Korean-Inspired Braised Pork Ribs

 This is Korean-inspired because here at This Is Cookable, we don't do cultural appropriation. This is a recipe which uses some traditional Korean ingredients, but it's not traditional and I'm sharing it because hopefully you'll taste it, see how amazing it is, and go find some real Korean cuisine to try.

A warning up-front: this is spicy, though not incredibly spicy. One of the tricks is sautéing the spicy ingredients a little to temper the heat, and you can use more or less of them depending on your taste. You can even make this completely mild in a way I'll discuss later, but it will be a different dish at that point.

You will need:

• Pork Ribs
• Gochujang
• Cabbage
• Onion
• Garlic and Ginger
• Salt or Something Salty
• Five-Spice Powder
• Sugar
• Oil
  

Pork ribs

Unless you've got a pot the size of a rack of ribs, the best option (and usually the cheapest) is Country Style bone-in pork ribs. It may be called something else, but what that means is that the ribs have been cut apart, one bone per piece.

Why bone-in? Three reasons, two biggies. First, the bone adds flavor to the dish. It really does. Don't worry, you won't have to do anything differently. Second, getting them bone-in means you'll get darker meat. You don't want lean pork for this recipe. You want a little fat, connective tissue, all the good stuff that will slow-cook and make everything luscious. Thirdly, and this is minor, many times bone-in will be better-butchered and may be cheaper per-pound.

If you can't get this type of pork, don't let that stop you. Find something which will work. If you can afford to, buy a rack of ribs and cut them down yourself. You'll want about two ribs per person, depending on how hungry they are and how meaty your ribs are. Freeze the rest and make this again later.

If you can only find boneless country ribs, those will work in a pinch. Try to get pork that looks marbled: that means there are layers of pink flesh and white fat. Also, darker flesh is better, but sometimes it's hard to tell. If you can, ask the butcher (no, I'm not assuming you go to a butcher, but even supermarkets usually have someone behind the counter and they may be able to help). If all else fails, get yourself a small pork roast. Again, marbled and dark flesh is better.

Gochujang

This is the brand I like, but I'm pretty sure any will do.

Gochujang is a Korean chili paste that's been fermented with rice and soy and winds up sticky, slightly sweet, and with varying levels of spicy. You can find this in more and more places these days. Check Asian markets, the Asian section of the grocery store, ask around, or you can buy it online. It is absolutely worth it. Remember how Sriracha got huge a few years back? I fully expect gochujang to do the same.

However, you may not be able to find it, and that's okay, I promise. You can use sriracha, honey, and soy sauce instead. Will it be authentic? No, it will not, but no shame, right? I was reluctant to share this recipe because gochujang isn't something everyone has or can get, but I think it's too good to miss out, and maybe you'll be able to find it in a surprising place. Or online. There's always online.

 But if you're going the DIY route, a tablespoon of soy sauce, a teaspoon of honey, and sriracha to your preferred level of spicy will make roughly a tablespoon of "gochujang" for the purposes of this recipe. Not for other recipes. I can't be held responsible if you try to make bibimbap using my janky substitutions.

You may also be someone who has some gochujang that you bought for whatever reason, but the recipe called for a tablespoon and now you've got a tub of the stuff and you have no idea what to do with it. That's okay. That's what this recipe is for.

If you're buying it, gochujang usually comes in at least mild and hot, and both are fine, but for this recipe I prefer a milder, sweeter result.

Cabbage

Green cabbage is one of the unsung heroes of cheap cooking for me. It's filling, it's healthy, and there are so many things you can do with it. The trick is not to overcook it to mush.

If you're a person who doesn't care for the smell or taste of cabbage, this is the recipe for you. It takes on the sauce and stops being cabbage-y. That said, this recipe can be made with bok choy, Nappa/Chinese cabbage, or even broccoli. It just won't be quite as robust and you'll want to cook the vegetables less. Green cabbage can stand up to a bit of cooking. Also, cabbage is dirt cheap and just eat cabbage okay? Sorry, I love cabbage.

You may be asking yourself if red cabbage would work, and the answer is that I've never tried it because it's always more expensive than green cabbage. Give it a shot and let me know, if you prefer red to green. The sauce is red already, so it's not like it'll look weird.

Whatever cabbage you go for, one medium-to-large head of cabbage for two pounds of pork ribs is about the ratio I'd go for.

Onion

One large onion, diced, or half a pound of frozen diced onion. Red will work fine, but yellow is usually the cheapest way to buy onions and you'll be cooking them.

