Pork short ribs are the spare rib or baby back rib tips, cut
into a single 2-inch (5 cm.) wide piece with the intercostal meat (the meat
between the ribs) and meat above the bones still attached. I found this cheftalk.com page
with the information on what pork short ribs are. There’s a picture of the pork
short ribs in the recipe section of this post. I’ve only found this cut of pork
at two Asian markets in my area (and not always consistently available), so it’s
relatively hard to find. Pork spareribs or baby back ribs cut into 2-inch (5
cm.) pieces can be substituted if you can’t find pork short ribs and there will
not be any meat “above” the bone.
Other than the use of pork short ribs, the ingredients are
readily available. Fresh bamboo shoots are available at my local Asian market
and I use them when I can, but canned can be substituted. The dish is easy to
cook since all you have to do is put all the ingredients (minus the bitter
melon and green onions) into a Dutch oven to cook with Lee Kum Kee’s brand
Black Bean Garlic Sauce. The bitter melon and green onion are added at the end
of cooking to keep them from getting overcooked. All you then have to do is eat
the finished dish over rice.
Enjoy!