Rib Membrane Question

dadsr4 said:

The difference I see is if you leave the outer membrane on, any rub over the outer membrane does not reach the meat. It takes so little effort to remove the outer membrane, that I do it every time. That all the trimming I do before rubbing and cooking.

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I disagree, the outer membrane is seasoned and you will be eating it but like said, sometimes I score it and seasoning may or may not get into it. Ribs are not so thick like a pork butt or brisket, I don't think it is such a big deal. After working in restaurants and prepping ribs in the thousands, 4 or 5 cases 5 to 6 days a week I know how hard or not hard they are to skin. Some do not even season the backside they think it is a wast of money, if you are not going to remove the second membrane then whats the point. I really do think they come out much more juicy when it is left on. Having said all that I suggest everyone should try it or just do it how you like, that is the beauty of bbq, there is more than one way to skin a cat, no pun, what the heck pun intended. :-o
Dave

I'm with landarc never seen two I just pull it off to bare bone, never had a problem with them falling apart unless I completely overcook them.

pwa

I apologize for my crap cell phone pic. The first photo shows a knife lifting up the second membrane, exposing bare bone. This is very hard to remove so most give up even trying, if you do you will have a full rack of shiners, so don't do it. The confusion may come when you get a slab that for some reason the top membrane has been remove and you may try to remove the second one thinking it is the top one. Look close at the first bone with the knife and the edge of the second bone, you will see a little bit of what is bare bone and what the whole rib section would look like if it were removed.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=73332&stc=1&d=1355183686

The second photo shows the top membrane being pulled off by the paper towel this is what most of us pull off. Shiners show up sometimes if the second tuff membrane is damaged or cut usually by the butcher processing the ribs. This later opens up when cooking shrinks it and exposes the bone. As I said, putting a rub on the backside will not do much except flavor the meat above the bones showing and make the membrane taste better I guess. For the purpose of seasoning the meat above the bones I do season the backside, but leave both membranes on.
Dave


http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=73333&stc=1&d=1355183686

Bump

Mo-Dave said:

I have not removed the membrane in a good while now and notice nothing different except the amount of time spent prepping them

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Amen brother...I cooked in a farmers market this past summer. First day I pulled membranes on 15 racks of spares. Pain in the ass...so I tried leaving the membrane on the following week. Not only did my customers not notice, it saved a ton of time (grew to 50+ racks each week of the market). I did pull the membranes on the beef ribs, but I only sold like 8 of them each week.

Correction----I had one barbecue nerd the whole summer come up and start analyzing my ribs...my rub wasn't applied evenly, ribs should have been cooked lower and slower, and who did I think I was leaving the membrane on. I politely said if you don't like them you shouldn't buy them. He became a repeat customer....:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

Thanks for the pics and explanation Mo-Dave. I now see what you're talking about regarding the "inner" layer.
Yea...I never messed with that one.

Heisenberger said:

are we talking pork here? or does this apply to beef ribs as well?

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Beef ribs too - same thing, outer only. But Beef ribs secondary membrane will still be like tough paper when cooked, nobody minds though.