Costilla de res

Grated pear tenderises and sweetens at once. Korea files it optional; most cooks disagree.

Salt drives moisture out, then the collagen pulls the sweetness back in.

Six hours of tannin and gelatin negotiating until the sauce goes glossy.

Long-cooked collagen goes rich and flat; raw acid puts the edges back on.

Fermented chilli paste has the sugar to lacquer and the salt to season.

Long braising turns allicin sweet; it disappears into the fat as body.

Something bland and starchy has to catch the braising liquid. This does.

Anethole reads as sweetness without sugar, so the glaze stays savoury.

Braise with it — the malt reads as a reduction the stock never made.

It drinks the braise and gives back a clean radish bitterness.

Braise with it. Protease breaks collagen while the salt seasons deep.

Steamed dim sum ribs: the beans season through the meat as the fat renders.

Roasted barley shares pyrazines with the sear; the bitterness thins the fat.

A splash in the braise deepens the crust flavour without tasting of coffee.

A handful in the braise and the beef reads two hours older than it is.

Braise in it: the acid breaks collagen while the sugar builds the glaze.

Nibs finish the plate with bitterness and crunch where fat has flattened it.