Chinese Five Spice Spare Ribs with Pickled Ginger

You get to be victims of my experimentation. Here's copy/paste from my recipe database with zero reformatting except to get the picture in its place.
It uses all kinds of table formatting so it'll probably be pretty crazy looking. It also has some embedded links (from ingredients) that simply do not work.
Note: It's not one of my own recipes - but I've made it and it's really quite good.

---

	1,5 kg baby-back ribs 15 ml Chinese five-spice powder Salt Freshly ground black pepper 60 ml hoisin sauce 60 ml Chinese plum sauce 235 ml apple cider or apple juice 60 ml cider vinegar 15 ml minced pickled ginger 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed 30 ml tomato paste 10 ml soy sauce 15 ml honey 1 Rub the ribs all over with the five-spice powder and sprinkle them generously with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, stir together the hoisin and plum sauces and then brush them evenly over the ribs. Cut the ribs into sections of 3 to 5 ribs. 2 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (180ºC). Oil 1 or 2 roasting pans large enough to hold the ribs in a single layer. Put the ribs in the pans and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake the ribs until the meat is tender enough to be pierced easily with a fork, about 1 hour, taking care to avoid the steam when you uncover the pans. 3 Carefully pour off the liquid from the roasting pans into a heatproof bowl. With a shallow spoon, skim off and discard the fat from the surface. Pour the remaining liquid into a large pot and add the cider or juice, vinegar, ginger, garlic, tomato paste, soy sauce, and honey. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the liquid reduces to a thick, syrupy consistency, about 15 minutes. 4 Cut up the ribs into individual pieces and put them in the pot of sauce. Re-warm them, turning them in the sauce with tongs to coat them evenly. Transfer the ribs to a serving platter, passing any extra sauce on the side. Servings: 6 Nutrition Facts Serving size: 1 serving Percent daily values based on a 2000 calorie diet. Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. Amount Per Serving Calories 791,22 Calories From Fat (68%) 537,18 % Daily Value Total Fat 59,53g 92% Saturated Fat 21,92g 110% Cholesterol 202,82mg 68% Sodium 585,37mg 24% Potassium 755,44mg 22% Carbohydrates 20,19g 7% Dietary Fiber 0,74g 3% Sugar 4,39g Sugar Alcohols 0,00g Net Carbohydrates 19,45g Protein 41,19g 82% Recipe Source Author: WOLFGANG PUCK Source: Tribune Media Services I love it when two great events fall close together, giving you twice as much of a good reason to have a party. That's what's happening during the next two weeks, with the traditional 15-day-long Chinese New Year observance starting on Jan. 29 and the all-American football celebration of Super Bowl XL taking place on Feb. 5 in Detroit. And I know the perfect way to celebrate both with one recipe: Chinese Five-Spice Spare Ribs with Pickled Ginger! I developed this recipe when I opened the first branch of my Chinois restaurant in Santa Monica back in 1983. Very soon I learned a lesson that anyone who runs a Chinese restaurant on this side of the Pacific will tell you: Ribs, along with wontons, are the dishes people ask for most often. So I set out to give my guests the best ribs I could come up with. I start with baby-back ribs. These most popular choices among pork spareribs get their name not because they come from a younger animal but because they're smaller and come from the top of the rib area along the back of the pig, yielding the most tender, meatiest ribs. If they're unavailable, regular pork spareribs will be fine. Then, to give the ribs an authentic Chinese flavor, I rub them first with five-spice powder, a traditional Asian blend of Szechwan peppercorns, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, and fennel seed. Found in most well-stocked supermarkets, this seasoning gives the meat a complex flavor that's subtly hot, sweet, pungent, and aromatic all at the same time. Then, for extra flavor, I slather the ribs with a mixture of bottled hoisin sauce and plum sauce, which also help keep them moist and give them a rich, dark glaze. Also to keep the ribs moist as well as tender, I first cook them slowly in a covered pan in the oven. Just before serving, I add still more flavorful ingredients, including sweet-sour apple cider vinegar, crushed garlic, honey, and a tablespoon of the pink pickled ginger root that you find in sushi bars and the Asian food sections of supermarkets, to turn the skimmed roasting juices into a thick sauce in which the ribs are warmed up. The sticky result is so delicious that you'll be licking your fingers long after the meat is gone. (Make sure to have lots of paper napkins on hand, too!) In fact, I suggest that you double the recipe so you'll have extra, because the ribs are just as good reheated. That way, you can enjoy a big batch of them for Chinese New Year just a few days from now, and then you can eat them again the following weekend while you sit back and watch the Super Bowl! Photo by Bob Fila, Chicago Tribune.