Making Sticky, Crispy Spare Ribs (Family Recipe) 鎭江糖醋排骨 | Hunger Pangs

Today on Hunger Pangs, we're going to make a recipe that's been in our family for generations. Sticky ribs with ginger vinegar. So this show, Hunger Pangs, has its roots back in 2012 when my dad began uploading his cooking videos up on YouTube, and to my complete shock, those videos had more than a million views. I think I'm more famous than you. Yeah, I think he's right. So of all those videos, there was one that had more views than any others, and it was for this sticky spare ribs with ginger vinegar. It's delicious, it's sweet, it's crisp, it's got this beautiful glaze. This recipe has been in our family for generations, right? Actually, this is a Shanghainese cuisine. They call small prey in most of the Shanghainese restaurant. It's like an appetizer. Yeah, it's an appetizer. This is my mom's favorite dish. The recipe is come from her grandaunt. It's a really beloved family recipe, and we're gonna show you exactly how to make it today. But first, we interrupt this delicious recipe to tell you about our brand new cookbook. It's called A Very Chinese Cookbook. I wrote it with my son, Kevin. It's got over 100 handpicked recipes from street food to dim sum and even American Chinese classics. Every recipe may fail proof from your friends at America's Test Kitchen. Get A Very Chinese Cookbook from the link below or from your favorite bookseller. We're gonna begin with a pound and a half of riblets. What are riblets, you say? Well, these are actually cut from the spare ribs. And what it actually looks like, and I'm gonna show you here, is imagine a rack of spare ribs, okay? If you ask your butcher to cut it vertically twice, you're gonna end up with something like this. We love spare ribs because it's fatty, it's meaty, it's well-marbled. And once you get this, you're gonna cut it in between the bones, okay? Like that. And the way that we like to eat spare ribs is we wanna pop it in our mouth, chew on it, and spit the bones out. It's almost like eating crab, right? Eating crab. All right, we've got eight cups of water in this wok, okay? And this is starting off cold, right? Cold water. Do you know why we put it in the cold water? Why? Because if I put it in the boiling water, it will silt both sides of the bone, so the blood's still inside. I see. We wanna get rid of all the impurities, right? Okay, great. So we're putting this in the cold water, and then we're gonna turn up the heat. Yes. And we want this to simmer for five minutes. Now, we take it out and rinse it, and pat it dry. Now it's time to cook the sauce. We've got this wok over very high heat, and we want it to be just smoky. You see the smoke coming out? Yes. Okay, great. So we got vegetable oil here, and this is a tablespoon of oil. And we're gonna reduce this down to medium high. We don't want it to be that rip-roaring hot. And this is an ounce of rock sugar. Rock sugar can make amber color. Like amber color. Amber color, and very easy to glaze with the meat. In the old days, there's no dark soy sauce. They always use the rock sugar to melt it. To make it dark, I see. Okay, so this is melting. This is looking good, and it's starting to turn amber, and we're gonna add, this is a two-inch piece of ginger, right? And we've sliced it thin. This is aromatic. It's been about 30 seconds, and we've got these ribs, and I can help you add this, so that's okay? Okay, stir it. Okay. For about 20 seconds. All right. Now, we're going to add the Shaoxing wine. Okay, great. And then we're going to add water. This is half a cup of water. Wait a second for this. Okay? Okay. So, this is the part where we're gonna add a little bit of color. Dark soy isn't really much for flavor. It's not that salty. It's made with bead molasses. It's mostly for color. So, we add that in here. This is two teaspoons of dark soy sauce. We will use the chicken powder. We've got one and a half teaspoon. That's gonna go in here. Great. So, it acts as a salt, but it also gives it more of that savory umami flavor, right? Yes, that's right. Okay, great. Last but not least, we have the star of the show. This is Xinjiang vinegar. Yeah. Okay? It's sweet. It smells like balsamic vinegar, right? Yeah, and very fruity taste. So, we're gonna add that in here. This is half a cup of Xinjiang vinegar. You can already smell the fruitiness and the vinegaryness of that, right? How long will this take now? It's about 15 to 20 minutes. Okay. And we're gonna reduce this to a simmer. Yeah. And we're gonna cover it. We're gonna cover it. Great. Okay, and now it's the waiting game. It's been 20 minutes now. We uncover. All right, look at that. So, you can see that it is starting to glaze up. Now, we turn the heat up and let the sauce very thick. Okay, we want the sauce to thicken and tighten. You want this to really be very glazed. Very glazed. To enrobe the ribs. Yes. Okay. Stir it in about five to seven minutes. It's gonna take about five to seven minutes for the sauce to thicken. And we've got a couple more things we need to add. This is half a teaspoon of white pepper. You can smell how floral and aromatic that is, right? And then finally. Sesame oil. This is a teaspoon and a half. Make it tasty and shiny. Yes, and it adds this beautiful nuttiness to it. And look at how dark it's gotten. That's thanks to both the rock sugar and the dark soy as well. Oh, your candy, right? It looks like candy. And also, we don't want the ribs to be too tender. We want a little bit of chew on it, right? Yes, yes, yes. Okay, we don't like ribs that fall off the bone. That's not the Chinese way. This is nice and glazed and it's ready to plate. Finally, we add the sesame seed. All right. Snow. A snowflake of sesame seeds. Yeah. All right. Don't put too much. It's done. A Pang family favorite. It's sticky ribs with ginger vinegar. So this is it. Your YouTube famous sticky ribs recipe. Your mom's favorite dish. Yeah. You know, my mom's been sitting quietly off corner there the entire time for three seasons of Hunger Pangs. And I don't know. I feel like if this is her favorite recipe, we should have her on. Oh, yes. Okay. Do you want to come up here, mom? Okay, come on. Come up here. All right. Hey, everyone. It's my mom. Yay. It's Catherine Fang. Hi. This recipe you grew up eating and it's from your great aunt, right? Yes. You did it. I did it? Yeah. See if it passed. Okay. But what's the story behind that? Because like your great aunt made this for you growing up, right? Yes, yes. She lived with us and she make lots of good food for us. And this, the smell bring back good memories. And you've had this recipe for like 40 years, right? Yeah. And you actually brought the original recipe. You wrote it down, right? Yes, yes. Okay. Can we have this for a second, Christy? Hey, everyone. It's Christy Morrison. Hi. Hi, Christy. You are the best here. Okay. So this is the original notepad which you had the recipe for the ginger and vinegar. Yeah. See, this is the page. Tong Chou Pai Kua. That's the ginger and vinegar. And it's not very specific. It's not like ATK specific. You know, we want a teaspoon of this and a half ounce of that. You don't have a ruler measuring the size of the spareribs, Just a few lines, that's all. All right. Yeah, but I can pass it on to you. Okay, all right. And we're passing this on to all the viewers of Hungrypang. Will you try this and let me know how this tastes? Looks good. The color looks good. Great. And I'll get one from her dad here. Okay. Thank you. All right. Try this and tell me how this goes. Mm. Very, very tasty. There is a sweetness to the ribs. Again, you said it's fruity, right? Yes. But it's both sweet and savory. It's not tender. There's a nice chew to it. Right, right. But you can eat this in other ways, right? Yeah, you can serve with fries or noodles. Whatever you like. It's home cooking. All right. This is Pang home cooking. Yeah, thank you. Thanks. Thanks, Pangs. Thank you. These are our favorite types of ribs. What's yours? Let us know in the comments below. And for this recipe, go to americastestkitchen.com slash Pang or scan this QR code. Thanks for watching. Please like this video and subscribe. Thank you. Good job. Mm.