Chinese spare ribs with Beijing barbecue sauce

I got this dish from Steven Raichlen. Don’t be alarmed by the black appearance. The spare ribs are not burnt. They are black because of the barbecue sauce.

It is a delicious recipe where sweet and spicy come together. In fact, four flavours are merged:

• First of all, the spare ribs are rubbed with a 5-4-3-2-1 rub. This is a dry rub based on star anise.
• Then the spare ribs are sprayed with the rice wine and apple cider.
• In addition, the spare ribs are smoked with cherry flavoured wood chips.
• Finally, they are rubbed with a sweet and spicy Beijing barbecue sauce.