Falling off the bone..Lets finally make a ruling.

[AllenW]

Ok, trying to get a answer here, I understand "Falling off the bone" is not the way the judges want to see ribs, personally I don't care as I cook for my friends, family and myself.

But I quote a statement made in a article (Last meal ribs) in this forum, "a.k.a. "fall-of-the-bone ribs" which despite what others might tell you is actually a sign that they are overcooked. Instead you should be able to take a bite that pulled easily away from the bone without taking all of the meat with you. ""

Take a look here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZZjCl-pfTU

Here's a guy who knows his stuff imho and he says Nope, falling off the bone is preferred with the non competitive bunch..meaning most of us.
My own personal experience has been the same, People want falling off the bone.

Now I understand mushy, but you can have falling off the bone and not be mushy.

So, what say you??



Al

[mcook2201]

Interesting to see if we have a house divided. I am definitely in the "easily pulls away w/o taking all the meat off the bone camp". I always shoot for this level of tender. Just what I personally prefer.

[Huskee]

Not a fan. I don't want pulled pork with bones in it, I want ribs. To me this means a gentle tug.

[Troutman]

I say enjoy food that satisfies your own taste and palette. This is ‘Merica, we do what pleases us. As long as you’ve tried other methods and don’t care for them then by all means satisfy yourself and family. My wife like salt and pepper only on her ribs. My kids like soft, fall off the bone sweet ones. We cook for our audience and I’ll defend your right to have them anyway you want!!!

(except you’re ruining good ribs )

[pkadare]

So I agree with your thoughts on ribs, but dude, this is not 'Merica but rather a worldwide forum with many countries represented. :-)

[Troutman]

And for that I do apologize pkadare but quit being so sensitive my Canadian friend.

[pkadare]

Not being overly sensitive at all, simply pointing out a fact. If you find that to be a problem... Moving on.

[Mosca]

I think there’s a pretty wide range. Chewy is bad, mushy is bad. Everything in between is fine. Tug is fine, slide off the bone is fine.

[Mark V]

I like to pick up ribs to eat, I want every bite to come off the bone, might as well not have ribs and make shoulder
otherwise. But as said above, to each his own.

[lemayp]

Most of my friends and family enjoy them more at the fall off the bone stage. Figured out that when I travel with them in a cooler more than 30 min.

[Dan Deter]

I'll eat them however I can get them, even with sauce if I have to, but I prefer falling off the bone, just like I grew up when when pulling them out of the pig in the cooker true pig-pickin style.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Are you and your family happy with your ribs? Awesome, keep doing 'em that way.

But I've grown to really love "perfectly cooked" ribs which for me are the meat not falling off the bone when you pick up a bone but dang close. Applebees and such have what I consider fall off the bone. I like a rib to be like a perfect wing, you can clean a great wing in one bite but the meat doesn't literally fall off.

[GolfGeezer]

You say "tomato" and I say "toomato"…..

[Huskee]

3mato.

[mrteddyprincess]

I shoot for tug on the bone ribs, but if I miss it I have never had a single complaint about the meat pulling off the bone. This is a pic from this past Sunday. Two whole spare rib racks from Meijer and I thought they were the same size. When I got them down to the St. Louis cut, the racks were clearly not the same size. I chose to do the bigger rack Memphis style with dry rub only and the smaller one KC style and I wrapped it with foil and sauced it. That extra cooking caused bones to fall out when I picked it up. You can see a bone I placed back in the middle of it to take the photo. Also take note of the goofy daughter inserting herself into the pic and eating both products. The bigger rack turned out tug perfect. All ribs were consumed and again there were no complaints.

I would say tug on the bone is what I shoot for, but if I miss, I don't have a problem with that at all.

[bbqLuv]

Great looking rib, which one? Both.

[au4stree]

I much prefer a bit of tug on my ribs. I’ve eaten "fall off the bone" that wasn’t mushy, but would rather cook them to tender and still on the bone.

[Jfrosty27]

I say do them the way you like them. That’s it. Nuff said.

[bbqLuv]

All Ribs are good with PBR. Some just take more PNR than others.

[Huskee]

And if you start with the PBR early enough even boiled ribs are good!

[RonB]

I always wanted them with just the slightest tug, but my wife wants them to fall off the bone. I eat 'em either way...

[Bkhuna]

Just the slightest tug is a great description of well cooked ribs.