Nick Coffer’s Weekend Recipe

Chuck-in-the-oven Baby Back Ribs

I recently made the mistake of posting a similar recipe to this one on a local Facebook group. I wanted to publicise the fact that I’d used ribs from our local butcher and was proud of these deliciously tender and ribs. As well as the praise, the comment section was filled with “Rib Kings” who were seemingly furious at the recipe’s simplicity. I know there are 12, 24 and 36 hour versions for ribs, but these are truly the “chuck-in-theoven” easy version. And they are absolutely wonderful.

Ingredients You’ll need one full rack of baby back ribs, preferably with back membrane removed

Store-cupboard marinade: 4 squirts ketchup 3 squirts honey Really good glug dark soy sauce

Drizzle of oyster sauce Drizzle of sesame oil 1 tsp garlic powder 2 tbsp xiao xing wine 1. Mix all the marinade ingredients together. You can be pretty relaxed about the exact quantities. Save a little for later and rub the rest all over the ribs.

Serves 2 people 2. Pop them in a non-stick baking dish, add a little water to the base and cover with foil.

3. Bake at 130C for 4 hours, basting both sides every hour or so. You can always add a little water as you go to get the best bits off the bottom.

4. Uncover for the last 20 minutes and baste with the leftover sauce from earlier.

5. Carefully remove them from the pan and leave them to rest, wrapped in foil, for 15 minutes.

6. Cut them up and serve them immediately. The meat will be literally falling off the bone.