This recipe came from my need to be able to make something after the kids had gone to bed Saturday night, that I could just throw into the oven for Sunday’s dinner party. Complicating matters was that my normal rib sauce standbyes are usually tomato based, and I needed a recipe I could use for fish as well (although I do have a mustard/soy recipe that’s just amazing). Google brought up the Chubby Hubby blog which seems like a lot of fun, not to mention having Asian flavors that I crave. So I adapted the above recipe to my pantry – during our recent move our fish sauce “baptized” the other pantry contents and the smell was…interesting. Haven’t felt the desire to replenish the fish sauce since. =P So here you go, my adapted Asian BBQ sauce recipe for pork ribs and white fish.
(Note: this recipe assumes that you’re cooking both pork ribs and white fish at the same time. You can always adjust amounts and make it for one or the other, or use it as a sauce for cooked soy if you need a vegetarian option).
Yield: ~2-3 c. reduced sauce (depends how long you let it reduce)
Ingredients:
1 c. sugar
2 c. water
1 c. seasoning soy sauce (I used Ninben brand)
1 T. Worcestire sauce
2 T. lemon juice
1 T. Hondashi bonito soup stock (this is fish, leave out for vegetarian diets)
2 bay leaves
5-8 whole cloves
1 T. garlic powder
splash of sesame oil if you want
sprinkle salt
chili pepper to taste (or some other spicy flavour)
Serve over:
pork ribs cut in half, then each riblet cut apart
fillets of white fish
Directions:
Cook all sauce ingredients in a normal pot, letting boil on low heat until reduced to the consistency you like. While this is cooking, boil the riblets in a stock pot 10-20 minutes until no longer bleeding red (this cuts down on cooking time the next day; you can use this sauce as an overnight marinade and cook the pork from raw if you like but you’ll need a much longer cooking time). When the ribs are done and the sauce is reduced, put the ribs into a 13×9″ pan. Also put the fish fillets in a shallow baking pan (as big as you need for the amount you’re cooking). Strain the sauce if you like. Cover both ribs and fish with sauce, then cover the pans with aluminum foil and place in the fridge overnight. The next day, put the covered pans in a 375 F oven (400F if you’re low on time). The fish will flake when it’s ready in about 20 minutes. The pork may need longer to cook, better check the pork temp with a meat thermometer to make sure it hits a high enough temperature (enough of my bio classes stick with me to make me paranoid about pork ;). Now enjoy!
Note: this sauce is fairly “light” in flavor, perfect for the fish but you may want to reduce the sauce to a thicker consistency for the pork.
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