A Quick How-To: Removing the Rib Membrane ((GRAPHIC CONTENT))

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So here is a quick piece of instruction for the novices out there. For those of you currently not taking this step, adding it to your process will make your ribs more tender well as easier to separate when properly cooked. I am a huge fan of things like bratwursts, other wursts, high-quality hot dogs like Sabrett's or Boar's Head, any high-quality sausage like product, but I like to reserve the 'snap' for those products only. What I mean is a good rib should do a lot of things, but snapping when you bite is not one of them. Remove the membrane and yours will not.

Some of the pictures that follow will be considered a little gory except maybe to myself and the three current followers of my blog. I usually start in one corner of the rack and work the edge of the membrane loose, maybe with my fingers, a steak knife, or this weird kitchen tool my wife has. Imagine a large butter knife with a large rounded end and a serrated edge on one side. Once a corner is free I slowly pee the membrane back, being careful to keep it in one piece, and using surgical precision with the steak knife to cut any particularly troublesome sinews. A popular technique here is to use a paper towel between your fingers to get a firm but gentle grip on the fragile membrane (for the record I know that sounded gross). One this is done your ribs are ready for a rub.

And here is a quick peek at what's in store for this weekend:

Ribs and Mac n Cheese

So we had a gorgeous day today, I had big plans for some ribs that were in the fridge rubbed, and had been sitting in ACV (apple cider vinegar) 24 hours prior to that. After 4 hours of smoking they came out pretty good, more on that later. When I did the shopping, I went to the store late and the pickins were slim, so you can see from the pictures that these cuts were a little smaller than what I usually do.

I used my usual rub, the tumeric rub (you can find the recipe on the tracker once I figure out how to upload it). I used soaked hickory chips in boxes on the briqs. Had my stinky homebrewed beer from last summer in drip pans under it to self based, did it all on my modded CG which I will detail on a later episode. Brushed with SBR (Sweet Baby Ray's) about a half hour before coming off the grates, rested about a half hour before eating.

I used Kingsford competition briqs which my wife bought on sale at Costco. I had high hopes for them because they were supposed to have less binders, crap wood etc and I expected a higher level of performance than from regular K-ford. These briqs were OK and doable for my application but not great. They had a higher cooking temp, but burned through pretty fast. I learned soon that I absolutely HAD to use the minion method if I wanted my temperature not to dip below 200, they just burned out too fast to get another chimney lit and going. They produced so much ash that I had to dump it at one point to keep air flow going and I almost started a garbage fire.

Overall the ribs came out pretty good as I said before. The 24 hour ACV soak turned out to be too much, and the pork flavor never got past the vinegar left in the meat. Mike and Mike loved them and had no complaints, my wife picked on them and I think noticed the vinegar. Other than the vinegar the results were good. They were moist, tender, had the right amount of bark, were not burned in any place thanks to the new heat shield.

Another experiment that came out great, I saw somewhere someone smoking macaroni and cheese. I thought this sounded good so just to try, I took one of those store-bought macaroni and cheese boxes, I think from whole foods, made it, shredded and mixed in a healthy amount of real cheddar, and put it in the smoker for like the last 40 minutes. This stuff came out GREAT!! The smoke flavor in the cheddar was good, next time I'll use a good mac n cheese recipe and leave it in longer, maybe with mesquite.

All in all a decent day out. Lessons learned:

1. Kingsford Competition is probably great for grilling but not great for smoking.
2. A 24 hour soak in ACV is too much.
3. The theory that anything tastes better coming out of a few hours in the smoker has been supported this week by MAC N CHEESE.