Orange-Soy Braised Pork Ribs

While many of you were enjoying hot cross buns or a roast lamb Easter dinner yesterday, the boy and I were winging it to Asia — in our mouths at least! After obsessing over the best spareribs ever, I scooped up some country-style pork ribs on sale at the grocery. Obviously I don't know from ribs and though they were obviously bigger and fattier than spareribs, I thought I could still apply the same recipe with at least similar results. Not so. No good — quite awful in fact. Part of it I'm sure is the quality of the ribs we had the first go round since they were from Old Pine Farm, our meat CSA. But, this cut definitely calls for a wholly different approach. They came in a big old honkin' package and I had used half for the first attempt. But here's what turned out to be a really tasty solution for the second half we had. So now that I've completely turned you off of country-style ribs… you should try this, it's good. Really.


Orange-Soy Braised Pork Ribs
Adapted from Gourmet, January 2005
2 pounds country-style pork ribs
1 Tb olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped

2 Tb finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Generous squirt Sriracha or other hot sauce

Separate ribs into individual pieces. Place in large stockpot and cover with water by two inches. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, skimming foam that rises to the surface. This will help remove much of the fat. Drain well in colander and pat dry.

Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 325°F.

Meanwhile, heat oil over moderate heat in a Dutch oven or other heavy pot. Add onions, garlic and ginger and saute until onion is soft, 5-7 minutes. Stir in orange juice, soy sauce, sugar and pepper and bring to a boil over moderately high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add Sriracha to taste. Place ribs in sauce, turning to coat, and cover. Braise ribs in oven until very tender and falling off the bones, about 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

If sauce seems fatty, remove meat and skim. Return meat to sauce and "pull" or shred with two forks. Serve with lots of jasmine rice to soak up the sauce.

I plan to stuff wonton wrappers with the leftovers tonight and steam them. Tasty!