Something else to do with the black beans another thread has been
talking about.

If you shop at asian markets you can buy spareribs cut into 1.5 - 2-
inch pieces, or you can select a rack of ribs and ask the meat counter
person to run them through the bandsaw. Then with your fermented/
preserved/salted black beans you can make this popular dish from
Cantonese menus.

Ingredients

2 lb. pork ribs
3 TB preserved black beans
3 large cloves garlic
1 medium onion
1 tsp sugar
2 TB chicken stock or water
2 TB soy sauce
2 TB sherry or rice wine
2 TB chopped red chilies
2 TB cornstarch
oil for stirfrying

Preparation

Separate ribs into pieces, cutting between bones. In a saucepan,
cover with cold water and bring to boil. Simmer 2 minutes, then drain
well and put spareribs in a large bowl.

Rinse black beans if desired, then chop coarsely with the garlic.
Chop the onion. Heat oil in wok or skillet, stirfry the onion for
about 30 seconds over high heat, add black beans and garlic, sugar,
stock or water, soy sauce and wine, and stir for another 30 seconds.
Pour mixture over spareribs and mix. Sprinkle with about 2 TB
cornstarch and mix. May be done in advance to this point.

Cooking

1. Set up your steamer or your wok for steaming. Transfer spareribs
to heatproof shallow dish and sprinkly with chopped chilies. Cover
and steam for 30 minutes. Serve with rice.

2. If you can't steam the dish, you can add a little bit of water and
simmer the ribs in a covered pan or wok for 30 minutes. They'll be a
little chewier, I think.

Option: add some chopped bell pepper to the onion.

Don't fuss over picking the meat away from the bone. Just put the
whole thing in your mouth, chew the tender meat away, then remove the
clean bone from your mouth with your chopsticks. -aem