Jasmine Tea Rub Ribs

JASMINE TEA RUB RIBS

The thought of using tea in the kitchen has always intrigued me. You’re already using a lot of matcha green tea powder, so you may be wondering how the inclusion of the coarsely powdered leaves might improve the texture of your dish.

But. Now, this is a very significant but. Meat dry rubs made with tea are delicious. And there is no grittiness! You can use the tea with any other dried herbs you prefer.

In Beijing, most of the time, we just let the experts handle the tea-based cuisine. People wait for hours to get into a restaurant known for its Tea Roasted Pork Belly.

Two hours passed before we were seated there the first time. Indeed, the benefits much outweighed the costs. The meat is juicy, delicious, and flavored with fragrant green tea. It’s such an unusual, surprise flavor! That I enjoyed it so much came as a complete shock.

But if you can make it in your own kitchen in less than two hours, why wait? Jasmine, rather than your average teabag green tea, is the star of these oven-roasted Jasmine Tea rub ribs. In addition to brining in a tea mixture, the meat is also rubbed with a tea-based dry rub.

I chose Jasmine tea, which has a light, floral flavor, but any high-quality green tea would do. Pick yourself some tea and a couple of racks of ribs on your weekly shopping run this weekend—this dish is a must, and it will not disappoint!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 rack of ribs
• 6 cups of boiling water
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 2 tablespoons of dried Jasmine tea leaves
• 2 tablespoons of salt
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of high quality jasmine tea leaves, ground into a powder
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of salt
• a handful each of toasted sesame seeds
• cilantro leaves

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add the boiling water, tea leaves, salt, and sugar to a dish or pitcher. Infuse the tea into the cooled mixture and set it aside to brew. Look for something deep and powerful. The ribs and brine mixture should be placed in a robust 1-gallon Ziploc bag and refrigerated. Remove all of the air and then reseal the bag.
2. Marinate for 3 hours in the fridge. Avoid letting it marinate for too long, or the meat may get salty.
3. Brush off any loose tea leaves and remove the ribs from the bag. The oven needs to be heated to 325 degrees F. Combine the pepper, cumin, paprika, ground tea, and salt (if using) in a small bowl.
4. Sprinkle the spices all over the ribs after brushing them with soy sauce.
5. Add a small heatproof dish of water and the ribs to the oven (this prevents the ribs from drying out). The ribs should be brushed on both sides with the honey water and then baked for 1 hour. Keep in the oven for another 30 minutes, brushing with honey water once more, and increasing the heat to 375 degrees.
6. After another 30 minutes in the oven, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and fresh cilantro before serving.