Cantonese Cuisine · FFET10307
Jiaoyan paigu (salt and pepper pork ribs)
Short pieces of pork rib fried crisp and tossed with salt, white pepper, garlic and chili.
A white porcelain plate holds short, crisp golden-brown meaty pork ribs tossed with ginger, garlic, scallion, chili flakes, red chilies and onion, with a pair of wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
The regional cooking of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, prized for live, fresh ingredients and light flavours.
Jiaoyan paigu is pork ribs cut into short pieces, fried until crisp, and tossed with salt, white pepper, garlic and chili. It is Cantonese in origin; salt and pepper pork chops made with sliced pork shoulder are also a Cantonese restaurant dish. The available accounts do not identify a city. A November 2025 recipe simmers the ribs until tender, then fries and tosses them. No text establishing the dish's age and no inventor was found.
What
Jiaoyan paigu is pork ribs cut into short pieces, fried until crisp, and tossed with salt, white pepper, garlic and chili.1,3
When
No text establishing the dish's age was found. July 2024 and November 2025 are publication dates of the recipes used here, not dates establishing the dish's age.1,3
Where
Jiaoyan paigu is Cantonese in origin, and salt and pepper pork chops are also a Cantonese restaurant dish. The available accounts do not identify a city.1,2
How
The 3 recipes differ. One method soaks ribs in water with sodium carbonate, marinates them, coats them in starch and fries them 2 times. The November 2025 method simmers ribs with ginger, garlic and scallions for 45 to 60 minutes, coats them in starch and seasonings, fries them, then tosses them with garlic, chilies, onion and a salt and pepper mix for 30 to 60 seconds. The pork chop recipe uses sliced pork shoulder, battered and fried, then stir-fried with garlic and green and red chilies; it is not a rib dish.1,2,3
Impact and influence
Salt and pepper cooking can be applied to many ingredients, with pork ribs among the dishes made this way.1
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the salt and pepper ribs I make at home. The frame follows a signed recipe of November 2025: the ribs are simmered until tender, coated in starch and fried, then tossed with garlic, chilies, onion and a salt and pepper mix. It calls for 1.5 kg of ribs; I scaled it down to 1 kg, and the amounts are my own home choices after scaling. A newsletter article that names no individual author marinates raw ribs and fries them twice after a soak in sodium carbonate, and I did not follow that. The salt and pepper pork chops made with sliced pork shoulder are a related dish, not ribs, and I did not follow them either.
Ingredients
- Meaty pork ribs 1 kg, chopped into pieces about 5 cm long
- Ginger 3 slices
- Garlic, for simmering 2 cloves, smashed
- Scallions 2, one for simmering and one thinly sliced to sprinkle at the end
- Salt, for simmering 3/4 teaspoon
- Sugar, for simmering 3/4 teaspoon
- Cornstarch 4 tablespoons
- Five-spice powder 3/4 teaspoon
- Fine salt, for the coating 1/2 teaspoon
- White pepper, for the coating 1/4 teaspoon
- Sea salt, for the salt and pepper mix 2 teaspoons
- White pepper, for the salt and pepper mix 1 1/2 teaspoons
- Chili flakes, for the salt and pepper mix 1 1/2 teaspoons
- Sugar, for the salt and pepper mix 1/4 teaspoon
- Garlic, for stir-frying 3 cloves, minced
- Red chilies 2, sliced into rings
- Onion 1/2, cut into pieces
- Green bell pepper (optional) 1/2, cut into pieces
- Vegetable oil, for frying the ribs in a deep, heavy pot, no more than one third full
- Vegetable oil, for stir-frying 2 tablespoons
Steps
- Put the ribs in a pot with the ginger, the smashed garlic, one scallion, the salt and the sugar, cover them with cold water, bring it to a boil and simmer over low heat for 45 to 60 minutes, as that recipe says. I poke a thick piece with a chopstick and lift the ribs out when it goes in easily and the pork is cooked through with no pink. Drain them, let them cool, and pat the surface dry.
- Mix the cornstarch, five-spice powder, fine salt and the coating's white pepper, add the ribs, coat each piece, and shake off the extra. In a small bowl, mix the sea salt, white pepper, chili flakes and sugar into the salt and pepper mix.
- Heat the frying oil and fry the ribs in batches, 4 to 6 minutes a batch, until golden, then lift them out to drain. That recipe gives an oil temperature of 180 degrees Celsius and 4 to 6 minutes a batch; I go by color and cut open a thick piece to check that it is cooked through.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok or skillet and stir-fry the minced garlic, red chilies, onion and bell pepper for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Sprinkle in the salt and pepper mix, add the fried ribs, toss for 30 to 60 seconds so every piece is coated, scatter on the sliced scallion, and serve hot.
Tips
- I pat the ribs dry and shake off the extra starch before they go into the oil, so it spatters less. Hot oil is dangerous, so I stay at the pot while frying; this is my own way.
- I start with half of the salt and pepper mix, taste a piece, and add more if needed, so the salt and heat are set to taste; this is my own habit.