Ribs/Meat/Membrane Question

[krooz]

Smoking my 1st spare ribs today and I have a question..... On the bone side of the ribs there is a good section of meat in addition to the more exposed bone area. I pulled the membrane off of the exposed area but am curious as to the rest of the rack. Do I need to cut the extra meat off in order to de-membrane that area as well? As it stands, instinct tells me to leave it well enough alone and run with it. Hopefully we'll be eating good tonight!

Thanks

 

[treegje]

I would leave it to

I am sure, You will eat good tonight

 

[corn cob]

Krooz....The piece of meat you describe is a remnant of the diaphragm muscle -- Whether to remove it or not is one of those personal preference things..Personally I remove it, and try to select/buy ribs that have the least amount of it still attached ...If you choose to remove it, you can cook it along side of the ribs for a snack --- some include it in beans, some, myself included use it, and any other trimmings to create a pork broth to be used as a base for my mop --- while others just throw it away....HTH

Fun!

 

[mballi3011]

Like Corn said it's a personal thing I leave it. The flap that is on the back side of the ribs. Now there are alot of folks here that like to trim their ribs to what they call St. Loius cut but I just take off the membrane and in the rub and in the smoker they go. So try it both ways and see which one you like and thats the way you should do it.

 

[rbranstner]

I like to trim mine up into St Louis style spares. Then just cook that left over meat that you have and its a nice snack durning the day or put them into bean or other dishes you may be making that day.

 

[krooz]

Thanks folks. I did poke around with it a little and trimmed things up some. After I peeled that meat off I told myself " Well, that  wasn't worth the effort". It's not pretty and all squared up but I'm banking on good eats anyway. Doing the 3-2-1 and it's smelling good already! Time to baby sit and sip some cold ones........

 

[eman]

to make it pretty and squared up (st louis style) takes a good knife and some trimming.

 I smoke all my pork and beef trimmings and freeze and they can be used in chilli ,stew or pastalaya.

 

[krooz]

Well, the ribs came out just "OK". I've done baby backs using the oven/grill (and in much less time) that were better so I have some work to do here - especially on the seasoning end of things. But I did enjoy gnoshing on the trimmings as they cooked and used some in pinto beans that were quite tasty......

 

[flash]

So why just OK? What was it you did not like? Texture? Flavor? Too tender? Too tough?

 

[krooz]

Flavor/texture/color basically. I used the same commercial rub I use on my boston butts but when I foiled I brushed on a combo of butter and spiced rum. I did reduce the foil time to 1.5 hrs but when I opened the foil the suckers were black as coal - not really burnt but BLACK! Then the texture at the end - they were over done and falling apart.

Plus, I now see the benefit of doing a full trim because of the odd sections full of fat etc. I know, waa-waa-waa. I have a lot to learn yet. I have the butts down pat though. Doing a 3lb flat today for the first time - we'll see how that goes!

 

[mr500]

Ill cook this part as well and use it in Spaghetti as well I use it beans etc..

Dont knock it till u tried it. BBQ Spagetss is the shytzz hahah