Braised Country Style Pork Ribs in Ginger Ale & Hoisin Sauce

Country Style Pork ribs braised in a sweet Asian sauce until they’re so tender they fall apart. A mouth-watering, inexpensive weeknight meal.

My blog this month for the Secret Recipe Club is The Keenan Cookbook. A husband and wife team who work together to post their delicious recipes. Chris does most of the cooking and Rachel takes most of the photos. Like me, they started their site to share family recipes and it has grown to include recipes found through friends, neighbors, and even other food bloggers.

Every week on Taste Test Tuesday they pick a recipe from a new food blog, try it out, and feature it. This Taste Test Tuesday recipe, Braised Country Style Pork Ribs, was also on their Top Ten List for 2011. They discovered the recipe on Cookin Canuck. Dara is an amazing cook, so I knew it would be great recipe.

I was taking dinner to a sweet neighbor. She was unable to eat anything spicy, so I toned down the recipe just a bit, and tripled the recipe so there would be enough to feed her family and mine.

The Keenans’ picture of this recipe is much better than mine. Click over and check it out, and while you’re there, take a look at all the other fabulous recipes they’ve posted.

Braised Country Style Pork Ribs in Ginger Ale & Hoisin Sauce
adapted from Cookin Canuck

Ingredients:

6 lbs. country-style (boneless) pork ribs
1 tablespoon kosher salt
3 teaspoons ground black pepper
3 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons peeled and finely grated fresh ginger
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped or pressed
3 cups ginger ale
1 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Season pork ribs with kosher salt and black pepper. Heat canola oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the pork, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove the pork to a plate and set aside. (Brown the ribs in batches and don’t crowd the pan so they brown and don’t steam.)

Turn the heat to medium and add chopped ginger and garlic. Sauté for 30 seconds. Add ginger ale, chicken broth, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce. Stir with a whisk until the hoisin sauce dissolves. Add the pork ribs to the pan and turn to coat. Cover the pan tightly and cook in the oven until the meat is very tender, turning occasionally, about 2 hours.

Lower the oven heat to 200 degrees F. Remove the ribs from the braising liquid, place in an oven-proof dish, and keep warm in the oven.

Skim fat off the surface of the liquid. (I used a fat separator.) In a small bowl, stir together cornstarch and water. Whisk into the braising liquid and cook over medium heat until sauce thickens about 5 minutes.

With two forks, shred the pork into bite-sized pieces, removing most of the fat, and stir into the sauce. Serve over rice. Garnish with sliced green onions.

Make-ahead: Once the ribs are cooked, let cool completely. Cover the pan and store in the fridge for up to two days. When ready to use, uncover and skim off the fat. Reheat the ribs over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Remove the ribs from the pan, keep warm, and follow the directions above for finishing the sauce.

Cooking time: 2 hour(s)

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