Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They usually bring a selection of some of their market's choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast fit for kings ... or at least patrons of Marczyk.
Every week, we'll be sharing their recipes on the Cafe Society blog. This week, Hawaiian-style pork chops. See Pete's recipe, more photos and a video of Pete making the ribs after the jump. (Video and photos by Alexis Johnson)
4 country-style pork ribs cut individually 1 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup water 1/4 cup dark sesame oil 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 T grated ginger 2 cloves grated or finely minced garlic scalions for garnish
Combine above ingredients to make the marinade, and marinate pork for at least one hour and as long as overnight. Line a sheet pan with foil and bake the ribs at 400 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes, until the meat takes on a nice, golden brown color. (Trust me on the foil lining: The sugars will be a royal pain in the tuchus to clean.) Check fairly often to prevent carbonization of the sugars. If you see the sugars starting to burn, turn the oven down 25 degrees. While pork is cooking, put remaining marinade in a saucepan and reduce by half. This will become your dipping/slathering sauce. Remove when pork is 145-155 degrees.
At this point, you can leave the pork at room temp for up to two hours before you finish the dish. This is convenient for parties, because you can do almost all of it ahead and then just follow the last finishing steps.
There are two ways to finish this dish: 1) Remove pork from oven and finish on the grill for color and full flavor development. Now is when you want the sugars to caramelize. Make nice grill marks and serve with the sauce and garnished with scallions. 2) Finish pork under the broiler until you get a nice caramelized color. Serve same way.