Sweet and Sour Spareribs (糖醋排骨)

Sweet and sour spareribs are the first recipe I've done from the "Eastern China" section of Pei-Mei's first volume. This region includes Shanghai and the surrounding provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Anhui. Although this is the region of China I've personally spent the most time in, I didn't delve into the local specialties as much as I should have. When I started researching this post, I quickly discovered sweet and sour spareribs are a famous Shanghai-style dish. The name tangcu paigu literally translates to "sugar-vinegar spareribs," which definitely describes it well. While the recipe looks simple, the deep frying does turn it into a bit of a process. The end result is everything I want from a sweet and sour dish: crisp, tender meat in sticky but complex sauce. Serve with rice and let the sauce soak right in and don't be afraid to get in there and clean off the bones. 

Back in 2015, I made Pei-Mei's Cantonese-style sweet and sour pork. Despite the similarity in names, the two dishes couldn't be more different. Although both dishes use the double frying technique (also commonly done with french fries to get maximum crispiness), the Cantonese pork is dredged in a corn starch coating, whereas these ribs are not. They get a nice brown crust similar to what you would see on fried Buffalo wings. The sauce made for the ribs is dark brown from the combination of soy sauce and black vinegar. The Cantonese version has a reddish sauce based on ketchup and white rice vinegar. Both are great dishes, but this one really shows sweet and sour dishes go far beyond the box we often put them in. 

The ribs are the central ingredient. I don't often see spare ribs cut across the bone like this, so I always snap them up when I can. We got these at Costco a few months ago and froze them. The sauce has the usual suspects of soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and black vinegar. Since this was a quick marinade and sauce, I went with all light soy sauce, but putting in a bit of dark in the mix wouldn't be unwelcome. While the end result was excellent, it was a little on the sweeter side of what I look for in a sweet and sour sauce. As such, I've noted in the ingredient list that the amount of vinegar can be increased to taste. My recipe is a rough doubling of the original, with some adjustments made.

I've been reading a lot Pei-Mei recipes recently, and she deep fries a lot of food. As I've mentioned before, I find deep frying a hassle and don't do it often. However, the crispy-fried meat is, to me, a cornerstone of sweet and sour dishes. It's also an interesting novelty to deep fry spare ribs, a cut that's usually braised or smoked in western cuisine. My research also confirmed this is the traditional approach for this dish. You could probably get away with stir frying, baking, or broiling, all at very high heat, but you won't get the same evenly browned, crispy ribs.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 lb. spare ribs, cut across the bone into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup soy sauce (I used light, can use a mix of light and dark)
• 1 Tbs. Shaoxing wine or Amontillado
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup black vinegar (to taste, up to 1/2 cup)
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 Tbs. corn starch
• 5 green onions
• Vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

Place spare ribs in a gallon-size Ziploc bag with soy sauce and wine. Shake to coat and marinate for 30 minutes. Pat dry with paper towels when done. 

Heat vegetable oil in a wok to 350 degrees F. Deep fry the ribs in batches, making sure the oil comes back up to temperature after each batch. I did three batches of 8-9 pieces each. Fry each batch for 2 minutes. 

A good time to get out your spider strainer

Once all the ribs have been cooked, fry them again for 15-30 more seconds, until well browned (Pei-Mei says "dark brown"). Set aside. Drain the oil from the wok and wipe clean.

After the second frying

Cut the green onions into shreds. I did this by cutting them into 1-inch pieces, and then cutting those up lengthwise. 

Add a little fresh oil to the pan and heat on medium high. Reserve 1 Tbs. water in a small bowl and add the rest to the pan, along with the sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and green onion shreds. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Stir corn starch into the reserved water and add to the pan. Reduce to a thick, sticky sauce, just a few minutes. Add the ribs and toss to thoroughly coat.