Those Black Pepper Oven baked Ribs have a lovely sweet and salty outside with a strong black pepper flavour. They are inspired by my old recipe of Pepper Shrimp Udon. I wanted to make something similar but as a crust for ribs. It ended up quite peppery but really nice.

You might want to adjust the pepper level to your taste by, for example, adding half of the black pepper so you still have the flavour without the “heat”. Also I used long black pepper from Java, which has a more cinnamony flavour, but you can also use normal black pepper and add, if you want, a teaspoon of all spice or Chinese five spice or even some garam masala.

The ribs of this recipe have been cooked so they still hold on the bones but when bitten they come clean off the bone. If you like them softer, or fall of the bone, you can cook them for 30 minutes to one hour more while wrapped in foil.

INGREDIENTS FOR 1 RACK OF RIBS

• 1 rack of pork ribs (500gr)
• 2 tablespoons of black peppercorn
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Crush the black pepper corn in a pestle and mortar until you have some fine black pepper with some coarser pieces also.
2. Add the sugar and the onion powder and mix.
3. Preheat your oven at 150°C (or 300°F) and put an oven dish with 1 to 2 cm of water at the bottom of the oven.
4. Remove the membrane of the back of the ribs if your butcher did not do it for you.
5. Massage the ribs with the soy sauce to cover it all with a thin layer.
6. Cover the ribs with the pepper mix.
7. Wrap the ribs in aluminium foil and bake for 2 hours.
8. After 2 hours, remove the ribs from the oven, unwrap them and put them back in the oven with the broiler or grill on to crisp it up.
9. Cook for 3 to 5 more minutes and remove from the oven.

Enjoy 😉