Chinese Recipes | Cooking Tips | Good Eats

Seventy percent store bought, thirty percent fresh ingredients… Do I sound like Sandra Lee from Semi-Homemade Cooking?

I used Lee Kum Kee Spare Rib Sauce for this quick and easy recipe. Just look at all the ingredients listed in that bottle of store-bought sauce! All the ‘work’ has been done for you. Sugar, water, tomato paste, salt, fermented soybean paste (water, salt, soybean, wheat flour), sesame seed paste, modified corn starch, spices, sesame oil, dried garlic, acetic acid, colors added (caramel, FD&C Red No 40), Xanthan Gum (contains wheat and soybean).

Now, the last 2 sets: ‘colors’ and ‘Xanthan Gum’ look a bit scary ya? But not to worry… the ingredients that exist in the lowest percentage are always listed last.

For this recipe, I used pork baby back ribs and I had asked the butcher to cut the slab of ribs into smaller pieces. Smaller pieces cook faster and are easier to eat.

Method:

1. The amount of sauce to use is based on estimates. For a serving size for 2 people, use about 3-4 tablespoons of the sauce. Just make sure you have enough sauce to coat the spare ribs.

2. Marinate the spareribs for about 2 hours.

The instructions on the Lee Kum Kee Spare Rib Sauce bottle say to bake the marinated spare ribs at 180 degree C (350 degree F) for 45 mins. I chose to differ. See below.

Steps 3 and 4 makes the difference:

3. Heat up 2 tbsp of oil in a saucepan. Use medium heat. Use a pair of tongs to transfer the marinated spare ribs onto the saucepan.

4. Brown the spare ribs until a caramelized crust forms. This will take about 10 minutes for the side with the most meat and about 5 minutes on the side with the bone.

5. Before you transfer the browned spare ribs to the preheated oven, use a teaspoon to coat the spare ribs with another thin layer of spare rib sauce. You want flavor… MORE flavor!

6. After this, use a clean pair of tongs to transfer the spare ribs into a pre-heated oven and bake for about 20 minutes to thoroughly cook the meat.

Cooking Tips:

An easy way to marinate is to put the spare ribs into a ziplock bag or plastic bag, add the sauce onto the spare ribs and then use your hands to massage the bag to make sure the sauce coats all parts of the spare ribs. Put the bag into the refrigerator and turn it after about one hour to make sure that the ribs are evenly marinated.

Browning is a cooking technique similar to searing which is to cook the surface of the food at high temperature until a caramelized crust forms. Browning enhances the flavor of the meat through caramelization for a better taste and texture.

I use a saucepan because the sides are higher and if the oil splatters, I won’t make so much a mess as I would if I had used a frying pan.