Peking-style spare ribs in a dark, glossy sauce

Ingredientsserves 4

Equipment

• A wok or a deep frying pan with 2 cm of oil. This is shallow-fried; it does not need a pan full of oil.

How the time splits

1. 15 minDry the ribs and mix the marinadehands on
2. 30 minMarinatinghands off
3. 25 minShallow-fry, then reduce the sauce onto the ribshands on

Method

1. Dry the ribs and mix them with the light and dark soy, 1½ tsp sugar, the wine, the egg and 1½ tsp cornflour. Leave them for thirty minutes. The cut was decided at the butcher: the soft ribs nearest the neck are tender with a little fat, and ordinary ribs fried this way come out tough, which no sauce can rescue.
2. Mix the ketchup, vinegar, 1½ tbsp sugar, Worcestershire and three tablespoons of water. That is the 京都 sauce.
3. Dust each rib with a thin coat of cornflour. Heat about 2 cm of oil in the wok to around 160°C, medium heat, lay the ribs in and shallow-fry them six to eight minutes, turning often, until golden and nearly cooked through. Lift them out.
4. Pour off all but a tablespoon of the oil, and set the rest aside to cool completely before you deal with it. Fry the onion and garlic until fragrant.
5. Pour in the sauce and bring it to the boil, return the ribs and keep turning them over medium heat until the sauce reduces onto them, thick and glossy, coating every piece; three to five minutes, and the ribs finish cooking as it happens. The sauce has to reduce on the ribs, not be made separately and poured over. Keep the heat at medium: ketchup and sugar burn on a high flame, and burnt they turn bitter.
6. Open one at the bone to check it is cooked through, plate, and scatter the sesame over.

Take care

• The pork must be cooked through: the shallow fry takes it only most of the way, and it finishes in the sauce, so open one at the bone before serving. Contains egg, soy and wheat (the soy sauces), fish (Worcestershire has anchovy in it) and sesame. On the bone, so tell children. Two centimetres of hot oil still needs care: dry the ribs before they go in, keep a lid beside the stove, and do not move the pan until the oil is cold.

The story

The 京都 in the name is not Kyoto, and probably not Beijing either. The usual account is that Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai cooking came south to Hong Kong's street stalls and Shanghainese restaurants in the 1950s, and Cantonese cooks made the 京都 sauce their own with ketchup and Worcestershire. It is a street-stall dish more than a home one: 阿媽 rarely made it, and 阿爸 ordered it every time. Set it beside 生炒骨 and the difference is plain. 生炒骨 is about crunch, with the sauce only just touching it; 京都排骨 is about the glaze, reduced onto the ribs until it is dark and shining, with no pineapple and no peppers, just ribs and sauce.

Same kind

Crackling roast pork bellyBraised shiitake in oyster sauceConpoy and whole garlic, steamed and turned out

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.