Garlic and Ginger

If you have fresh, dice them up together. If you, like me, buy paste in jars from the Asian supermarket (it's really the most effective way to have semi-fresh garlic and ginger whenever you want them without having to worry about it going bad, and per pound is comparable to fresh, plus there's no labor required; I'm not sponsored by Big Ginger-Garlic Paste), a tablespoon of each. If you don't have either, no shame, dried is fine. A teaspoon, roughly, of each, dried, will do.

Salt, or Something Salty

In a pinch, just salt will do, but for better flavor, I like to use the packet of seasoning that comes in a Chicken Ramen packet. But that's basically just because I happen to have some spares. If you don't, I suggest a chicken bouillon cube. The best kind for this application are the Maggi cubes that are crumbly because you can crumble them up and sprinkle them, but any cube will do. 

Full disclosure, they have MSG in them, but that's what makes them delicious.

Failing that, a teaspoon of bouillon powder will do just fine too. And failing that, using half stock instead of all water will work, though it may be a bit chicken-y. I'll discuss this when we get to this step.

Five Spice Powder

This isn't vital, but it's also not hard to find. I've seen it for a buck in dollar stores. You can also use pumpkin spice (I know, heresy) in this application. But with all the other assertive flavors, you probably won't miss if it you don't have it available.

Sugar

Yes, it's a day ending in Y and I'm recommending that you have some sugar on hand.

Oil

Vegetable is fine. Cooking spray is fine. Really, it's just to keep the onions from sticking at the beginning. The pork should render plenty of fat.

You will also need:

A pot

I use a Dutch oven but any pot big enough to hold the pork will do. 8-10 quarts maybe? I don't know sizes and I was given the Dutch oven by a friend who no longer needed it, so I'm guessing here. Better to err on the side of too big than too small.

A bowl

Or a plate. Or a sheet pan. Or, if you don't have to worry about animals trying to snake your pork while you aren't looking, a piece of aluminum foil. Something to cool the pork on.

And off we go to the races!

Heat a small amount of oil in your pot over medium-low heat. Just enough to cover the bottom so the onions don't stick. If you use cooking spray or a non-stick pot, you can possibly skip this step, but a little oil will help the sauté.

When the oil in shimmering, add your diced onion. Add whatever salty thing you're using unless it's stock. The salt will help draw out the moisture. Plus sautéing the bouillon will help make it more mellow and less "CHICKEN!!!" Honestly, if there's one trick you take from this recipe, is to never just add your bouillon powder to hot water and use it like stock again. Bouillon cubes are more like a seasoning than a stock substitute. Nigerian cooks use Maggi cubes as flavor enhancers all the time, and now you can too. By cooking it at the start with all the other spices, you'll get a flavor base, and then when you add water you get all the benefits of stock as well. Enough said.

You can add a pinch of Five Spice at this point too, then cook the onions until they go translucent, maybe even a little brown at the edges. Don't scorch them or anything. Err on the side of underdone here. The onions will stew with the pork and add meaty flavor for chemistry reasons that I don't fully understand but you can probably look up.

You can see a little browning but they're not caramelized.

Now, add a tablespoon each of ginger and garlic (or a teaspoon if using dried). If you use dried, add a splash of water to keep everything from burning. Add a tablespoon of gochujang as well. By adding it early, it will become a more subtle flavor in the final dish. Honestly, that's true of just about any flavor you can name; add it early, it won't be surly. No, that's a terrible rhyme. Just remember, the earlier your guests get to the party, the more time they'll have to make small talk and get to know each other before dinner. Something like that.

Just stir everything together, break up the gochujang, make sure the onions are coated and there aren't any big lumps of seasoning, and cook off the rawness of the ginger and garlic if you used fresh. 30 seconds or so.

Now, the pork. Let me admit something: I always cook this from frozen.

My not-so-secret shame, a block of frozen pork ribs

It's a braise so if you've got fresh pork you can cook it a bit with your onion-spice masala (yes, that's an Indian term but it's applicable here), but really, just get the pork in there and add liquid. I find that two cups of liquid (here's where you add one cup of stock and one cup of water) works for me, but it depends on the depth of the pot. At least two cups, and the more you have to add the saucier it'll be at the end or the more you'll have to reduce it. You want the ribs to be about half covered. Also, add a decent pinch of sugar, maybe a teaspoon.

This is after they cooked a little and I was able to separate them, but the liquid level is what's important here.

Put the lid on, turn the heat down to the low end of medium-low, and walk away from it. Okay, don't actually do that because you could burn things or set your house on fire (a leading cause of house fires is unattended cooking) but let it perk, low and slow, for at least an hour. Check it every so often to make sure it's not boiling away all the liquid or burning to the bottom of your pot (depends on your pot, and a little browning is okay; just scrape it up) but basically you want to cook it until it falls apart. The bones should be loose (if you've got them) and you should be able to stick a fork into the meat easily. You really can't overcook pork ribs though. Let them cook for at least an hour. Take a load off. Catch up with your family.

