What's the best way to cook ribs if I'm trying to save time and money?

I love answering questions like that because that is the kind of cook I am.

This is my cheap and easy way to cook spare ribs which I shared on Quora.

I boil soup on a daily basis with soup bones or chicken. On days I want to cook with spare ribs, I will add about 6 to 8 pieces of them to the pork or chicken soup I am boiling for the day as this will help me save time. I like it that the additional spare ribs added will also enhanced the flavour of my soup.

You will be surprised to know that the ingredients I use in one of my regular soups is similar to what you would use in making Western soup stock. Check out the recipe I shared at the following link if you would like to do the same.

What is the recipe for Chinese soup stock?

If you do not plan on making soup or soup stock, you can just boil the spare ribs in a pot of water. You want to boil them till they are soft enough to bite into but not falling apart, which is about 30 minutes on high heat or about 45 to 60 minutes on low heat.

Once they are ready, you can remove them from the soup or stock and stir fry them in a wok with:

-8 to 10 table spoons of water (or soup/stock)
-1 Tbsp of white or brown sugar (or honey)
-1 Tbsp of garlic oil.
-1/2 Tbsp soya sauce.
-1/2 Tbsp oyster sauce
-Dash of black or white pepper or
-1 Tbsp BBQ Sauce

Stir fry till the liquid is reduced and the sauce thickens to glaze the ribs. If you have been too heavy with the sauce, just add more water. You can then thicken the sauce by whisking together 1 tablespoon of corn starch with 2 tablespoons of water to create a slurry. Once the sauce starts to boil again, add the slurry in bit by bit while stirring till it thickens.

This dish can be eaten with rice.

Spare ribs tend to be more expensive. Here is another way to reduce cost to purchase a larger quantity if you plan on cooking for more people to eat. Boiled spare ribs can be kept in the freezer. Each them you use them to make your soup stock, you can store them in an airtight container. Once you have accumulated enough in your freezer, you can thaw them to marinate for a day before you airfry them to serve as shown in this video.

 

You can watch the video from the beginning if you would like to know how the Char Siu Sauce (BBQ Sauce) is prepared and how it can be used to cook other dishes.

These are the ingredients used in the video to make the Char Siu Sauce (BBQ Sauce) for 1kg of spare ribs:

You can omit the following ingredients suggested if you do not have them:

2 Tbsp Onion Powder

1 Tbsp Five-spice powder

2 Tbsp Cooking Wine

1 Tbsp Sesame Oil

3 Tbsp Shallot Oil

Your other alternative if you do not have all the ingredients is to use ready-made Oriental BBQ sauce. My go to brand is Lee Kum Kee.

This is how you prepare the spare ribs to airfry with the homemade or ready-made sauce:

Other than spare ribs, this sauce can also be used to make char sui with the following parts of the pig:

-pork butt or shoulder

-pork collar

-pork belly (very fatty)

-pork loin (leaner option can turn out dryer when cooked)

If you like the way I cook my spare ribs, you should also like the way I cook pulled pork.

Roast your pork to boil soup

I usually remove the pork ribs from my soup to create another dish.  Learn from Chef John that you can make your soup more aromatic if you roast the pork ribs first. Check out the second dish he cooked with the pork ribs.

I usually mix a few table spoons of water with sugar (or honey), garlic oil, soya sauce (or oyster sauce) to flavour my pork ribs. The sauce will thicken once the liquid is reduced.

A Reason to Boil Extra Pork Ribs in Soups

Whenever I make ABC or Old Winter Melon soup with pork ribs, I will take some out to cook another dish. 

That will reduce your time to cook 1-2-3-4-5 Ribs dish.  

When your pork ribs are already cooked tender in the soup, you don't have to simmer them for 25 minutes. Just pan fry the pork ribs from the soup to brown them both sides. Then cook them in the sauces till the liquid thickens to coat the meat. 

You can also use the following sauces to coat the pork ribs:

1) Soya Sauce
2) Garlic Oil
3) Honey or Brown Sugar
4) Water 
5) Dark Soya Sauce (optional)

Here is a video with another variation for sauces. I like it that the cook also shared substitute sauces you can use: