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

Isn't the point of spare ribs that they have a chewy/crunchy texture ?

aem wrote:

> 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
>
>

You're not supposed to eat the bones, Steve!


```````````

On Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:47:49 +0200, Steve Y >
wrote:

>Isn't the point of spare ribs that they have a chewy/crunchy texture ?
>
>aem wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>>



--
I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.

Mae West

I did see the bit about expelling the clean bones as it happens sf !

One of the differences I noticed about moving to France was that spare
ribs in Chinese restaurants here get served chopped up. Personally I
prefer them whole so that you can pick them up and chew them, using
chopsticks just isn't the same

S



sf wrote:
> You're not supposed to eat the bones, Steve!
>

On Aug 5, 11:31*am, Steve Y > wrote:
> I did see the bit about expelling the clean bones as it happens sf !
>
> One of the differences I noticed about moving to France was that spare
> ribs in Chinese restaurants here get served chopped up. Personally I
> prefer them whole so that you can pick them up and chew them, using
> chopsticks just isn't the same
>
You can make sweet and sour ribs, which are fried and crispy, but they
have to be cut into short pieces or their entire surface won't be in
contact with the wok.

This steamed dish is often served as part of an array of dim sum, so
the little bites fit in with that type of thing. -aem