Chinese Spareribs

Tender And Delicious!

Posted by liz at recipegoldmine.com May 26, 2001

Source: Cookin' Dad - posted 11-04-2000 10:50 am

I made these last night and they were wickedly good. The meat was so tender! My father-in-law made Chinese spareribs for me when he last visited and the flavor was delicious. The meat was very tender, but could have been a tad more tender by my standards (don't get me wrong, his meat was still tender!) The other day I got to thinkin' that in the past I have steamed my ribs and they are always delicious, even more tender than FIL's. However, FIL last time he visited, insisted on boiling them, allowing them to cool, dipping ribs in cornstarch and frying before pouring sauce over meat. This method is good, but cumbersome. Anyhow, sorry for rambling. I decided to boil my ribs, but I added 2/3 cup soy sauce and about 1/4 cup red wine along with several slices of ginger (coarsely sliced and shaped like quarter) I placed ribs in 2 quart pot and put enough water in to make sure ribs were well covered (amount. of ribs I used filled pot a little more than halfway full - sorry no exact measurements!) After I brought water/soy sauce/red wine mixture to boil, I put lid on, reduced heat and SIMMERED ribs for exactly 2 hours and 20 minutes. The ribs were unbelievable tender! Boiling them for two hours in regular water will also get them very tender, but the red wine, soy sauce and clamping lid down made a huge difference. I swear by this method from here on in! For American style ribs, I'll use a combination of Coke, water and probably apple cider vinegar. After I boiled the ribs, I removed them from liquid with tongs and set them in greased Pyrex dish. After ribs had cooled for a while, I basted generously with the sauce below, which is a minor variation of the crispy fish sauce recipe I posted the other day

Sauce:
1/3 cup ketchup
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons regular prepared mustard**
1 tablespoon ginger (minced as fine as possible)
1 teaspoon garlic (minced as fine as possible)
About 3 tablespoons green onions, green part only
About 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with little more
    than 1 tablespoon water for thickening sauce
About 2 tablespoons hot oil (add to sauce after thickened)

To tell you the truth, you could use the original crispy sauce recipe and the ribs will still turn out great. Really the only difference is that I used a bit more ketchup and ginger. After you have basted ribs in sauce, place in preheated 325 degree F oven and bake for about 25 minutes basting generously once or twice. I know you rib fans will love this recipe!

P.S. If you want a soy sauce-based sauce recipe for ribs, you can use the one for crispy beef and use a bit more soy sauce (about 1/3 cup and ginger - about 1 tablespoon).