Place the fermented black beans in a bowl, and rinse them under running water for 15 to 20 seconds. Gently massage the beans as you do this. Drain the water, and set the bowl aside to let the beans rehydrate.

Cut the spare ribs between the bones into small pieces (about 1 to 1.5 inches), and place them into a bowl.

This step is done in three parts.

Cornstarch:

Add cornstarch (1 tbsp) to the ribs, and massage the ribs around to evenly mix the cornstarch around the surface of each rib.

The cornstarch helps bind to the myoglobin and juices that we're looking to cleanse out.

Rinse:

Rinse the ribs in running water for at least 1 to 2 minutes, massaging the ribs as you go.

Dry:

Pour out all of the water, and press and squeeze the ribs against a colander to get rid of excess water

Take a thick paper towel and wrap the ribs in it, pressing and patting to absorb moisture.

Step 4: Marinate ribs

Before we start marinating, if you want to save time for later, start boiling 3to 4 cups of water. This will be added to our wok when we start steaming.

Let's prepare our marinade:

Add salt (0.50 tsp), sugar (1 tsp), light soy sauce (0.50 tbsp), oyster sauce (1 tbsp), Shaoxing wine (0.50 tbsp) to a bowl.

Finely mince garlic (1 clove), ginger (1 tsp), and rehydrated mandarin orange peel (1 tsp), and add them to the bowl.

Cut a few slices of red chili pepper and our scallions (2 pieces). These will be used as garnish for later.

Combine the bowl of seasonings into the bowl of ribs. Mix and massage the bowl of ribs for 45 to 60 seconds to distribute all of the flavors.

Mince the black beans (1 tbsp), add to the bowl of ribs, and mix and massage the ribs for 20 to 30 seconds

Add sesame oil (1 tsp) and cornstarch (2 tbsp), and mix / massage the ribs around for another 60 seconds to evenly coat each rib with cornstarch.

Heat the wok on the stove, placing our steamer rack in the center of the wok. Add enough boiling water so that it just barely covers the entire steamer rack.

Carefully place the plate of ribs on top of the steamer rack. Double check to make sure that there's a little bit of water touching the bottom surface of the plate.

After 20 minutes, turn the heat off, uncover the wok, garnish with the green onions, and carefully remove the plate from the wok. Enjoy!