Thai-Style Pork Ribs (Sii Khrong Muu Yaang)

(from Andy Ricker's Pok Pok)

My family knows me well, and I got about five new cookbooks for Christmas this year, all of them awesome. One is Pok Pok, a Thai cookbook that at first completely intimidated me. I tend to feel more comfortable with recipes with limited, easily-recognized ingredients. But where's the fun in that? I think this cookbook might be turning me around. It is really fantastic, different, fun. We've made two dishes from this book in the past week, and they've both been incredible, and not really that complicated when it comes down to it.

Now, in fairness, Joef made these ribs. 100%. I didn't even really help. I just enjoyed the amazingly delicious result. He marinated the ribs the day before, and then grilled them the next day for about two hours. Yes, that's a lot of prep; yes, it's absolutely worth it.

Ideally, you'd grill these over a charcoal fire. All we had to work with was a gas grill, and they still came out great. If you can't find some of the ingredients, you could probably do regular soy sauce (vs. "thin"), although it is a little different, use medium-dry sherry for the Shaoxing wine, use regular black pepper, etc. But if you can find the right ingredients, so much the better.

So, here's Andy Ricker's fantastic recipe for about 20 "riblets" (drool):

6 tbsp honey
2 tbsp Thai thin soy sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1 tbsp finely grated ginger
1/2 tsp Asian sesame oil (try to find brands that are 100% sesame oil)
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1/8 tsp ground Ceylon or Mexican cinnamon
Pinch grated nutmeg
2 lbs pork spareribs, cut lengthwise across the bone into 2-inch-wide racks (ask your butcher to do this for you)
2 tbsp hot water

Start by marinating the ribs for at least two hours, and as long as overnight. Whisk 2 tbsp of the money with the soy sauce, wine, ginger, sesame oil, pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg together until the honey dissolves. Put the ribs in a large Ziploc bag, pour in the marinade, get the air out, and seal it up. Put it in the fridge.

Once the ribs have marinated, you're ready to grill. Prep a baste - stir the remaining 4 tbsp honey with the 2 tbsp hot water until the honey dissolves, and set aside.

Prep your grill to cook at 200-250 degrees. Ideally, you want to cook your ribs over indirect heat. If you're using charcoal, push the coals to one side of the grill and shape them into a mound. Place the ribs, meat side up, to the part of the grill opposite the charcoal. If possible, rotate the grill top so that the open vents are directly over the ribs. Cover the grill.

Slow-cook the ribs for 2-2.25 hours, flipping them occasionally and rotating them 180 degrees when flipped. You might need to add more charcoal to maintain the temp. They should end up a mahogany color, crisp, with slightly charred edges. In the last 30-45 minutes of cooking or so, you can start brushing the ribs with the honey mixture every 10 minutes or so.

When they're ready, take them off the grill, let them sit for about 5 minutes, and slice them into individual ribs. Devour!

(You can oven-bake these, too. Preheat the oven to 250. Put the ribs on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake for 2 hours, rotating the sheet a couple times. Increase the heat to 300 degrees, and brush with honey every 10 minutes, about 30-60 minutes more.)