Slow Cooker Red Braised Country-style Pork Ribs
Red braising, a popular Chinese cooking technique adapted here for slow cooker, produces flavorful, fork tender pork ribs.
Servings 2
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 whole star anise
- 1 small cinnamon stick
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
- 1 scallion, white part only, gently smashed
- 5 black peppercorns
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed chili pepper flakes
- 1 pound or so country-style pork ribs, bone-in (see Kitchen Notes)
- chopped scallions for garnish
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients (except for the pork ribs, scallions for garnish and cornstarch) in your slow cooker. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Add pork in one layer, turning to coat. Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours, gently turning pork halfway through (it may start to fall apart).
- Carefully transfer pork to serving platter. It will likely be falling apart now, with bones dropping away from the meat. Tent platter with foil.
- Strain the cooking liquid into a sauce pan and gently heat. Taste, adding water if it is too concentrated tasting. Mix cornstarch in a small bowl with a tablespoon of cold water, stirring until it is completely dissolved. Warm the cornstarch mixture by adding a little of the heated cooking liquid at a time to the bowl. This will keep it from clotting when you add it to the liquid. Slowly stir the cornstarch mixture into the liquid. Cook, stirring occasionally for 3 or so minutes, thickening the cooking liquid into a sauce.
- Spoon some sauce over the pork and add the scallion garnish. Serve with rice, along with the rest of the sauce.
Kitchen Notes
Country pork “ribs”—and substitutes. These aren’t really ribs at all, but pork shoulder and the blade just behind the shoulder. It’s a nice, versatile, inexpensive cut. You can substitute pork spare ribs, short ribs or pork belly.