The whole point of this fry is the ratio in the batter: one part flour to two parts sweet potato starch, loosened with an egg and just enough water to make a thin coat. Sweet potato starch fries up glassy and hard, so the crust holds its crunch long after the plate leaves the kitchen. A two-hour soak and a long garlicky marinade do the rest.
Chinese · Main
Garlic Fried Pork Ribs With a Thin Egg Starch Batter
Two racks of pork ribs soak, sit in a garlicky starch batter for an hour, then fry twice, once low and once hot, so the crust stays crisp even after cooling.
- Prep140 min
- Cook15 min
- Serves2
- LevelMedium
Ingredients
| 2 racks | pork ribs , cut apart between the bones |
| 1 tbsp | oyster sauce |
| 10 g | white pepper |
| 4 g | vegetable seasoning powder |
| to taste | salt |
| 1 | egg |
| 3 tbsp | sweet potato starch |
| 1 tbsp | plain flour |
| a splash | cold water |
| a heaped spoonful | garlic , minced, divided into the marinade |
Method
- Soak the ribs in clean cold water for 2 hours to draw out the blood, then drain well.
- Rub the ribs with salt, white pepper, the vegetable seasoning powder and the oyster sauce until evenly coated.
- Beat in the egg, add the sweet potato starch, the flour and a splash of water, and work everything into a thin batter that clings in one layer; keep the flour and starch at a 1 to 2 ratio.
- Stir the minced garlic through the batter, cover and marinate for 1 hour.
- Heat oil to about 40 percent heat, around 120 C, and fry the ribs over a low flame until golden and cooked through.
- Raise the oil to about 60 percent heat, around 160 C, and return the ribs for a second fry until the crust hardens.
- Drain and finish with a dusting of chili powder or sour plum powder.
Notes
- The twice fry is what keeps them crisp; if you skip the second, hot fry, the crust softens as it sits.
- Keep the batter thin. A thick coat goes leathery before the rib inside is done.
Ratios and technique checked against 心清似水淡若云 on Douguo (蒜香排骨). The method here is written by Stellaok; the photograph is the source kitchen's, credited on the image above and linked back to the page it came from. No recipe text is reproduced.