Chinese Barbecued Spareribs is often questioned by the purists of Chinese cuisine for the authenticity of ingredients in the recipe. New York Times brings some respite to the controversial recipe through a recipe redux that was published in 1961, which asserts its authenticity by the Chinese culinary techniques used in the dish.
However, facts provide that the sauce used in the making of barbecued spareribs take its ingredients from the Cantonese cuisine, yet the introduction of Grace Zia Chu in her book ‘The Pleasures of Chinese Cooking’ clarifies its authenticity in the usage of the sauce in a Chinese way.
Chinese cooking is quite jealous of preserving its authenticity in its simple ingredients and therefore the borrowing of ingredients from French and American Cuisine like red wine and ketchup can definitely mar its authenticity. Chinese Barbecued Spareribs cannot even claim authenticity like Mongolian BBQ.
Mongolian BBQ uses similar ginger and garlic like any other BBQ in its marinating sauce, but the method of grilling is unique to the Mongolian BBQ. This uniqueness of grilling is missing in the Chinese Barbecued Spareribs, which might have helped the food critics or the purists of Chinese cuisine to give a verdict on the authenticity of the grilled food.
