# What does pork bone off mean??



## graphicsman (Sep 19, 2011)

I am trying new meats and i was trying to become more educated in my selections.  I feel very confident in my rubs and sauces with boston butts but i was wanting to try some spare ribs now.  I went to Sams to do some research on meat selections.  I have been watching many prep YouTube videos on the proper techniques of Spare rib prep.  While browsing at the meat selection i ran across pork spare ribs that indicate Bone off.  I was wondering if this means they are trimmed but still have the membrane on them.


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## pops6927 (Sep 19, 2011)

Can't see a big picture of the product but it is indicating that the Brisket Bone has been Cut Off; just the ribs with meat remain. 

The Brisket is the ligaments adjoining the ribs, not the ribs themselves.







this is a rib divided into brisket (above) and rib (below) sections.


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## graphicsman (Sep 19, 2011)

just to be also clear, do i still need to remove the membrane?


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## larrym (Sep 19, 2011)

Yes.  If you flip them over and see the thin membrane on it.


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## alelover (Sep 19, 2011)

Unless you like the unchewable membrane on your ribs I'd remove it.


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## oldschoolbbq (Sep 19, 2011)

Use a Butter knife to ease under the membrane and use paper toweling to grab it and pull slowly off,there may be a flap of meat on the back side,cut it off and you can use in other recipes.

   Follow the cooking hints here and have a good time.You will be able to work out the times through trial and error;start with the 3-2-1 thingy and keep heat low.You will catch on,it takes practice.

   Have fun and.........


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## graphicsman (Sep 19, 2011)

alelover said:


> Unless you like the unchewable membrane on your ribs I'd remove it.




thanks, ive watched and heard about this.  

Do you guys perfer these or like trimming your own??


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## jirodriguez (Sep 19, 2011)

I usually trim my own and then smoke the meat that you cut off with the ribs. That meat then gets tossed into baked beans, or turns into cook snacks!


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## pops6927 (Sep 19, 2011)

Never had a membrane I couldn't chew, even with my real teeth (wow... that was a long time ago, too!)


alelover said:


> Unless you like the unchewable membrane on your ribs I'd remove it.


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## sqwib (Sep 20, 2011)

They got ya covered

Here's a post from my website of some Ribs, sorry its so long.
USDA ON PORK​ ​
[h1]http://ST. LOUIS STYLE PORK SPARE RIBS COOKED - 3 - 2 - 1[/h1]
(Smoked on GOSM)





 
































 





Ribs are prepped by trimming up St. Louis style, removing membrane then coated heavily with rub the night before, no mustard, I have cut back on the black pepper in my Rib Rub because of how much rub I use on the ribs, it was a bit spicy for some of the family.

St. Louis Style Video 

So far the best luck with the ribs have been a modified 3 - 2 - 1 


-3- Smoking at 225° for a maximum of 3 hours uncovered in a rib rack.
-2- Place in a steamer pan, bone side down and foil for 1 hour 40 minutes.
-1- Then remove foil and smoke another 40-45 minutes.

I was getting a bit annoyed at how much juice was lost after removing the foil, so I decided to leave the ribs in the pan for the final part of the cook, foil removed, and as you can see from the above photo, there's no loss of juices.
I just mix the juices from the pan and barbecue sauce as it's brushed on the ribs.
I have also had better success with using a rib rack as opposed to laying the ribs flat.


This gives me ribs that are easy to slice clean without tearing the meat and mangling the rib.
The result is pull of the bone clean just where you bite into it without the whole piece of meat coming off in 1 shot and slapping you upside your chin.
My previous Rib cooks, the ribs were good but slightly dry on the outside (thicker bark formation), making it hard to slice through cleanly and the meat all coming off in one shot, however, there are some that prefer it that way!

The ribs are cut down, brushed thoroughly with BBQ Sauce and the juices in the pan and served in a steamer pan.
The ribs will go a good part of the day without drying out. 
 




Rib Cook 04/23/2011

The family was wanting some ribs, so I threw some spares on "Frank" with some Chili, Japs and Dino eggs.
For this smoke I used Kingsford Original Charcoal as a main fuel source, this was actually a test run using charcoal on "Frank".

Since the majority of the Family likes fall off the bone ribs, (I prefer a bit of tug), these were cooked the standard  3 - 2 - 1 method at about 225° - 250° for a good 6 hours, I prepped and rubbed the Ribs just prior to placing them in the smoker.

After I got the charcoal going, added a split  of cherry, left the firebox door open until the split settled down a bit and threw the ribs in the smoker on a rib rack, setup the Maverick ET732 and went upstairs for a little break before starting my Meatsapalooza Chili.

  




  




  




  




  




  








The photos above show my method for rubbing the ribs,(ribs are trimmed St. Louis style).
I have found this to work best for me, many will use mustard because of the instant sticking power of the mustard base, however I see no need for it, (but use it if it makes you happy), the ribs will sweat from the rub and stick just fine within an hour.

-3- Smoking at 225° - 250° for a maximum of 3 hours uncovered in a rib rack.
-2- Place in a steamer pan, bone side down and foil, smoke for 2 hours.
-1- Then remove foil and smoke another hour.

 




 




 




 




 




 





A steamer pan was placed on the reverse flow plate just below the ribs to catch any drippings, believe it or not you really wont catch much the first 3 hours, you will get most of your juice from the foiling.

Ribs were spritzed several times after the first hour.

After the first 3 hours the ribs were placed bone side down in the steamer pan then foiled, you do not need to add any liquid but many will still add some to the foiled ribs.

Two hours later the foil was removed and the ribs were cooked another hour in the pan with no foil, you can rotate the ribs after a half hour (moving the bottom ribs to the top that are covered by the top ribs)

One hour later the ribs are removed and allowed to rest up to a half an hour before slicing.The ribs were cut down, brushed thoroughly with Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce and the juices in the pan.

The ribs were good, the family loved them I was just about to run a rack over to my neighbor when Sam, my younger daughter came in with a bunch of friends... so looks like my neighbors out of luck, they loved the ribs and the Meatsapalooza chili.
I don't think these kids ever had ribs or chili before.
I was a little surprised on the smoke ring since I primarily used charcoal, I would have imagined lesser of a ring.

*My notes on this cook*
I would not cook them this way for a party where they would sit in a steamer pan for any length of time, I would use the modified 3 - 2 - 1 illustrated in the beginning of this page, they were good for dinner but as far as left overs go, about 2 - 3 days and they're a tad dry.
I don't care for such a huge pull back either but then again these ribs were to satisfy my family and not me, I am the black sheep.

 



Rib Cook 5/23/11

  




  









  Rubbed and Resting  Into "Frank" on the rib rackAlmost There 









  

  




  Almost there  Ready for foiling  Vacuum Sealed and into the freezer for next weeks camping trip

 ​


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## SmokinAl (Sep 21, 2011)

Looks like if you follow SQWIB's tutorial, you can't go wrong.

Good luck & don't forget the camera!


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