8 recipes. Page 1 of 1
As an Amazon Associate, we may earn from qualifying purchases.
Star anise and ginger are in the pot too, but what reaches you first from these ribs is clove, with a faintly medicinal edge. Cloves are strong, and the count stays at five. Before any soy goes in, the ribs are tossed in rock sugar melted to amber, which leaves a glossy dark-brown coat, and then they braise low with dark soy and Shaoxing wine until the meat slips off the bone.
Pear, onion and garlic are blended smooth as the base of the marinade, and the ribs can sit in it overnight. The leftover marinade has held raw pork, so it gets boiled once in a small pot before being brushed on as the ribs grill. Eat them wrapped in lettuce or with rice.
The name ends in teh, tea, but there is none in the pot; strong Chinese tea is usually drunk alongside. The broth is clear, yet the first thing you taste is the heat of crushed peppercorns, and the whole garlic cloves are soft enough to mash with a spoon.
The ribs spend half an hour in cold water and get a quick blanch and rinse before they ever meet the soy braising liquid. It is an extra step, but it keeps the foam and impurities out of the pot, and the finished sauce tastes clean rather than murky.
These are the steamed pork ribs that come in little dishes at dim sum. Coarsely chopped douchi, salted fermented black beans, keeps its salty, funky smell through the steaming and ends up in the juicy meat.
Pear juice makes up close to half of the marinade for these gochujang pork ribs. It is what makes them tender, and it is also why they scorch so easily. The ribs marinate for an hour or two, cook over medium heat, and get the leftover sauce brushed on only at the very end.
Filipino families often make this on rainy days and ladle the broth over rice. The sourness comes from tamarind paste, and if it tastes too mild, another tablespoon goes in. Tomato and onion, added in big pieces, melt into the broth over 30 minutes of simmering.
Pork ribs braise for 40 minutes in a spicy soy, gochujang and chili sauce, and young radish greens (yeolmu) join only in the last few minutes, bringing a fresh, grassy note and crunchy stems to an otherwise heavy braise. Because stems and leaves cook at different speeds, the leaves are added last and just wilt. Before any of that, the ribs soak in cold water and get a quick blanch to rinse away the foam and impurities caught between the bones. Thick-cut onion joins once the meat starts to slide off the bone and softens without falling apart. Green plum syrup softens the chili heat with a little fruity sweetness, and a spoon of perilla oil gives the finish its gloss.