Can a 4.5 lb inch and a half thick pork belly stall?

[AZ Fogey]

Did a small pork belly yesterday. Seasoned it with 50/50 pepper and salt, a little paprika, and a smidgen of white sugar and celery seed. I didn't hang it for a change but put it fat cap down on the grill grate at 275°. I was trying to emulate Harry Soo's "Cook pork belly like a brisket" technique. After an hour and a half, internal temp hit 165° so I pulled it and wrapped it in butcher paper and put it back on the grill. (Harry just puts his in the oven.) After another hour and a half, internal temp hit 192° and in the next 40 minutes it grudgingly moved up another 2°. We were getting hungry so I set the BBQGuru to 350° and when the fan kicked on, the pit temp dropped 40° before finally recovering. At last the meat hit 203° and I pulled it off to let it rest for 20 minutes. When we unwrapped it, I lifted it out of the paper and the entire fat cap peeled right off the meat. About 1 square inch of the fat cap was stuck to the paper firmly enough to hold it there. The meat was tender, juicy and delicious and probably could have been pulled, but, sticking to the brisket analogy, I sliced it. No pictures of the cook today because quite frankly, the meat looked like the thigh of a shorts-wearing motorcycle rider who fell over and slid along the pavement for a couple yards.

What was puzzling to me was that this small piece of meat seemed to stall at about 185° and just crept ever so slowly up from there. I could understand it in a hefty piece of meat, but this was more of glorified pork chop.

[Troutman]

Any large piece of meat is susceptible to stalling. There is a lot of moisture that is escaping and cooling the surface of the meat preventing it from taking on heat gain. It's the same theory that causes Arabs to wear robes in the middle of the desert, it's allowing and capturing sweat so it naturally cools the body.

We've all had stalls, especially at lower temperatures. Since I've raised my cooking temps to 275-300* for large pieces of meat I've avoided most of that. In fact I've gotten away from wrapping period unless a stall is eminamet. Your graph shows that you did cook fairly hot so just chalk it up to the old adage, every piece of meat cooks differently !!

[Craigar]

I couldn't agree more on the cooking temps of 275°-300°, especially for ribs. My next big hunks of pork & beef I will be trying 350°+ for no other reason other than I have not patience.

[mountainsmoker]

You did not say what your pork belly weighed. Normally mine are 3-4lbs. and I never wrap as the fat will never create a stall. A 1 to 1 1/2 thick pork belly should not go into a stall as it is getting hit by heat equally on those thin sides. I never wrap for the reason you discovered. It just doesn't need it.

[Huskee]

The title of the post lists it as 4.5lb.

[Troutman]

Boss, look, the plane, the plane !!!

[mountainsmoker]

Huskee I caught that but the system would not let me edit my post. I mentioned my 4 lb 1-1 1/2 inch cooks so it should not differ from mine. .

[Jerod Broussard]

My country style ribs (aka sliced pork butt) stall like a boss.

[Mr. Bones]

Reckon no matter how long ya've smoked, or how hot, or on what cooker, Mr. Stall comes to visit us all...
Leastwise, that's been my experience, Brother.

My advice?

[Huskee]

Yes, it can! Belly, butt, brisket or chuck. The stall on the thin meats might be short enough it's not obvious unless you're really watchin' her but they're composed of the same things that make the stall happen in thicker meats- evaporation of moisture from within. I too would skip wrapping a belly though, while I do wrap thicker hunks out of preference, ribs & especially belly you may find to be more palatable with a nice unwrapped bark layer.

[Henrik]

Just crank up the temp, and you'll be fine.

As for the pork belly: I've done a ton (literally) of pork belly this way, but I never wrap such a fatty, juicy, succulent piece of meat. Just let it ride and bark up like crazy. You're gonna love it! Don't need to take it all the way to 203 if you want to slice it. Trust me, it's gonna be awesome.

[AZ Fogey]

Thanks for all your suggestions which have me eager to cook another pork belly. The reason I wrapped this one is because I was following Harry Soo's technique, which he learned at a BBQ joint in Paris, France, not Texas, where they cooked pork belly exactly like they cook their brisket, and it was apparently delicious. Monkey see, monkey do. Will definitely cook it naked next time and try pulling it when it hits 190 or so. If the fat cap hadn't stuck to the paper and peeled off, it would have looked beautiful.

[Murdy]

All meat has moisture so all meat can stall, regardless. However, most of the time, with a small, thin cut, particularly cooked at a higher temperature, it is probably so brief that you don't notice it.