How To Make The Membrane On Baby Back Ribs Easier To Eat

If you read recipes that detail the best way to prepare baby back ribs, you'll discover many cooks who say you should remove the membrane; it's even one step in our recipe for oven-baked BBQ baby back ribs with homemade sauce. The reasoning is that if you leave the membrane on, it can give the prepared meat a tough, chewy texture. However, there are some cooks who prefer not to remove the membrane, and there are ways to make it easy to eat: Just score the membrane with a knife before it goes into the smoker or oven.

The membrane, or silverskin is technically called the peritoneum. It's a type of tissue that lines the abdominal cavity and acts as a conduit for blood vessels and nerves while keeping the organs in place. It's safe to eat, but doesn't break down much, with some cooks saying it will become tougher and shrink when it's cooking.

If you score the silverskin using a knife and make a crosshatch pattern through the membrane, the texture — which is akin to latex — can break down more easily. Because the membrane can also prevent some of the flavor of spices and smoke from penetrating into the meat, slicing openings into it allows those flavors in, which enhances the finished taste. In addition, there is a layer of fat underneath the silverskin, so scoring it allows the fat to be released while the ribs are cooking.

There are more reasons to keep the membrane on the ribs if the texture doesn't prevent you from enjoying them. While keeping the membrane on is one of the mistakes cooks say will ruin your pork, others suggest the membrane can help the ribs retain moisture, which keeps them juicy. For some chefs, keeping the membrane helps the ribs stay together when they flip them, allowing for a better presentation when they're served. To preserve the benefits of keeping the silverskin on the ribs while preventing the chance of serving ribs with a less-than-desirable texture, you might wonder if it's possible to remove the silver membrane from ribs after they've been cooked. The answer is yes, but it's more difficult to remove it than before cooking because moisture on the surface makes it harder to grasp the membrane.

Some people argue that there isn't much flavor difference between baby back ribs with scored silverskin in place and baby back ribs without it. In fact, one side-by-side comparison by YouTuber BigDaddysBBQPit suggested that the experience of each type of ribs was pretty similar, although the ribs with the scored membrane were a little juicier. Though some pitmasters say unscored silverskin does make the ribs a little chewy, the flavor and texture are similar enough that the variation is negligible.