Best Chinese Baby Back Ribs

From the Great RIBS Book by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandison (outstanding little book). I used a 4 pound pork sparerib slab for this recipe and their oven/roasting method and it turned out fabulous. According to the book, you need to remove the membrane on the bony side, if you don't the ribs will be tough.

• Ready In: 9 hrs 30 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1  cup hoisin sauce
• 1⁄2 cup plum sauce
• 1⁄3 cup oyster sauce
• 1⁄4 cup wine vinegar
• 1⁄4 cup honey
• 2  tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 2  tablespoons dry sherry or 2  tablespoons  chinese rice wine
• 1  tablespoon  dark sesame oil
• 1  tablespoon  Asian chili sauce
• 1⁄2 teaspoon five-spice powder
• 1  tablespoon  grated orange zest
• 10  garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1⁄4 cup ginger, finely minced
• 1⁄4 cup green onion, finely minced green and white parts

Directions

1. To make the sauce, combine all the sauce ingredients and stir well. Makes 3 cups.
2. Remove the membrane from the underside of 2 sides pork baby back ribs or your favorite type of ribs (I used a 4 pound pork sparerib slab, which came out great). To remove the membrane, place ribs, meaty side down, on a flat surface. Using your fingernail, loosen a little of the membrane along the end of the last rib bone. Then, grasp the membrane firmly with a paper towel (so it won't slip from your grip). Holding the ribs down with the other hand, pull the membrane away. If it doesn't pull away in one piece, dislodge any remaining membrane, grip it with a paper towel, and pull the membrane away.
3. Place the ribs in a rectangular dish or baking pan.
4. Coat the ribs evenly on both sides with the marinade (reserve some for basting later on, I only used half of the sauce for the marinade). Marinate the ribs, refrigerated, for at least 15 minutes. For more flavor, marinate for up to 8 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 350.
6. Use a heavy baking sheet with shallow sides when oven roasting ribs. Line the baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil and position a wire rack on top. Spray the wire rack liberally on both side with vegetable oil cooking spray (it will make clean up so much easier even if its a nonstick).
7. Place a small pan (such as a bread tin or small Pyrex dish) filled with 2 inches of hot tap water in the bottom of the oven, to keep the ribs from drying out as they roast.
8. Lay the ribs on the wire rack, meaty side up. Slide the pan holding the wire rack onto the center oven rack.
9. To prevent ribs from steaming, cook only one baking pan of ribs per oven.
10. Always roast the ribs meaty side up, and never turn the ribs over. Otherwise, the sauce glazing the meaty side of the ribs will be dislodged. Baste the meaty side of the ribs with reserved marinade 1 or 2 times during roasting, if desired.
11. Cook the ribs until the meat begins to shrink away from the ends of the bones, about 75 to 90 minutes.
12. Remove the ribs for the oven. Wait five minutes before cutting each rib into 2 pieces, in half, or into individual ribs.