Cantonese Pork Ribs in Black Bean Sauce (Dou Chi Zheng Pai Gu / 豉汁蒸排骨)

Ingredients

• 600 g pork spare ribs, cut across the bone into 1.5 cm pieces with a heavy cleaver
• For the marinade
• 2 tbsp douchi (fermented black beans), lightly rinsed — retain some salt
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 10 g fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1–2 fermented chilli (pao jiao) or fresh red chilli, sliced; for colour and mild heat

Method

1. 1
   Using a heavy cleaver, cut the spare ribs across the bone into 1.5 cm pieces. Uniform sizing is essential: pieces larger than 1.5 cm will not steam through in the allotted time. The cut is done when every piece is bite-sized and the bone face is cleanly exposed.
2. 2
   Combine the rib pieces in a bowl with the douchi, garlic, ginger, light soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and cornstarch. Mix thoroughly so every piece is coated. The douchi should not be rinsed to blank saltlessness — the residual salt is what builds the sauce. Rest at room temperature for a minimum of 15 minutes. The marinade is ready when the cornstarch has turned tacky and the douchi fragrance is pronounced.
3. 3
   Arrange the marinated ribs in a single deep layer in a heatproof bowl or on a rimmed plate. Lay the sliced chilli over the top. Set the bowl over a steamer basket above rapidly boiling water. This is where the dish lives or dies: steam at sustained high heat for 10–12 minutes, ensuring the lid is tight and the water does not drop below a rolling boil. At 12 minutes the collagen in the rib tips will have softened fully and pork fat will have rendered into the douchi, pooling as an intensely savoury dark liquid at the base of the bowl.
4. 4
   Remove the bowl from the steamer. The cooking liquid at the base should be glossy, dark, and pooled — not absorbed or dry. The rib meat will yield with light pressure at the bone. Serve immediately in the steaming vessel.