Do you know anyone with discerning taste buds? Those who try a dish and know they can create it at home? Those who are not satisfied with using just a bottled barbecue sauce in their attempts to create the best ribs ever?

Steven R. Lee is one of those cooks. He makes pork spareribs that are so delicious, all his friends ask for the recipe.

Now retired, Lee held a marketing job for the state, promoting Hawaii products such as coffee, papayas, manufactured food, and on the “Island Fresh” campaign. These days his focus is on cooking food. He and his wife, Laisin, enjoy time in the kitchen, and they often entertain in their Maunalani Heights home.

Lee created his rib dish using easily accessible pre-made ingredients, but he combined them in an unusual way to deliver a spicy, slightly sweet sparerib that is memorable. It’s a recipe that offers a nice kick of spiciness, one that’s easily adjusted by the amount of cayenne (or substitute paprika) and chili sambal. It is a far cry from the cloyingly sweet bottled barbecue sauces.

The pork, meanwhile, is tender but not falling off the bone.

“I like my spareribs to have a bit of texture, some integrity, not where they disintegrate into pulled pork,” Lee said.

He first cleans baby back ribs, removing the white skin, then generously coats the meat with a dry rub of ground cayenne pepper, garlic salt and McCormick’s Montreal steak seasoning. Then they sit in the refrigerator uncovered to allow air to circulate around them. Lee has this down to a science: He places the meatiest side of the ribs on a rib rack, with metal skewers to keep them in place. It’s best to let them rest overnight, but in a pinch four hours will do.

The next day, he starts the cooking process by baking them uncovered at high heat, then lowering the temperature, adding liquid and covering the pan.

His barbecue sauce — a combination of everything from guava jelly and molasses to Thai chili sauce and hot chili sambal — is simmered on the stove and treated as a glaze that is added only in the last few minutes when he finishes the ribs on a charcoal grill.

All of the ingredients for the sauce can be purchased at regular supermarkets and club stores. Use any bottled barbecue sauce you like. Lee prefers the Sweet Baby Ray’s original brand. Thai sweet chili sauce adds sweetness, heat and garlic. Guava jelly gives more sweetness and a tang, while molasses rounds it out. Lee heads out to Chinatown for a Taiwanese brand of sambal with shrimp and garlic. The bottle is identifiable by a donkey symbol. If you like your sauce tangier, he advises adding a tablespoon of vinegar.

Lee’s preferences aren’t hard-and-fast rules. “Add what tastes good to you. Like wine, if sambal doesn’t taste good by itself, then it won’t be good in your barbecue sauce,” he said.

If you don’t have access to a grill, brush on the barbecue glaze during the last few minutes of baking. But if you do, “the green guava wood over hot charcoal adds a char and a smokiness to the pork,” Lee advised. “A gas grill doesn’t add the same flavor.”

Lee has tried his sauce on other meats but finds the combination with pork to be the tastiest.

“This sauce was designed for pork ribs,” he said.

STEVEN LEE’S PORK RIBS

With ‘Secret’ Barbecue Sauce

• 8 to 9 pounds (3 racks) baby-back pork ribs
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1/3 cup garlic salt
• 1/3 cup McCormick’s Montreal steak seasoning
• 2 to 3 cups water or broth (chicken or beef)
• >> Sauce:
• 1 cup Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce, original flavor (or use your favorite bottled sauce)
• 1/2 cup Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce
• 1/4 cup guava jelly
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 teaspoon sambal (or any hot chili sauce)
• 1 tablespoon vinegar (optional)

DAY 1

Remove white membrane from concave side of ribs. Cut each rack in half for easier handling.

Generously sprinkle with cayenne pepper, garlic salt and Montreal steak seasoning. Let ribs sit uncovered in fridge overnight, meaty side facing down. A rib rack is useful here to let the air circulate between the ribs.

Use metal skewers to hold the ribs in place on a rib rack.

DAY 2

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put ribs in oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and add water or broth to pan. Cover entire pan with foil, reduce temperature to 325 degrees and bake 90 minutes.

While ribs are baking, make the sauce. In pot, combine barbecue sauce, chili sauce, jelly, molasses and sambal (plus vinegar if using), and heat over low until combined, about 10 minutes.

About 10 minutes before ribs are done, start charcoal grill using guava wood, if possible, to add smoke.

Place ribs on hot grill about 2-3 minutes per side to form a nice crust. Baste each side with barbecue sauce for 1 minute on each side. Cut into individual ribs. Glaze with more sauce. Serve with extra sauce on the side. Save pork drippings to use in gravies, sauces and soup bases. Serves 15 or more.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving (Based on 9 pounds of ribs and 15 servings): 570 calories, 38 g fat, 14 g saturated fat, 155 mg cholesterol, 2,100 mg sodium, 16 g carbohydrate, no fiber, 13 g sugar, 37 g protein.

Lynette Lo Tom, author of “The Chinese Kitchen,” is fascinated by old-fashioned food. Contact her at 275-3004 or via instagram at @brightlightcookery. Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.