Pork belly part deux: Non-shutdown edition

[DaveD]

Welp, defying every single expectation, the US Congress actually carried out its most basic function yesterday and did not fail to keep the government open. I'd had a bunch of cooks planned for the coming couple of weeks, expecting to be on furlough, starting with today. How about them apples? Fortunately only today's cut is thawed out so I can hold off as needed.

But here in northern Virginia it is a spectacularly gorgeous autumn morning, with near-cloudless sunshine, early temps in the high 60sF/20ishC on the way to highs around 80F/27C with just a touch of humidity (dew points around 60F/15C) and only a slight breeze. I'm doing my second pork belly - did my first back in January and it was the best pork we've ever eaten, so I'm way overdue for a sequel.

So here's today's office, in the style of Panhead John Pork belly from the local Wegmans, a bit under 4lb/~1.75kg, not as thick as the first one I did, so likely not to take as long (first one took ten hours). Fired up the SnS kettle around 9am with B&B coals, and the full load of unlit just went in the insert.

Dry brined the belly overnight, and hit it with Central BBQ Rib Rub this morning (still out of Jenni In A Bottle, but got my request in for a resupply). Looks like a good day on tap

[realdocBBQ]

Looks great!

I cannot recommend enough, sometime... try the pork belly with JUST salt and pepper. Wow. Just wow.

[DaveD]

Next time!

[Elton's BBQ]

True!

[WayneT]

Dave, please don’t encourage or give kudos to our elected officials, they will use it against us.

[DaveD]

I shall endeavor to persevere...!

(When I first started reading your post, "please don't encourage..." I thought you were gonna name-check Panhead John ... )

[Mosca]

Lol the shutdown, not for political reasons but because you anticipated an unplanned vacation that didn’t happen.

[DaveD]

No good deed...!

[HotSun]

A lovely day indeed. Nice work so far, DaveD , I can almost smell it from here.

How do you plan to serve the pork belly? I've never smoked one, but it's on my bucket/to-do list.

[DaveD]

On the first one, I just sliced it and slapped it on a plate with sides... had a nice firm texture despite being probe-tender, better for slicing than pulling. For one of the leftover cooks, I chunked some of it up and piled it on a belly-lettuce-tomato sammich.

[HotSun]

Sounds great, thanks DaveD !

[DaveD]

And we're off! Belly was just below freezing going on to the grate. More later!

[Panhead John]

The good folks of Texas do not appreciate your vivid descriptions of gorgeous weather. Please refrain from all glorious weather anecdotes until November……Thank you!

[DaveD]

Sorry not sorry! But seriously, you have my sincerest sympathies... the traumatic memories are all too vivid...

[holehogg]

Pork belly definitely the most versatile piece of pork by far. I made my acquaintance with the spare tyre many years ago and it appears to be my most favoured of all the meat types. I can without question recommend doing a whole belly with MMD (Meatheads Memphis Dust) but even better use it when making Belly Burnt Ends. If you have not made Burnt Ends then I strongly suggest it rises to the top of your "to do cook list."

Sounds like a great day ahead, enjoy your cook Sir.

[DaveD]

Hey hey holehogg !! Great to see you. Thanks for tuning in

[Stuey1515]

We had this very thing last night, served with lightly pickled carrot, radish & red onion on a fresh hamburger bun, very good stuff!!!

[DaveD]

Everything is Nominal AF, belly is smoothly cruising up to near-stall conditions, lovely bark developing, kettle holding temperature very steadily. All is well.

[Elton's BBQ]

Looks nice!

[Donw]

I always use pork belly to make bacon and have never tried smoking it whole. What temp range are you looking for in the finished product to start probing?

[DaveD]

Donw , please see below...

[DaveD]

As expected, this belly is coming along more quickly than the first one I did back in January. After 5-6 hours, it's starting to probe very tender in ~75% of spots, with a core that is still a bit resistant. ITs are currently in the low 190sF/high 80sC, and I put it in the foil boat a little while ago. Firing up the pellet rig now as a holding oven where I'll aim for about 175F/80C and let it rest, covered with foil on top of the boat, for the remainder of the afternoon until dinner time (about 3 hours from now). I doubt it will need to get above 200F/93C to be like buttah everywhere...

Here's some progress shots:

At about 3 hours:


At 4.5 hours:


More in a while!

[DaveD]

I've had the boated belly in the Pit Boss for almost 2 hours now, running around 175F/80C, and although there's nothing to take a photo of, I just probed it and holy guacamole, it's the probe-tenderest thing I've ever made. May as well be sliding the probe into, well, guacamole! Zero resistance, with IT about 185F/85C.

My lovely bride has been working on a potato leek soup all weekend - did the chicken stock Friday and yesterday, and did the main ingredient step today, waiting to do the final steps (adding whipping cream) until just before dinnertime. So I get to hang out in this absolutely glorious weather (oops, I mean totally terrible conditions) for a while and then we'll go for it

After-action will be next!

[DaveD]

Okey doke, time for the deliverables. This pork belly was amazing! Porktacular. Pigalicious. Swinetastic. I was just able to slice the thing, despite its jello-like tenderness, and it was just exploding in juice. Fatty as all getout, of course, but it had rendered very well and it was easy to pick out the mostly-fat strata in between the meat layers.

Here's the final temp profile. Not sure why the kettle temp jumped way up there right before moving it into the pellet smoker, maybe my water trough ran dry... IT got just over 200F/93C when I moved it over. Once the IT drifted down to about the same as the 175F/80C in the pellet rig, I dropped the set point to 150F/65C for the rest of the way. Took it out and let it sit on the counter in a pyrex pan for the last half hour before slicing. The cut was awash in juices in the foil boat when it came out, but absorbed a bunch during that last half hour. Those promptly re-emerged upon slicing...


Behold!




Plated with steamed zucchini and a bowl of my lovely bride's potato leek soup garnished with shredded cheese and some bacon crumbles (because we just didn't have enough pork). Kind of a heart attack on a plate, but SO GOOD.




It was so tender, it was basically the pork equivalent of "need no teef to eat our beef".

[HotSun]

Excellent write-up and results DaveD ! Now I know what I'm doing next time I see pork belly at a good price.

[jfmorris]

That looks Amazing!

I've only done burnt ends and bacon with belly. I may need to try smoking it like this some time, if I ever see belly again that is! Costco was the only local place I've seen it for sale, and I let my Costco membership lapse last December...

[ecowper]

Pork belly burnt ends are the bomb!

[ecowper]

Great looking belly! If you happen to have some left, dice it up and slowly cook in a frying pan. Let the fat render quite a bit and get the little chunks kinda crunchy. Use it for topping a salad instead of bacon. You're welcome!

[DaveD]

I do have about half of it left, that large piece in the photos above showing the side view after I served the slices. Definitely got some options on how to use that...