by Sticky Pork Ribs
I wish I could be more comfortable eating ribs in public but, the reality is, I enjoy eating them more in the comfort and privacy of my home; somewhere where I can gnaw at the bone like a messy cavewoman and lick my fingers with glee.
I think it is definitely a dish best eaten in the company of a few close friends (and certainly never on a first date), particularly since you can only make so much at one time anyway.
I cook pork ribs quite frequently, often using a Vietnamese marinade comprising of lemongrass, chilli, garlic and fish sauce. But once in a while, I like to experiment with some different recipes, and this recipe for Hoisin & Ginger Pork Ribs from Chinatown Kitchen by Lizzie Mabbott has been a great find.
Chinese-Style Pork Ribs
I love that the marinade consists of many of your Asian cooking staples and that the marinade is later cooked down to produce a sauce to serve alongside the ribs.
Hoisin sauce forms the main ingredient in the marinade, giving the ribs a lovely sweet and fruity flavour. The recipe is kiddie-friendly in that it is absent of any chillies in the marinade, but I love to have a spicy kick with my pork ribs, so a generous garnish of freshly chopped chillies is a must for me.
To make this into a complete meal, I like to serve the ribs with some steamed rice and a fresh salad.
And I realise that the original recipe states that it serves 4, but my husband and I can easily devour this quantity between the two of us.
Sticky Chinese Pork Ribs
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg (3 lb) rack of pork ribs
- 1 small onion, roughly chopped
- 8 garlic cloves, peeled
- 15 cm (6 inch) ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 160 ml (⅔ cup) hoisin sauce
- 1 orange, zested
- 4 tablespoons orange juice, freshly squeezed
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine, or dry sherry
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon tomato purée
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar, or sherry vinegar
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
Instructions
To Prepare the Ribs
- Slice the racks of ribs into segments with 3 or 4 bones on each.
- Place all of the remaining ingredients into a food processor and blitz until you have a smooth consistency.
- Place the the ribs into a large ziplock freezer bag.
- Pour the marinade into the bag.
- Use your hands to make sure the ribs are completely coated in the marinade. To ensure against leakage, I would double-bag the ribs and marinade.
- Seal the bag and leave to marinate in the fridge overnight.
To Cook the Ribs
- Take the ribs out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature (this will take about 20-30 minutes).
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F (without fan).
- Line a large roasting tray with foil and place a roasting rack over it.
- Pour some boiling water into the tray, but the water should not touch the meat when on the rack. Otherwise, if your rack is not high enough, you can skip adding water to the tray (which helps to create steam to cook the meat without drying it out too much).
- Place the ribs onto the rack, but reserve the marinade.
- Roast for 30 minutes, and then turn the oven temperature down to 160°C/325°F (without fan). Roast for a further 1 hour, turning the ribs once or twice during this time to get an even colouring.
- Add more water to the tray if needed.
- Meanwhile, pour the reserved marinade into a small saucepan and bring it to the boil. Let it simmer at medium heat for about 5 minutes and until it has reduced and thickened slightly.
- Serve the ribs with the sauce drizzled on top.
Kitchen Notes
- RECIPE CREDIT
Recipe adapted from Chinatown Kitchen by Lizzie Mabbott. - OVEN & STOVE TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website have been tested on an induction stove and/or with a conventional oven (i.e. an oven without fan). All recipes on this website use temperatures for a conventional oven, unless otherwise mentioned. Convection ovens (i.e. fan-forced ovens) are typically 20°C/70°F hotter than conventional ovens, but please check your manufacturer’s handbook. - CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
These look so delicious. I love ribs so much and you’ve photographed them beautifully.
Thanks, Angela! I often find it hard to photograph savoury food, especially when the family is looking on waiting to eat!
hmmm I love hoisin sauce! And your photos are stunning.
Thank you! I always have bottles of hoisin sauce on standby as it’s a key ingredient in many Vietnamese and Chinese dishes. It’s particularly good in this recipe 🙂
So hard to make meat look good, but these look divine, the chilli is the perfect finishing touch! Your reply to Angela, made me smile! I made some ribs for a blog post last summer, as we were having a bbq. My husband was most unimpressed at the time I was taking to photograph and kept stealing them. In the end I had to give up, otherwise I wouldn’t have had any! x
Ha ha! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a blog post derailed because I couldn’t take a photo of the finished product! I’ve learnt to be much quicker now and try to distract the family with appetisers or something else. But even for me, I love my food piping hot, so I can’t bear myself to let the food cool down while I’m taking photos.
One again your pictures look wonderful, the meat seems tasty just sprinkled with chopped peppers 🙂
Thank you! I love adding chillies to almost everything I eat 🙂
We really enjoyed this recipe, and the kids especially loved these ribs!
WOW…how deliciously does this look!!! This is really very tasty! YUM!
I’m going to make this for a bbq on friday. What did you sprinkle on for the picture (Thai chilis and cilantro)? Looks fabulous.
Hi Debi,
Hope you will enjoy this recipe! Yes, I sprinkled red chillies and cilantro (coriander) on the dish for some added fresh flavours 🙂