1 Sous Vide Basin I built mine from a cooler with a hole-saw
1 Vacuum Sealer
1 Sauce Pan
Ingredients
Sauce
2/3cupHoisin Sauce(~158mL)
1/2cupHoney(~118mL)
1/2cupSoy Sauce or Tamari(~118mL)
1/3cupDry Sherry(~79mL) or other cooking wine
2tspChinese Five-Spice(~10g)
1/3cupDark Soy Sauce(~79mL) this isn't regular soy sauce, it's like the Balsamic reduction of soy sauces
1/3cupChile Oil(~79mL)
Cornstarch Slurryas much as needed to thicken
Spice Rub
2.5Tbsp.Chinese Five-Spice(~37.5g)
2Tbsp.Brown Sugar(~27.5g)
2Tbsp.Kosher Salt(~27.5g)
Meat
2racksSt. Louis-style Ribsabout 8lbs.
Garnish
Toasted Sesame Seeds
Green Onions
Instructions
Setup & Initial Smoke
Preheat smoker to 250°F (121°C).
If it hasn’t been done already, remove membrane from ribs using a paring knife and a paper towel to grip and pull the membrane.
Mix spice rub of Chinese Five-Spice, brown sugar, and salt, and apply generously to ribs.
Optional, but a good idea: Once smoker reaches temp., smoke ribs for about 2 hours.
Mix Sauce & Sous Vide
Preheat sous vide setup to 148°F (64.5°C).
Mix cooking liquid of hoisin, honey, soy sauce or tamari, cooking wine, Chinese Five-Spice, dark soy sauce, and chile oil.
Once the ribs have smoked for 2 hours, take them off the smoker and place them in vacuum seal bags.
Add a little of the sauce to each bag, then place in sous vide bath. Cook for 20 –22 hours. Reserve unused sauce in fridge overnight.
Finish Smoking & Glazing
The next day, preheat your smoker again to 250°F (121°C).
Open the sous vide bags and pour as much of the cooking liquid as you can from each bag into a sauce pan.
Add the reserved portion of the sauce from the fridge to this as well, and heat on medium to medium-high heat. Add as much cornstarch slurry as it takes to thicken the sauce. Note: Watch out for boil-overs.
Pat ribs dry, and return them to the smoker for1.5 – 2 hours.
Brush a layer of thickened sauce on the ribs, roughly every 30 minutes.
At the end of the cook-time, remove ribs from the smoker and allow to rest for about 30 minutes before cutting.
Garnish with toasted sesame and green onion, and serve.