The key to tender ribs is breaking down all the tough, fibrous connective tissues holding the meat to the bone - I am not sure any amount of marinating/brining can accomplish that. There are two important cooking details when it comes to tender pork ribs:
1. Bring ribs up to ambient/room temp before cooking (this is a good practice for all meats - but especially important here)
2. Direct the 'bone side' of the ribs toward the heat source. It is critical to get the bones really hot, so they help the process of melting the connective tissue.
If you do it right, the meat will pull back from the bones, and the bone tips will be tender enough to gnaw on and suck out the marrow.
One thing I've found, the better my technique gets, the less rub I am using. The smoke and meaty flavors stand on their own. This is a point that tabs raised a year or so back, and I took it to heart - and am glad I did.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shuie
Thanks, guys.
The shoulder was kick ass. Really, really, good, IMO. The rub I used had A LOT more salt than my normal rub, but the end result was still really good and got a thumbs up from everyone at the house today.
The ribs were better than okay, but I expected fall-off-bone-melt-in-mouth-goodness after sitting in the brine overnight. The flavor was good, but they were really sinewy, fibrous, stringy, texture wise. Sorry for the Spinal Tap adjectives, I just haven't figured the rib thing out yet. My ribs are so inconsistent that Im really starting to think that it can't be me. Im going to a butcher next time to make sure have good product to start with.
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