Cooked ribs embargo by English city (8)
I believe the answer is:
brisbane
'city' is the definition.
(I know that Brisbane is or was a state capital)
'cooked ribs embargo by english' is the wordplay.
'cooked' indicates an anagram (letters cooked into a new form).
'embargo' becomes 'ban' (a ban on trade).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'ribs' is an anagram of 'bris'.
'bris'+'ban'+'e'='BRISBANE'
(Other definitions for brisbane that I've seen before include "There be bairns in Australia" , "Strange bairns be in Oz" , "Australian city" , "test venue" , "Queensland's capital" .)