots of recipes that either boil or just quickly deep fry the pork ribs, then coat in sauce.  I like to slow-cook (at least an hour anyway) the rib to render off a lot of the fat, making for a leaner, more tender rib than quick-cooking.   We’ll borrow a little technique from Texas on that one.   Once roasted, the ribs are then stewed for as long as you like, getting better as they do.   With the batch in the photo, I had them stewing for a good half hour in the sauce after the initial bake, adding water as needed to keep them saucy and tacky until I had other dishes ready for the meal.

With a $4 rack of ribs from Cochrane’s Country Market in Rothesay, this was also an economical way to serve my family of three some great food on the cheap.

So give in to your craving and give these a shot!

Simple sweet and sour pork rib

1 rack of pork ribs

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1 garlic clove, finely minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely minced

1/2 cup chicken stock or water

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon chinkiang vinegar (Chinese vinegar) or red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon oyster sauce

Siracha or other hot sauce to taste

Preheat the oven (or a good toaster oven is fine) to 350 F.   Cut pork ribs into individual ribs by slicing between the bones and season them with salt and pepper.  Place the ribs on a grate that fits over a baking pan.  This allows fat to drain away as they slow-cook.  Wrap the ribs as tightly as you can in aluminum foil and place in the oven for an hour.   Remove foil and let stand while you prepare the sauce.  In a fry pan large enough to hold the ribs in a single layer, heat over medium heat for a couple of minutes and add the garlic and ginger.  Saute for just 30 seconds or so, stirring, then add in the chicken stock or water.  Add in the ketchup, soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce and hot sauce and stir to combine.  Add in the ribs and toss gently with tongs as the sauce thickens and reduces.   It’ll form a glaze that will stick nicely to the ribs after 10 or 15 minutes.  Turn the heat down to the lowest setting and toss the ribs until the sauce is fully coating the ribs.  If you need to let the dish stand while preparing other dishes, you can add a little water and continue to simmer at the lowest setting.  Just ensure that the sauce is fully coating the ribs before you serve.  You want them nice and tacky!