Cherry-Smoked Char Siu Ribs

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Baby back ribs rubbed with five-spice and brown sugar, smoked low and slow over cherry wood at 250°F, then lacquered with a sticky hoisin-honey glaze in the last half hour. All the sweet-savoury char siu flavour of a Chinatown roast, with the smoke ring only a real smoker gives you. Almost entirely hands-off once the fire is steady.

Ingredients

• 2 racks baby back pork ribs (about 4 lb total)
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
• 3 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated

• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Pat the ribs dry. Slide a butter knife under the thin membrane on the bone side of each rack, grip it with a paper towel and peel it off. Mix the salt, five-spice, brown sugar and garlic powder and rub it over both sides of both racks. Leave at room temperature for 30 minutes while the smoker comes up to heat.
2. Set up your smoker for indirect cooking at 250°F (120°C) and add 2 or 3 chunks of cherry wood (or a foil packet of cherry chips over the heat source). Wait for the smoke to run thin and blue before the meat goes on.
3. Lay the racks bone-side down on the grate, not touching, and smoke undisturbed for 3 hours. Top up the cherry wood once at the 90-minute mark. By the end the bark should be deep mahogany and the bone tips exposed by about 1/4 inch.
4. Meanwhile, whisk the hoisin, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar and grated ginger together in a bowl. Set aside about a third of it in a separate dish for serving.
5. Tear off two large sheets of heavy-duty foil. Brush each rack with 2 tablespoons of glaze, wrap tightly meat-side down, and return to the smoker for 1 hour, until an instant-read thermometer pushed into the meat between the bones reads 200-203°F (93-95°C) and the probe slides in with no resistance.
6. Unwrap the racks (pour off the foil juices), return them meat-side up directly to the grate, and brush generously with the remaining glaze. Smoke uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes, brushing once more halfway, until the glaze is tacky and shiny rather than wet.
7. Rest the racks on a board for 10 minutes, then slice between the bones. Scatter with sesame seeds and scallions and serve with the reserved glaze for dipping.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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