Lacquered Barbecue Ribs over Rice
current situation: bbq ribs!
Ribs cut into singles before they are glazed, not after. Every bone gets lacquered on all four sides instead of two, and you can eat them with one hand.
The sauce is not a barbecue sauce out of a bottle. It is soy, brown sugar, garlic and vinegar reduced until it coats a spoon, which is why the picture looks the way it does — that dark glassy shine is sugar, not tomato. Some edges go black. Those are the best ones.
Over plain white rice, because the glaze needs somewhere to go.
- Feeds
- 4 to 5
- Hands-on
- 30 minutes
- In the oven
- 3 hours
- Finish
- 5 minutes under the broiler
What you need
The ribs
- 2 racks pork spare ribs, membrane removed, cut into single bones
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp coarse black pepper
- 1 tbsp granulated garlic
- 1 cup water or stock for the tray
The glaze
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 6 cloves garlic, grated
- 1 thumb ginger, grated
- 1 tsp chilli flakes, or two if you mean it
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil, off the heat
To serve
- 4 cups cooked short-grain white rice
- 3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- 4 spring onions, sliced thin on the angle
- Whole green and red chillies on the side
How it goes
1 — Cut the racks into single bones first
Pull the silvery membrane off the back — grab it with a paper towel and it comes away in one sheet — then cut straight down between each bone. Doing this now rather than at the end is the whole trick: four glazed sides instead of two.
2 — Season and pack them into a tray
Salt, pepper, garlic. Stand them up against each other in a deep tray, pour the water into the bottom, cover tight with foil.
3 — 300°F, three hours, covered
Slow and sealed. They steam in their own fat and the water underneath. At three hours the meat should pull back from the bone and give completely when you press it.
4 — Reduce the glaze while they cook
Everything except the sesame oil into a small pan. Simmer twenty minutes until it coats the back of a spoon and leaves a clear track when you drag a finger through it. Sesame oil stirred in off the heat.
pro tip — It thickens again as it cools, so stop reducing a little before it looks right. A glaze gone too far turns to candy in the pan.
5 — Drain the tray completely
Lift the bones out and pour off everything in the bottom. Any liquid left behind will thin the glaze and nothing will stick.
6 — Toss, lay out, broil
Toss the bones through the glaze until every one is coated, lay them on a foiled sheet pan with space between, and put them under a hot broiler for four or five minutes.
7 — Glaze again, broil again
Brush on a second coat and give them two more minutes. This is where the lacquer comes from — one coat is sauce, two coats is a finish. Watch them; sugar goes from dark to burnt in about forty seconds.
pro tip — A few black edges are correct. If nothing is catching, the broiler is too far away.
8 — Over rice, sesame, spring onion
Spread the rice in a wide dish, pile the bones on top, spoon the last of the glaze over and finish with sesame seeds and spring onion. Whole chillies alongside for anyone who wants them.
Napkins. A lot of them. This is not a fork situation. LFG.