Sunday, October 15, 2006

Barbecued Babyback Ribs Chinese Style

Did I ever mention that I love ribs? Although barbecued ribs are offered in some Chinese eateries and BBQ meat hawkers in Singapore, I tend to find them lacking. First of all, it's hard to find one that actually tastes good and secondly, if you do, they tend to use a very scrawny cut of rib with not much meat on it at all. After getting quite fed up with these mediocre ribs, I decided to make my own. This is a simple but slightly time-consuming dish to prepare. The only time-consuming bit is the basting of the ribs every 10-15 minutes when it's in the "charring" phase.


Ingredients:
1. Slab(s) of babyback ribs
2. Sugar
3. Honey
4. Salt, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, pepper, soy sauce, five-spice powder


Method:
1. Marinate the ribs with sugar, salt, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, pepper, soy sauce and five-spice powder to taste
2. Put the ribs on a rack, wrap it in good quality aluminium foil and roast it in a non-fan-forced oven for 45 minutes at 150DegC (for a slab of about 1kg)

3. Make basting sauce:
a. Pour all the marinade juices from the ribs into a shallow pan over low heat
b. Add honey and stir until you obtain a slightly thick consistency
c. Set aside for basting

4. After 45 minutes, remove foil wrapper and roast at 180DegC (still non-fan-forced), this is the "charring" stage

5. Baste the ribs every 10-15 minutes

6. Repeat step 5. until desired charred texture is obtained

Hint:
1. Some barbeque rib experts believe in removing the membrane covering the rib-bones (aponeurosis) for the marinade to flow in better, but I leave it on because I like its crunchy and chewy texture
2. I marinate my ribs for at least 24 hours for the flavor to truly seep in
3. I used four basting sessions to obtain the texture and finish for this round
4. Be very careful during the "charring" stage that your ribs do not get burnt, the basting helps keep it moist
5. To obtain a slight reddish look I actually used some colored sugar which I had leftover from the days of my cotton candy (fairy floss) machine haha
6. The basting sauce thickens quite abit when cooled so don't let it get too thick when you're making it

Serve HOT!

Observe the glistening fine honey glaze that has formed exteriorly. Wrapping it in foil for the first 45 minutes allows the ribs to be cooked without losing too much juice. Increasing the temperature and basting the glaze later on seals it externally to ensure not too much juicy goodness is lost as well.

Ahh, looks good from behind as well.

Ok, everybody sing together now!

"I want my babyback, babyback, babyback, babyback, babyback, babyback, babyback, babyback, babyback, babyback ribs!"

D

12 comments:

Lord Dianabol said...

Shit dude, what can I say.

I'm licking the screen yet again....

Sammy said...

Wah, thick ribs... so rare...

Eddy™ said...

Oh man.. drooling.. excellent stuff!

Anonymous said...

hey d, im jesse, an avid reader of urs
Just wondering, r u train in culinary?
Ur food knowledge is remarkable, n u sure can cook.
Thanks 4 sharing

Unknown said...

D, that sure looks fantastic. I have similar query as Jesse, what do you do for a living? *curious*

Anonymous said...

whoa loooks damn goooood manz! my dad will love that!

Anonymous said...

nice!! i shall go try n cook that HAHA NOT..i wont even be able to cook that =(

Anonymous said...

You have a candy floss machine??? :S

Anonymous said...

wahha~! i just tasted pork ribs for the first time in my life 2 days ago! cant believe how much i missed out in my 15 years of life. ;p

<3

Shionge said...

Good Job...sure looks yummy but bet it's worth the effort.

Sammy said...

And I wanna add in that the way you describe the dishes are creatively good :)

D said...

lady dianabol: Not sure if you should keep doing that, I don't think "licking" is generally covered under monitor warranties haha.

YD: I know! The ones outside are always so anorexic! Thanks for the compliment, your blog is cool too =)

eddy: Hey thanks for dropping by!

jesse: Hi Jesse, I am totally self-taught, I do enjoy watching Iron Chef a lot though. I'm not in the F&B industry or anything related to it. I learn from a lot of trials and errors (mainly errors!) but that's what makes this all so fun doesn't it? =)

angie: I sponge off rich old ladies. Hahahaha, er.. I'm joking of course. Actually, I've had colleagues suggesting I change professions more than once but I'm not sure if cooking for monies can sustain my lifestyle =S
Anyone out there (preferably female) wants to support a D? I promise to cook for you and entertain you with humorous anecdotes.

michie: Go make some for him!! Everyday should be Father's Day. I say that because I'm male haha.

kahsean: You won't know till you try ;) But I can teach you if I do drop by back in Perth. I think I sort of know you, you know a friend of mine.

anon: Doesn't everyone go through a candy floss machine phase??? Maybe it's just me.......!! =S

girl: You have many many more years to enjoy pork ribs and other tasty morsels, so fret not! =)

shionge: It doesn't really require much effort really. I guess it's worth NOT that effort haha.

To the people who know me: Thanks for keeping me incognito, I really appreciate that.