Sunday Feast № 12 | Chinese Five-Spice Spare Ribs with Hoisin Glaze

The beauty of communal feast preparation is that you do not have to do it all, and since I hosted, I took to what required overnight preparation and slow cooking. To boot, one of my local supermarkets had a deal on pork spare ribs (2 for 1) that primed me for taking on this spare ribs recipe twice!    The recipe came courtesy of a friend who attended a Chinese New Year meal class at Chicago's The Chopping Block, with original Hoisin Glaze recipe halved by me second time around. And since she attended the class, the accompanying chicken bao and vegetable pot stickers were under her purview - she was effectively branded "The Chef" - and the purview of a friend that has mad bao assembly skills - "The Sous Chef" - with the bao dough prepared by a friend that is a real life pastry chef and who also made crêpes for desert - "The Pastry and Deserts Chef". All of these require skills which are currently beyond me - yeast dough is involved, nimble fingers and good eye for "done" are required. Hence, I was an apprentice line cook chopping, stirring and cleaning when required, a dish washer, and when just watching or calling to the table, a self-appointed "Restaurateur".    The ribs were the appetizer to give us energy to prepare the rest of the feast, but they also make a great main dish with rice and vegetables or salad.

Ribs 2 slabs (~1.5-2 lb/0.7-1 kg) pork spare ribs 2 tbsp olive oil Chinese five-spice powder as needed salt to taste Hoisin Glaze 1½ tbsp rice vinegar ⅓ cup honey ¼ cup soy sauce 2 garlic cloves minced 1 tsp ginger freshly grated ⅓ cup hoisin sauce 1 tbsp sambal Sesame seeds for garnish

Coat the ribs with olive oil and a generous coating of five-spice powder. Wrap them in plastic and marinate in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 2 hours. Preheat the oven to 325°F/165°C. Place the ribs on a sheet of foil and season with salt. Wrap the foil tightly around the slabs and set them on a roasting or broiling tray. Roast for 1½ to 2 hours until the meat is tender. While the ribs are roasting, prepare the hoisin glaze. In a saucepan, mix together rice vinegar, honey, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, hoisin sauce and sambal. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens to a coating consistency. Once the meat on the roasting ribs is tender, remove from the oven and preheat the broiler to high. Remove the ribs from the foil and set them back on the roasting or broiling tray, meaty side up. Generously brush or spoon over them the hoisin glaze and place under the boiler about 4 in/10 cm from the flame. Broil until the glaze is golden and bubbly. Allow the ribs to cool for about 5 min. Cut in between each bone and place the individual ribs on a platter. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Serves 6-8 as an appetizer, 4-5 as main dish.