serves
12
prep
10 minutes
cook
2:10 hours
difficulty
Easy
serves
12
people
preparation
10
minutes
cooking
2:10
hours
difficulty
Easy
level
Like other Vietnamese restaurants, Nam Phuong in Atlanta serves pho, but their ribs are the best thing on the menu. The meat is tender with a crackly exterior. Nam Phuong uses flanken or crosscut ribs, which are like little rib nuggets, each with a bone inside.
Ingredients
- 1.6 kg (3½ pounds) Asian-style (flanken) pork spareribs, about 36 pieces (see Note)
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 10 cloves garlic, peeled, about ¼ cup
- 1 lemongrass stalk, sliced, about ¼ cup
- 3 Thai bird chiles
- ¼ red onion, stem and root ends trimmed, cut into chunks
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 5 cm (2 inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped, about 2 tbsp
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 lime
- ¼ cup chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves
Instructions
Heat the oven to 170°C (325°F).
Season the ribs lightly with 1 tsp of the salt and place on a broiler pan fitted with the broiling rack or a baking sheet fitted with a cooling rack. Add a 5 mm (¼ inch) depth of boiling water to the pan, wrap the ribs and pan tightly with foil, and cook until the ribs are pull-apart tender, 1½ to 2 hours. Basically, you’re steaming the ribs.
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the garlic, lemongrass, chiles, and onions and process for 30 seconds, until well chopped. Add the sugar, ginger, fish sauce, soy sauce, and the remaining 1 tsp salt and continue processing to a coarse paste, scraping down the sides of the food processor a couple times.
Adjust the rack in the oven to the highest setting and preheat the broiler.
Arrange the ribs, meat side up, on the rack and smear with some of the garlic paste. Broil the ribs until nicely caramelized, about 5 minutes. Watch carefully and when they start getting a little char on the tips, remove and flip them. Smear again with some of the paste and broil on the bone side for about 3 minutes. Flip, smear, and broil one final time so they are nice and crispy on the meat side, about 2 more minutes.
Using tongs, transfer the ribs to a cutting board and cut into single-bone pieces. Squeeze the lime into the pan drippings and stir to combine. Toss the ribs in the pan drippings and serve sprinkled with the cilantro.
Note
• Asian-style spareribs are cut across the bone, also known as flanken cut. You can find them at Asian markets or have your butcher cut them for you. Ask the butcher to cut the rack of ribs in thirds across the bones.
Recipes and images from Pure Pork Awesomeness: Totally Cookable Recipes from Around the World by Kevin Gillespie with David Joachim (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $40, pbk)
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
Like other Vietnamese restaurants, Nam Phuong in Atlanta serves pho, but their ribs are the best thing on the menu. The meat is tender with a crackly exterior. Nam Phuong uses flanken or crosscut ribs, which are like little rib nuggets, each with a bone inside.
