The sauce is the whole recipe and the source remembers it as a counting rhyme: 1 spoon of cooking wine, 2 of soy, 3 of vinegar, 4 of sugar, 5 of water. Fry the blanched ribs first, so the glaze has something to hold onto, and add a last spoon of vinegar off the heat.
Chinese home cooking · Main
Sweet and Sour Ribs With the 1-2-3-4 Sauce
Ribs are soaked, blanched, pan-fried until the edges catch, then simmered in a sauce measured by spoonfuls — one wine, two soy, three vinegar, four sugar — and reduced until it clings.
- Prep20 min
- Cook55 min
- Serves3
- LevelMedium
Ingredients
| 600 g | pork spare ribs , cut across the bone into short sections |
| 3-4 | ginger slices |
| 1 | scallion , tied in a knot, plus chopped greens to finish |
| 4 tbsp | Shaoxing wine , 1 for soaking, 1 for blanching, 1 in the sauce |
| 2 tbsp | light soy sauce , plus 2 tbsp more for the sauce |
| 3 tbsp | rice vinegar , plus an extra spoon to finish |
| 4 tbsp | white sugar |
| 1 tbsp | cooking oil |
| 1 g | cooked white sesame seeds |
| 1 g | salt |
Method
- Rinse the ribs and soak them in 1 spoon of the wine for 10 to 15 minutes to draw out blood, then drain.
- Put them in a pot of cold water with the ginger, scallion knot and another spoon of wine. Bring to a boil, skim, and boil 3 to 4 minutes.
- Lift the ribs out, rinse them in warm water and drain well.
- Mix the sauce in a bowl: 1 spoon wine, 2 spoons soy, 3 spoons vinegar, 4 spoons sugar, 5 spoons water. Half a spoon of dark soy deepens the colour if you want it redder.
- Heat the oil in a clean pan over medium heat and fry the ribs slowly until the surfaces are golden and just catching at the edges.
- Pour in the sauce and toss to coat.
- Add hot water to just cover, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for 30 to 40 minutes.
- Uncover, raise the heat and reduce, stirring constantly so the thickening sugar does not catch. When the sauce coats every rib, splash in a final spoon of vinegar.
- Taste, correct with the salt, and serve scattered with sesame and the scallion greens.
Notes
- The final spoon of vinegar is not a typo twice over: vinegar boils off fast, so the aroma at the table comes from the one added last.
- Keep the reducing ribs moving. Sugar-heavy sauce goes from glossy to burnt in under a minute.
Ratios and technique checked against 沙小囡 on Douguo (糖醋排骨). 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.