Ribs and membrane

[Kiska95]

Hi

You know how every video and teach in tells you to remove (rip) the membrane from the back of ribs with a paper towel or other. Just watched a video on Man finds food when the pit master leaves the membrane on throughout the cook as it "helps retains the moisture in the rib"! He then simply pulls the membrane away like dried parchment paper without effort after the ribs are cooked.

Anyone tried it?????

[essexsmoker]

I think the meat thickness and fat will determine moisture more than the membrane. Worth a try though.

[Kiska95]

True but I think his idea was that as a thick membrane the juices could not permeate through and so helped with moisture retention, seemed to work according to Adam Richman

[wade]

I always remove the membrane and I don't find a problem with moisture retention with it gone - so I think this is bit of a red herring. If anything, the membrane could probably inhibit flavour take-up from the rub - but that is just conjecture.

[essexsmoker]

I think any benefit will be minimal, which as wade said the loss of rub flavour uptake will cancel out.

[Kiska95]

wow that set things alight! But i said anyone tried it? it wasnt a point of view
But rather than be sceptical watch the show then decide. the guy was a pitmaster from KC with some different techniques.

[wade]

I have tried both leaving them on and removing them and I did not notice any difference in moisture - but then again as all smokes vary slightly you would have to cook both methods at the same time in order to really expect to compare.

I guess it just support that there are a lot of individual techniques out there that people develop. Myron Mixon with over 180 BBQ grand championships swears by removing them as did John Willingham, a BBQ Fest grand champion.

We should always be prepared to listen and try new things though.

[TakingtheBrisket]

For competition yes it needs to be removed before so the flavour gets through

[Kiska95]

Nice to have a good debate!

By way as an addendum to my first post on this subject I made an error it wasn't Alan Richman on Man finds food it was Guy Fieri on Diners Drive-ins and Dives (also Anthony Bourdain on No Reservations) and the Kansas City BBQ joint detailed was Woodyard BBQ, have a Google or YouTube it

Lets think the theory through before dismissing it?
The bottom of the ribs is all bone no meat, that's a given. The top is where the meat and the fat is, again that's a given. The fat & juice permeates the meat to keep it tender yep. When smoking you put the bone side down (Myron Mixon) again yes. So where do the juices go as they exit the meat? Down (gravity) of course. What happens to any rub on the bottom of the rib, it comes off as it is all bone and cant hold when wet. That's why there is never any/much rub left (just a bit of colour) on the bone side.
As evidenced by the bark cap, the rub doesn't penetrate far into the meat, the smoke does a little hence the "smoke Ring". Therefore there is no rub "take up" throughout the meat especially from the bone side.

Now why do we foil??? to keep in the moisture. So what if keeping the membrane on, sealed in the juices and stopped them from leaking out? Are these Pitmasters knowing that there is no rub take up on the bone side using their savvy, removing the membrain after cooking?????. Remember they are feeding paying local customers that return day after day for the taste not one off for judges on how the rib looks, so maybe its about dollar Greenbacks and not Red Herrings, bit fishy that

And if we are quoting stats...........Woodyard has been in Kansas City since 1913 predominately selling specialty seasoned wood and bbqing on the side via their catering company since the 50's. But in 1995 they opened the restaurant mainly for ribs and it is now one of the top 5 bbq rib joints in KC. By comparison Myron Mixon was born in 1962 and started comps in 1996. Prefer Johnny Trigg for Ribs myself.

But I will let you know about them all first hand as I am going to Kansas city on a BBQ crawl and the American Royal in October

[wade]

At the end of the day it all comes down to personal preference. There are wrong ways to smoke ribs but there is no single right way. Guy Fieri has his way for cooking ribs and I bet almost everyone on the American Royal has their own individual ways - some membrane on and others membrane off. I see your logic however I think it may be trying to put too much weight on small technical details.

If you were too cook ribs with it on and I was to cook ribs with it off and we gave both lots to a group of people to eat. If statistically they enjoyed eating them both, would that mean that there was no difference in the method? If they preferred one over the other then was that down to membrane, the rub or the smoker?

Great debate to have but I think any conclusions either way can only be theoretical and highly subjective. Maybe this is worthy of a blind taste trial.