A couple of weeks ago, my wife brought some spare ribs home from the grocery store. Since I had only been smoking for about a month, I had not planned on trying ribs for quite some time as I wanted to get more experience with other cuts/items first and then I had intended to do baby backs because I wouldn't have to do all the trimming to St. Louis style. But I figured, oh well, what the hell, I will give it a try. I viewed a couple of "how to trim spares to St. Louis style" videos (thanks WD for the links) and went after it.
The trimming went well, or so I thought until I was eating them and realized I had missed a good portion of the cartilage. I could not for the life of me get the membrane to come off properly. I doubt I got over 10% of it off. I had WAY TOO much smoke going. When I opened the lid to spritz, I had to stand off to the side and let the smoke clear before I could get close enough the see what was going on. Not exactly the experience I was expecting.
For better or worse, I had the whole rack to myself over the next couple of days, and, membrane and all, I thought they were pretty damn tasty. Even when things go bad, the food can turn out good. I am definitely looking forward to next time.
Hang in there.
Dave