The Original Fobby Foody
I went home recently to the tiny first-floor apartment I grew up in with my Nainai and Yeye in Beijing. Yeye passed away over ten years ago, and Nainai has trudged on, falling into a routine of grocerying, cooking, gossiping with other widowers in her complex, and watching dramatic Chinese soap operas. My uncle is now a multi-millionaire, but she refuses to move out of the apartment of our humble beginnings.
Nainai leads a simple life, where idle hands are indeed the devil's workshop, and as is the Chinese way, rarely speaks with emotion. Her food, however, speaks volumes. It wraps you in comfort, warmth, and love, with a melancholy undertone of "Back in the day we starved. Now I will fill your belly like I never could my sons when they were young." She is the original Fobby Foody.
We cooked this hearty meal of Pork ribs | 排骨 together in her pressure cooker that must be at least 25 years old. If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can slow cook this over several hours and the results would be the same.
Nainai barely understands the concept of the internet, so explaining a food blog was a futile exercise. She was equal parts confused and amused by the fact that I wanted to photo-document every step of our cooking process. Start by simply boiling the pork ribs in water to remove impurities.
While the pork is cooking, chop up all your veggies.
These are hands that have worked in the fields, in manufacturing plants, cooked and cleaned for Yeye whom she met through an arranged marriage, fed and raised three boys, then fed and raised their daughters, and now finally, cooks and cleans only for herself.
While the pork is cooking, you should also prep your pressure cooker by adding the chicken broth and spices and bringing to a gentle boil.
At this point, your pork has probably changed color and it's time to remove from the heat. As I watch Nainai, I realize that my slow, measured movements around the kitchen are a direct descendent of hers. There is never chaos, but there is multi-tasking precision and magic.
Pick the pork pieces out of the water and into the pressure cooker, along with the vegetables and all remaining ingredients. Add some water if the pork is not completely submerged.
Secure the lid on the pressure cooker and let cook for about 30 minutes. This is a good time to catch up with Nainai over the last year that you missed of her life. Trying to understand her simplistic perspective on the US presidential election is frustrating, so move away from that topic. Hearing her matter-of-factly tell stories of running from the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War, I am filled with admiration. When she reminisces about my childhood, raising me after my parents left for America, my heart breaks for both of us. Because I know how this story ends, how we were torn apart. I know she wandered Beijing parks, following little girls around who looked my age. I remember me in a foreign new land, writing her letters saying I would meet her on a ladder I'd build into the sky.
This better life in the US that my parents paved for me came at a cost. I am grateful to my grandparents in a way I will never be able to express—their sacrifice I am never able to repay. In this moment sitting with Nainai, eating a hot bowl of pork ribs we've made together, I think of White Boyfriend and how much he would enjoy this dish. I am warmed to the core by the hot broth and simultaneously filled with love and emotion, but all I can say to Nainai is, "Can I bring you another bowl of ribs?"
For the straight-up Pressure Cooker Pork Ribs recipe, click here.