I’ve got new rules (but I’m not counting ’em): Always make more ribs than you think you’ll need, and don’t forget napkins for sticky fingers. Ten minutes to marinade, and an hour in the oven – this is straightforward to make, in fact it’s almost as easy as getting a takeout. Three of us managed to work our way through this lot:

Ingredients
Marinade:
4 garlic cloves, minced
125ml light soy sauce
100ml hoisin sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
And:
At least 1kg pork ribs (I used about 1.2kg)
Method
- Put all of the marinade ingredients in a large sealable bag, and squish around to combine well.
- Pop the ribs in the bag too, reseal, then tip the bag around to ensure every surface of every rib is covered in marinade.
- Place the bag flat in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes.
- Heat oven to 160C.
- Prep a large roasting tin with a double lining of tin foil, then put a roasting rack on top, and pour 1cm water into the base of the tin.
- Pop the ribs on top, reserving the marinade.
- Roast for 1 hour, brushing on the marinade every 15 minutes and turning the ribs over after 30 minutes.
- After the final basting, heat the remaining marinade in a pan in order to reduce it to a thick sauce (and to cook out any raw pork). Depending on how thick you want it, maybe add a scant teaspoon of cornflour mixed with a little water, and keep stirring until any cloudiness disappears and the sauce reaches the desired consistency.
- Serve with aforementioned napkins, fries and cucumber chunks.