MUZIChinese Matrix
Jiangsu Cuisine · FFET10296
Pork ribs from Wuxi in Jiangsu, braised with soy sauce, sugar and spices until tender and reduced to a thick glaze.
A round white porcelain plate holds pork ribs in a thick reddish-brown glaze, with scallion pieces, ginger slices, star anise and cinnamon bark among the ribs, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
The regional cooking of Jiangsu, divided into the Jinling, Huai-Yang, Su-Xi and Xu-Hai style areas.
Wuxi sauced spare ribs is a dish from Wuxi in Jiangsu, in which pork ribs are braised with soy sauce, wine, sugar and spices until tender and reduced to a thick sauce. It is one of 3 Wuxi specialties, the other 2 being Huishan clay figurines and Qingshui fried gluten. Its reported origins fall in the Guangxu reign (1875 to 1908), while a 2018 account gives it about 140 years; neither account cites a dated primary text, so this entry does not settle the dating.
Wuxi sauced spare ribs is pork ribs simmered for a long time in a dark red, salty-sweet sauce until the meat is tender and nearly falls off the bone. It is one of Wuxi's signature dishes.1,2
The dish's reported origins fall in the Guangxu reign (1875 to 1908); a 2018 account gives it about 140 years, also placing it in that reign. Neither account cites a dated primary text, so the dating remains unconfirmed; the Ji Gong story is a tale, not a dated record.1,2
Wuxi, Jiangsu, part of Wuxi's local benbang cooking. It is among Wuxi's 3 specialties, the other 2 being Huishan clay figurines and Qingshui fried gluten.1,3
The ribs are marinated or salt-cured, then blanched or browned, and braised for about 1 hour with soy sauce, rice wine, sugar and spices, and reduced to a sticky glaze at the end. Some shops also keep an aged braising stock.1,4,5
The early cooks made the dish from trimmed meaty bones and sold it cheaply, and that is how it spread.1
It is an iconic traditional dish of Wuxi and one of the city's 3 specialties.3
Legend has it that in the Southern Song, the monk Ji Gong, holding a torn palm-leaf fan, cooked meaty bones at Nanchan Temple in Wuxi, and the smell drew a crowd. This is a tale that has been passed down, not a dated record.
Told in: A Wuxi folk tale set at Nanchan Temple, as retold in Chinese Wikipedia, which cites no dated text for it.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the simpler way I make it at home, in the Wuxi benbang style. The amounts of light and dark soy sauce, water, rock sugar, oil, scallions, ginger and star anise follow the former recipe (one blogger's signed recipe, braised about 1 hour and reduced for 5 to 10 minutes). The weight of the ribs follows the latter recipe (another blogger's signed recipe, about 510 g), and the 3-minute blanching also comes from the latter. The amounts of rice wine and cinnamon are my own choices at home, and the conversions to grams and milliliters are mine. I leave out the 12-hour salt cure and the red yeast rice from the latter recipe.
Allergens: soy, wheat
