Sweet and Sour Ribs

One of the first dishes that my mom taught me to make was sweet and sour ribs (糖醋排骨).  Tender ribs coated in a sticky sweet and tangy sauce were, and continue to be, a household favorite.  This sweet and sour sauce is not to be confused with the one that normally dons deep-fried nuggets of pork in sweet and sour pork.  That sauce contains white vinegar and ketchup, while the tang in these sweet and sour ribs comes from black rice vinegar or Chinkiang vinegar (鎮江香醋), which is made with black glutinous rice.  The most famous black rice vinegar originated and is still produced in Chinkiang (鎮江), a city in the province of Jiangsu (江蘇), along the eastern coast of China.  

Legend tells that black rice vinegar was invented in the mid-1800s by a man called Hei Ta (黑塔), son of the legendary inventor of Chinese rice wine, Du Kang (杜康).  Du Kang and his family had just moved to Chinkiang and established a distillery outside the city, where they produced and sold wine.  Hei Ta was employed at his father's distillery and helped out with a variety of tasks.  One afternoon, he was working the stables, and had just added a few buckets of water to a large container of rice wine.  Tired and exhausted from the day's work, he drank some of the mixture, and fell asleep in a state of drunkeness.  Suddenly, he awoke to the voice of a smiling elderly gentlemen, who told him that the "nectar" he prepared has now been resting for 21 days, and is ready for consumption in the west.  The gentleman disappeared after speaking these words, and Hei Ta woke up and realized that it was all just a dream.  Puzzled by the gentleman's words, Hei Ta thought to himself, how could the mixture of rice wine and water become nectar?  He took a sip from the container and was pleasantly surprised at the rich and full-bodied flavour of the vinegar that he tasted, and immediately went to tell his father.  They were both puzzled at the gentleman's reference to 21 days and the west (二十一日酉), but when Du Kang combined the words in writing, it became the word "vinegar" (醋).  So, Du Kang and his family begain producing black rice vinegar by adding water to rice wine and allowing it to ferment for 21 days.  They gave the vinegar to their neighbors, who all enjoyed it, and not long after, customers came to the distillery asking to buy the vinegar.  Du Kang and his family began selling this vinegar all throughout the city of Chinkiang, and word travelled throughout the country about this famous black rice vinegar.  To this day, the factories in Chinkiang that produce this vinegar still allow for a 21 day fermentation period.

Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs (糖醋排骨)

Pork ribs, cut into individual ribs

2 tbsp Chinkiang black rice vinegar (鎮江香醋)

2 tbsp light soy sauce (生抽)

3 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp water

1-2 scallions, finely chopped

1)  Bring a pot of water to boil and add ribs.  Bring to a boil again, turn heat down to medium-high, and simmer for about 45 minutes.

2)  Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix together the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and water.

3)  When the ribs are cooked, drain the ribs and leave them in the pot

4)  Add the sweet and sour sauce mixture to the ribs, and bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat, turning occassionally until all the ribs are coated in the mixture.

5)  Keep the sauce on a gentle boil until it is slightly thick and sticky.  Watch closely so that the sauce does not burn.  Turn off the heat, transfer the ribs to a plate, and pour the remaining sauce over top.  Sprinkle with chopped scallions.   

Note:  The portion size of the sauce can always be increased proportionally, depending on the amount of ribs that are being cooked.  This sauce is very versatile - it can also be used to make sweet and sour pan-seared pork chops with caramelized onions (糖醋洋蔥豬扒), and sweet and sour pan-seared lamb chops (糖醋羊扒), as pictured below.