Carefree Cooking

Marinated Pork Ribs

A few years ago, there is only one way I know how to cook pork ribs: barbeque style. I think barbeque ribs is one of the easiest way to cook pork since it requires minimal ingredients and doesn't require marinating. Just boil the ribs so that they become soft and well cooked. Then stick it in the oven and brush your favourite barbeque sauce. I use different flavours of Bulls-eye sauce but any homemade or store bought sauce would do.

For this dish, I tried a different flavouring technique: marinating. I'm not an expert in marinating, but I think you can use any flavour ingredient you like as long as they are liquid base, or can dissolve in liquid. I use whatever is available in my kitchen cabinet: soy sauce, sesame oil, Mirin (from the teriyaki sauce), and osyter sauce. It's important to make sure all the ribs (or riblet) are coated thoroughly. I just left it in the fridge for one night to make sure that the meat absorbs all the flavour. One good way to marinate is to put them in a ziplock bag. That way, you can coat all the meat without actually having to touch it. You may need to mix them a few times while they are marinating to make sure all the meat gets an even coating. Otherwise some meat will end up being very tasty and some will be bland.

To cook the dish, I put some oil on the pan and throw in the marinated meat. I also put in the left over marinate to act as a sauce. If you find that the meat is not tasty enough, you can adjust accordingly (add salt, pepper, sugar, etc). It's your dish, so only you who knows what you like. But I like it salty so I put a lot of salt or soy sauce. I also chopped some onions and add it to the pan. Cook until the onion is translucent and the meat is tender. Garnish with some cilantro (or parsley).

There are many ready made sauce that comes in a small pack that is perfect for ribs. They have sweet and sour, spicy thai, etc. If you do not want to worry about marinating or deciding on the flavour agents, pick up a few of these flavour packs and try it out. After all, carefree cooking also involves trial and error. Isn't life like that as well?

posted by carefreecooking @ 9:28 PM