Chinese style Pork ribs

A funny thing has happened in the last few years. Some of the cheaper cuts of meat have become the expensive cuts. Hello lamb-shanks, hello pork spare ribs, I am talking to you.

About five years ago pork spare ribs were $7kg and now they are double that. We love American style spare ribs but we tend to eat them less than we used to. A great alternative is slow cooked pulled pork roast. You get the flavour of ribs but no bones.

Pork rashers are another cut that fall into this same category. They are like a boneless rib. You could easily use spare ribs or even beef ribs. When I think about it pork rashers are just pork belly roast cut into strips so I suppose one could make them that way. I didn't.

We like them baked with a hoisin based sauce. They would be great on the table as part of a Chinese feast but we just had them for a standard Tuesday night dinner with rice, carrots and asparagus. I actually tossed the carrots in with the pork for the last ten minutes or so. They got the yummy sauce on them but were still firm.

Chinese style pork ribs/rashers
1.2kg pork ribs
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 cup ketchup manis
ground black pepper
a dash of olive oil.

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl to marinade as long as possible - you can do this the night before if you like.

2. arrange in a single layer in a well greased baking dish.
3. Bake about an hour or until golden and a bit crispy.
4. Serve with rice.
Enjoy!