Dirty Harry wrote:
> Ok i'm a rookie here, what i saw on the food channel was the guy taking off
> the membrain before he cooked it. He said it was so the ribs wouldn't curl
> up. Any other reasons for this? Toughness I am guessing?
>

Makes it easier for the fat to render out of the meat; makes it easier
for smoke and seasonings to penetrate the meat from the side that had
the membrane; maybe makes it easier to eat (though membrane-on ribs are
no harder to gnaw at than corn on the cob). Some folks, with beef ribs
anyhow, deliberately leave the membrane intact in order to hold in some
of the "juices" (read "rendered fat"), but the ones who do that usually
cook with the bone and membrane side up the whole time, so they're not
trapping all the fat.