The flavor profile of this dish is out of this world. Sweet with honey, tart with rice wine vinegar and spicy with peppercorns! Delicious!

Ingredients:

• Pork, fresh, loin, country-style ribs, separable lean only, raw, 4 lb 
• Garlic, 8 clove Ginger Root, 5 slices (1″ dia) a 10cm piece (yes, this is lots)
• Dried Chilli flakes, 4 tsp 
• Star Anise , 8 whole
• Sichuan peppercorns, 2 t
• Honey, 8 tbsp 
• Soy Sauce, 1.2 cup 
• Nakano Seasoned Rice Vinegar, 4 tbsp 
• Sweet Cooking Rice Wine, 5 tbsp 
• Chicken stock, home-prepared, 3.3 cup
• Green onion (spring onion), 10 sprigs

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Season the ribs with salt and pepper, pushing the seasoning into the meat. Heat a roasting tray on the hob with a little olive oil and brown the ribs for 5-10 minutes until  they are coloured on all sides.

Tip If you don’t have a roasting tray that can be used on a hob, you can colour the ribs in a large frying pan instead.

Add the garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise and honey and continue to cook over the heat for 2 minutes until the honey begins to caramelise. Add the soy sauce, rice vinegar and Shaoxing wine and bring to the boil, simmering for 1 minute. Taste and adjust the flavours, adding more vinegar if necessary. Add the spring onions and stock and bring to the boil.

Tip If the above was done in a frying pan, now transfer all of the contents into a roasting dish that’s been heated up in the oven.

Place the roasting dish back in the hot oven and cook for 1 hour until tender, turning the ribs halfway through the cooking time.

Remove the pan from the oven and place back on the hob (or tip the contents back into the large frying pan). Heat the marinade and reduce for 8-10 minutes until the sauce is thick and syrupy. Turn the ribs in the sauce to ensure they’re fully coated. Serve – with napkins.

If you can’t quite manage that amount of protein in one hit, leave any remaining ribs sitting in their sticky marinade for a day or two which will help develop their flavour. When you come to finish them off, give them about 20 minutes in a hot oven to ensure they’re well heated through.