Twice Cooked Fall Apart Ribs

Super-Tender and outrageously yummy.

These ribs are cooked for hours in stock and spices before being finished off in the oven to give them their final rich, dry finish. These are not slavered in some ridiculous BBQ sauce, but instead are full of concentrated flavour from the long, slow cooking – much nicer and much less messy too.

I have used a rack of pork ribs here, but you could use beef ribs or ribs from just about anything really (er, legal that is). One thing to note, however, is that the meat is really rendered down and much of the fat is cooked out, so you may want to start with more ribs than normal to compensate. But, hey; you want to do that anyway, don't you?

Ingredients

It is the stock that is going to give the flavour here, so you can make it as strong as you wish.  You can also add lemongrass and coriander if you want.

You need to have enough stock to completely cover the ribs. Put it in a big pot and bring to the boil. Add the garlic cloves just roughly crushed, the ginger, roughly chopped, the soy, vinegar, spices and the sesame oil.

Add the ribs (separated into individual ribs) bring back to the boil, put the lid on and reduce to a very, very low simmer.

Cook gently for at least a couple of hours till they are really tender.

At the end of the cooking time, turn off the heat and let them cool right down.  If you try and deal with them while hot, the chances are the meat will just fall off the bones.

Very gently remove the ribs from the stock and put on an oven tray.

Sprinkle with ground nut oil and put into a hot oven till they have browned and are getting a little crispy. Keep an eye on them, you don’t want to overdo this bit but you don't want them soggy either!

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with finely chopped chilli, spring onion and a little crystal sea salt, if you wish.

Serve with cucumber or fresh gherkins sprinkled with vinegar and really good salt. Oh, and alcohol.  These go with beer or wine, but I suggest a stout or Guinness as the perfect accompaniment. Being pork, you could also go for a high-quality raw cider.