Yesterday, I'd stopped at Ralph's to buy gladiolas, but but lured by some excellent sale prices, I also bought--for the first time in decades, a rack of pork ribs. On getting home, I realized (oh how these things sneak up on me) that it would soon be Rosh Hashonah, and spare ribs weren't really my idea of a holiday appropriate meal. But--there was a small possibility that Randi might stop by--so why not get those ribs going?
I have no memory of making spare ribs--though I'm sure I have over the years--but combining two recipes--one from the internet for Chinese Style Spare Ribs with one from the Gourmet Cookbook Chinese Hawaiian "Barbecued" Ribs. I was half-tempted to set them marinating for days--but all advice was for between four and twenty-four hours. Decided the six-to-eight hours available to me would be quite enough.
Limited by the ingredients on hand (I only had a little bit of crystallized honey--should have perhaps just heated it up--honey might is often the preferred meat sweetener, but instead used a mixture of brown and white sugars.
This is more or less the marinade I made for about 2 1/2 pounds spare-ribs:
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
4 cloves crushed garlic
1 inch cube peeled ginger, grated
1/4 cup ketchup
1/8 cup red wine (long lingering in fridge).
Stir until sugar is well-dissolved. Coat ribs with mixture (I put them in a glass roasting pan). Cover pan and refrigerate for 4-24 hours--turning once or twice.
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Put slabs of ribs (un-cut) on a rack placed on a foil covered jelly-roll pan or cookie tray. Cook for about two hours, basting every twenty minutes. They should be tender and well-browned. Don't baste for the last ten or twenty minutes so they'll get a bit crispy. Let sit for five-ten minutes before cutting into rib-sized pieces.
Randi didn't make it. I just nibbled a few ribs with salad for dinner and that was that.
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