The original version of this recipe called these ‘Chinese-Style’ ribs and cooked them in the Crock Pot. I couldn’t really see anything ‘Chinese’ about it, except for mebbe the soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger, and am not a huge fan of cooking ribs in a slow cooker as they just stew in all that fat.
How much better, then, to braise the ribs with aromatic veggies and apple cider (which will then leave me with a stock to make hot and sour soup) and then finish them in the oven.
Yeh, I thought you’d see it my way.
INGREDIENTS
Ribs:
•Country style pork ribs
•Celery
•Red & Yellow Onion
•Garlic
•Sichuan peppercorns
•Coarse sea salt
•1/4 cup cider vinegar
•Apple cider to cover the veggies
Sauce:
•1/2 cup soy sauce
•1/2 cup Clementine (or orange) marmalade
•1/4 cup ‘sup! (or regular ketchup)
•2 to 3 cloves garlic, chopped
•1 tsp ground ginger
•1 tbsp sesame oil
•1 tsp Jerk sauce (I like Busha Browne’s)
•1/2 cup blood orange juice
Heat oven to 325º.
Arrange the celery, onion and garlic over the bottom of a Dutch oven or other large oven-safe pot and add the cider vinegar.
Arrange the ribs on top of the veggies, then season with the Sichuan peppercorns and sea salt that you have lightly crushed with a mortar and pestle.
Add apple cider just to cover the the veggies on the bottom and bring to a boil on top of the stove.
Remove from the heat, cover the pot, and place it in the hot oven for 75 minutes; the ribs will be cooked through and nicely tender.
Option: Strain the veggies out of the braising liquid, then stash it in the fridge overnight and skim off all the fat – as I mentioned above, it makes for a fine hot and sour soup – or, just use it whenever you want a little apple and pork stock.
Or just chuck it all.
Make the sauce by combining the marmalade with the ketchup, soy sauce, garlic, and seasonings together – an immersion blender works a treat here.
You can now finish the ribs on the grill or in the oven. I did these in the oven.
Arrange the ribs in a baking pan and cover with the sauce.
Bake until the ribs are lightly crisped at the edges and the sauce nicely caramelized.
If you choose to grill them, place the ribs on the grate and brush with the sauce. Flip and repeat on the other side.
Not bad at all.
I think I still prefer my plain old barbecue sauce, or mebbe the cherry cola version, but it’s nice to have options.