Question: How many ways are there to prepare sweet and sour spareribs?
Answer: As many ways as there are cooks/homemakers.
A community cookbook prepared many decades ago by the Protestant Chapel Women’s Guild of RCAF Penhold contains about a dozen recipes for the popular spareribs, all with variations of ingredients and cooking instructions.
The one constant item in each recipe is “spareribs.”
A sample of the spareribs recipes is offered in this week’s column.
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Sweet and Sour Spareribs
1 lb. sparerib, cut into small pieces
3 tbsps. soya sauce
salt
flour
1/2 cup cold water
2 tbsps. white vinegar
juice of 1 lemon
3 heaping tbsps. sugar
1 heaping tbsp. cornstarch iced in a little cold water
Cut spare ribs into separate pieces. Dip in 2 tbsps. soya sauce then flour and fry in hot grease in a fryer until crisp and brown. Remove from fryer.
Prepare the sauce by mixing water, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch and 1 tbsp. soya sauce in a frying pan. Cook over a slow fire, stirring constantly until sauce thickens. Mix in the spareribs and serve while hot.
For added flavour, add a little sweet pickle juice and sweet pickles. Or pineapple tidbits may be added using 1/2 cup of the juice instead of water in the sauce.
• • •
Barbecued Sweet and Sour Spareribs
3-4 lbs. spareribs
1 onion
1/2 tsp. chili powder
3/4 tsp. celery seed
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 cup catsup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3/4 cup vinegar
Broil spareribs on both sides until meat loses its redness. Put into a roasting pan. Slice onion among ribs.
Combine all over ingredients for sauce, heat to boiling then pour over ribs.
Bake covered for 2 /12 hours at 350 degrees F., basting every hour to so.
Remove cover and bake an additional half hour. Serve with rice.
• • •
Sweet and Sour Spareribs
3 tbsps. flour
2 tbsps. sugar
5 tbsps. soya sauce
spareribs
3/4 cup clear vinegar
2 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
Fry spareribs coated in flour, sugar and soya sauce in deep fat approximately 30 minutes. Drain.
Add vinegar, water and 3/4 cup sugar and cook up to 30 minutes and thicken with flour if necessary.
• • •
Sweet and Sour Spareribs
2 lbs. spareribs
1 medium onion
2 tbsps. fat
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbsps. vinegar
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsps. brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup chili sauce or ketchup
salt and pepper to taste
Cut spareribs into serving portions. Place in baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.
Chop onion and brown in fat, lemon juice, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, water, chili sauce and salt and pepper. Cook slowly for 20 minutes.
Pour over spareribs and continue baking for one hour. Serves four.
Joyce Walter can be reached at [email protected]
