Alton Brown Ribs OT

BGEChicago

Watching Good eats reloaded and he did a baby back ribs segment. His rub was 8 parts brown sugar, 3 parts salt and 1 part pepper, chili powder. Ok, not the best rub, then he rubs it with the membrane clearly on and cooked in the oven.... I'll give him a pass on this one because it was so early, however being a reloaded, he never stopped the tape and said "this is how I do it now" as is the case with reloaded. Whoa, what if he came here to give advice, I do believe it would be his first and last post Damn shame the bad advice back then!

YukonRon

I have made the same mistake of leaving the membrane on for the cook. However, after the cook, and prior to serving, I decided to remove the membrane. It seemed to be so much easier to do, after the cook. I have not done it since, but it was no biggie.
His choice of seasoning you had described is indeed suspect. I will also say this, I do enjoy his take on many of his cooks, and those to which I have followed, have been nothing less than stellar.
I enjoyed reading your insight and agree with your points. He must have totally forgotten how important ribs are to folks like us.

SmokeyPitt

FWIW Adam Perry Lang leaves the membrane on and instructs others to in his book.  

GrillSgt

If the membrane wants to put up a fight I simply cut through it between each rib. It shrinks more than the meat and it isn't a problem. I've seen several gurus that do not remove.

JohnInCarolina

SmokeyPitt said:

FWIW Adam Perry Lang leaves the membrane on and instructs others to in his book.  

I think in the video Aaron Franklin has on spares he says he leaves it on too.  But then... what do these guys know, right? 

saluki2007

Central BBQ in memphis pulls back the membrane, they do not pull it off.  They then put the rub on and then lay the membrane back over the rub.  

Teefus

I've made Brown's oven baby back recipe a couple times and it's pretty good. It isn't BBQ, but it's tasty. I went years without removing the silver skin too. On my Weber it kept the meat from drying out. It ate just fine. With my Egg I peel it off.

Toxarch

The membrane is easy to pull off, just use a paper towel to grip it.  It's a lot easier than flossing all that membrane out from between your teeth.

SonVolt

Never once removed the membrane before cooking. 

BGEChicago

WOW! I learn something new everyday. Ok, next cook membrane on.... I hope it doesn't void my BGE warranty  

gdenby

I looked over my collection of rub recipes, and found one called "KC BBQ Society" that was much the same, mostly brown sugar, much less salt, and about 10%, four other flavors, mostly paprika. I also once came across a recipe for a Memphis butt rub which was almost all brown sugar.

There was a guy from Michigan who had a pretty good rep, called Billy Bones. He never peeled the membrane, but he was using an offset. He said it kept the fat from dripping out so much, and right at the end, he ran the temp up to 450 to burn it away.

st¡ke

I remove the membrane simply bc the rub sticks better on that side w/o it. 

SonVolt

That's the logical reason, but I've never eaten ribs where the membrane was left attached and thought "the underside sure needs more rub".