This from a good friend and fine comp cook from "No Place,SC"
You'll know him from his tophat,at awards.
Posted by Charles in SC on June 17, 2009 at 18:25:20:
I bought a 3 pack of baby backs at Costco today. This is the first time I have bought from them. The ribs look very nice. My question is that none of these 3 racks had a membrane on them. Is this normal or did I just luck out?
Thanks in advance!
They have been coming sans membrane in KC for a little over a year now. At first I thought this was a good thing and would save us some time. But I have become increasingly disappointed with the quality of the ribs after the membrane has been removed.
I am not sure how it is done (by hand or machine), but I have gotten some mangled racks - they look great on top, but on the bone side they have at least one and sometimes two deep cuts from what I can only assume was the starting point in cutting the membrane before it was ripped off. The cuts are generally 1/3 or so down the length of the rib and always between bones.
The result for us has been pretty frustrating to deal with. Seems like it is a lot easier to over cook the bottom of the rib. The meat of the rib is great, but there is little on the bottom side hold it to the bone. We have lost a few bones at or near those cuts just in the normal cooking process an hour or two before the ribs are even finished.
Costco used to be our go-to source for back ribs, be we have switched and found a better product elsewhere.
I have no dog in this fight,but am passing it on for us to keep an eye on.
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