Believe it or not, I had never made ribs before. Ever. And I love them!
One of my favorite things to do is cook both with and for my grandsons. I just learned that one of their all time favorite foods is spareribs when their grandpa asked the oldest to list their favorite foods, and he said, "Ribs, pizza, and orange chicken."
I can do this!
Unlike other recipes I've seen, these spareribs are baked uncovered at a fairly high temperature after being marinated in honey, ketchup, hoisin, and Chinese five-spice powder. The marinade also includes dark soy, which I found at an Asian grocery store. If you can't find it, regular soy is fine.
The verdict? The kids mowed through them. I think the four adults each had one rib and and the boys ate the rest. The rest of the adults weren't thrilled about that, but it sure made me smile.
Luckily for the rest of us, I served these with orange chicken, a pork tenderloin, wok-seared vegetables, and white rice.
Asian Take-out Spareribs
Slightly adapted from The Chinese Takeout Cookbook: Quick and Easy Dishes to Prepare at Home.
Ingredients
2 1/2 pounds spareribs, preferably St. Louis style, cut into individual ribs
3 T honey
2 T dry sherry or Chinese rice wine
3 T ketchup
1 T hoisin sauce
1 T dark soy sauce (regular is fine, the ribs will be lighter in color)
1 tsp sesame oil
2 T minced garlic
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients (except the spareribs) and divide it in half.
- Place the ribs in a shallow dish and cover them with half of the marinade. Cover and refrigerate the ribs for about three hours.
- Refrigerate the reserved marinade.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F with a rack in the middle.
- Line a half sheet pan with foil and place the ribs, bone side up, on the foil.
- Bake for an hour, basting the ribs with the reserved marinade every 20 minutes.
- After an hour, baste the ribs one more time and turn on the broiler.
- Broil the ribs for about 5 minutes, until crusty.
- Place them on a serving platter and watch them disappear.
I mixed up some Chinese mustard to go with these ribs but forgot to serve it. The spareribs were good on their own and I don't think the boys would have touched the hot mustard anyway. =)
