Celia's ribs, sort of, well, not really

Ever since Celia posted her sticky rib recipe, along with the mouth watering photos, I've had a craving for ribs.

The stars lined up when my local market put pork spare ribs (belly ribs) on sale for 1.49 lb.
Now, as we found out in the thread, Celia's were made with baby backs, not spares, and hers were made stove top.
Sunday was a gray, cold day here in the SY Valley, and I wanted to turn on the oven.

So I changed her recipe, ever so slightly.

I cut the racks into 3 and 4 bone sections, and placed them in a baking dish. I made a mixture of 1 cup soy sauce (Kikkoman - bleccch - I have to stop bringing free samples home) 1 cup vermouth, 1 cup brown sugar, a teaspoon or so of ground cinnamon, and a teaspoon of ground black pepper. I poured this over the ribs, which brought the liquid about 3/4s of the way up the ribs. I flipped the ribs a few times to coat both sides. The plan was to cover tightly with foil, but we were all out. That's a rant for another day.
I used parchment paper instead, covering the pan and scrunching the paper down the sides, around the ribs, to make a tight seal.
I then popped the pan into a 295 F oven, for three hours. I pulled them once at the 90 minute mark to turn them over. They still lacked color at that point, but the house did have a wonderful aroma. At the 3 hour mark they were nice and browned, and much of the liquid had evaporated. I poured off what was left, and then put them back in the oven and cooked 10 minutes more per side, which glazed them nicely.

The ribs were very good, if a tad too salty. They were tender as could be, and very moist.
I would change the braising liquid slightly next time. I'd use a better soy sauce, or cut the Kikko with water. It's too salty. I would also add something for heat, maybe a half teaspoon of cayenne. I need more sweet to balance the salt, so either a bit more brown sugar, or some honey. Other than that, I was satisfied with the result.

So I changed her recipe, ever so slightly.

Yeah, right..

They do sound delicious, John, though I've never been much of a vermouth fan. I can understand straight Kikkoman being too salty - the way we do them uses equal parts of Kikkoman and sweet soy. In fact, I'll often use Teriyaki sauce instead of the Kikkoman soy, just to make it a little less salty again.

Out of curiosity, if you don't like Kikkoman, what soy do you like ? Kikkoman is so universal that I've rarely explored alternatives when I'm after salty thin soy (thick soy is a different matter).

Pearl River Bridge.

Pearl River Bridge.

Oh yeah. Get a nice, freshly opened bottle and there's this lovely, beany fragrance and taste.

By the way, I tried this ribs recipe a month or so ago just after it was posted. I added minced garlic and ginger to the braising/glazing liquid, and it worked really well. The only problem I had was that I tried to do this at a very low temperature, and didn't quite extend the braising time enough.

Pearl River Bridge.

I used to buy Pearl River Bridge back when it was first imported, shortly after we resumed trading with what we were still calling Red China.

The labels were amusing, as the Chinese hadn't gotten the hang of marketing yet. The company that produced it was the "China Native Produce and Animal By-product Import and Export Corporation".

They had shipping problems. The bottles that ended up here in New England tended to have very low fills and brown-stained outsides and labels--indications that the contents had boiled over due to excessive heat during shipping. So I stopped buying the stuff.

I haven't seen these problems recently, so maybe I should switch back to them. Or maybe not, given the recent scandals concerning foodstuffs from mainland China.

-Paul W.

Out of curiosity, if you don't like Kikkoman, what soy do you like ?

I don't know, Celia, it's got a bunch of weird writing on the bottle that I can't understand!

Just kidding - I don't have a favorite, as I don't use soy sauce all that much. I just figured the Kikko was evil, mass produced, industrial swill.

I just figured the Kikko was evil, mass produced, industrial swill.

The evil, mass produced, industrial swill is La Choy and Chun King and their ilk, which are made from water, salt, and soy extract.

Kikkoman may be ubiquitous and made in large quantities, but it IS naturally fermented soy sauce--the real thing. It has that real soy sauce aroma.

Yes, there are better brands out there, but I think "swill" is too harsh a judgment.

-Paul W.

Thanks guys. I'll probably stick to the Kikkoman - too set in my ways now to have to readjust all the balances in my recipes.. :)