Chinese Restaurant Spareribs

Places soy sauce in the roasting pan that's large enough and deep enough to hold 2 racks of ribs. Whisk in the water, sugar, and hoisin sauce. Scatter about a third of the smashed garlic across the bottom of the pan. Add a rack of ribs to the pan. Top with another third of the garlic, scattered evenly. Top with the second rack of ribs, and top that with the remaining garlic. The ribs are not covered by the marinade, spoon some the marinade in the bottom of the pan over the ribs. Marinate, covered and refrigerated, for 24 hours, making sure to rotate ribs frequently (every few hours, except when you sleep) to make sure the racks are evenly marinating.

When ready to cook ribs, remove them from the marinade and place them in the basket of a large steamer (2 baskets would be even better). Reserve marinade. Steam ribs gently for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove ribs in dry with paper towels.

While ribs are steaming, preheat oven to 375°.

After ribs have steamed, place each slab of ribs on a rack that has pan of water under it. Brush all sides of the ribs with the marinade. Cook ribs in the oven for one hour. While the ribs are cooking, turn them every 15 minutes (total 3 times), and brush all sides of the ribs with the marinade when you turn.

When the ribs are done, remove them from the oven, brush the tops of the marinade, and place a racks under broiler, top side up, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they sizzle a bit on top. Remove them from the broiler and let them rest for 5 minutes. Cut into individual ribs and serve immediately.