Once you've reached that delightful pork position, take the pork out and put it in your bowl to cool. Shove it in the fridge if you can, or the freezer even. You're going to have to handle it, so it doesn't need to be cold but it shouldn't burn you.

The pork in a bowl, ready to be shredded.

While you're waiting on that, chop your cabbage into inch square pieces. Or shreds, if you prefer a finer consistency, though it'll cook more quickly. The safest way to core a cabbage is to quarter it through the stem and then cut the stem out of each wedge downward so you never have to point the knife at yourself. Please don't injure yourself for the sake of delicious cabbage.

Check out the liquid remaining in the pot. Chances are there's less of it that you started. Either reduce that amount until it looks like there's about a cup of it in the pot, or add water until there is. It's not an exact science, but you should never have to add more than a cup of water, unless you like sauce, and this sauce is pretty good. Remember that the cabbage will release some liquid though.

Add your cabbage to the pot.

See the size? It'll cook down, but that's about the dice you want.

Here's where you can choose to be adventurous and add another tablespoon of gochujang. 

I'm not scared, but that's because I know that even a little bit of cooking will mellow the gochujang out a lot. Now you know it too.

The first time I made it I didn't, and it wasn't as intense or spicy, so try it without the first time and see if you'd like a little more flavor. You can also add another pinch of sugar and a sprinkle of Five Spice here. Stir everything around until the cabbage is coated with the sauce. Now is also a good time to make sure you've scraped any brown bits (fond, if you're fancy) up from the bottom of the pot. Then cover and let cook for approximately 10 minutes, or until you get the consistency of cabbage you're after. I like mine a bit crunchy still.

Not pictured: still being crunchy. Take my word for it. But notice all the liquid it gave off? That's delicious sauce, not water.

If your cabbage finishes before your pork is cool, turn it off and let it sit while you finish up. But assuming that your pork is cool at about the same time as your cabbage goes into the pot (depending on whether you needed to reduce the sauce, you may get lucky) take your pork and pull it. You can do it with a fork but its a lot easier to make sure you get the right size pieces and sort out any bones if you do it with your fingers. Plus pork fat is moisturizing. Tell that to your dermatologist.

You want small, bite-sized pieces, not totally shredded like in a BBQ sandwich. The smaller the pieces the more flavor they soak up, so err on the side of small.

Visual aid for size. I washed my hands before I took this picture. My baby-soft hands.

Now, take your pulled pork and add it back to the pot and stir. 

In the midst of stirring, I stopped to ponder the universe and take this picture. No one knows why.

The cabbage will have given off moisture, but the pork will drink that up and you should wind up with a pretty dry pot. I'd recommend letting it sit, covered, for 5 or 10 minutes to marry up, and then it's ready.

You can eat it plain or serve over rice. I've never had it with ramen or other noodles but something tells me that would be fine too. If you're avoiding carbs and want to eat it plain but want more bulk, double the cabbage, though you may have to cook it in two batches until it reduces a little.

The end result, served over rice. This is one serving. The pot contained four this size.

Variations! Variations Galore!

I promised a variation with no spicy. Instead of gochujang, use hoisin sauce. Hoisin is sometimes called Chinese barbecue sauce, but it's probably better quality if it says hoisin on the jar. Since it's not as spicy you can use a little more of it, maybe two tablespoons versus one tablespoon of gochujang.

Another option, which is perhaps spicy but easier to find, is to get Korean barbecue sauce. Many stores sell something like that these days. It'll be a bit more spicy than hoisin, so you should taste it before you cook with it (a good rule of thumb for everything) but it'll make a delicious braise as well.

If all else fails, you can use a mild American barbecue sauce. Don't get hickory smoke or honey. "Original" in most brands will be the most basic. At this point, we're into the realm of, "it's a different dish but it will still taste amazing," so noto that bene, but if you add some soy sauce along with the barbecue and you cook it a while, it'll come out sorta-kinda Asian-esque.

If you're asking yourself, "Can I make this with another meat," anything that will stand long, slow cooking like chicken thighs or beef short ribs will absolutely work, if you don't eat pork for whatever reason. Vegetarian options are a little harder to judge. You can certainly braise firm tofu, though not as long, so you may want to cook the braising liquid a bit before you add the tofu, to make sure it mellows. For that matter, you can just make it with cabbage. Add less liquid to the pot to begin with, cook it for a bit to mellow it out, then add the cabbage and cook until tender.

Gochujang isn't as common a condiment as it should be, but it's well worth seeking out. A tub will last a long time, and it's great in other things as well. And please, seek out some Korean cuisine. It deserves more attention than it currently gets outside of large population centers.

You can do this. This is cookable.