Been thinking about trying belly's for a while. Either curing to make bacon or trying Chris Lilly's smoked recipe. So today, I went to our local Mexican superstore and brought home a 18 lb belly. We plan to cut it up into 4 parts. First one will be smoked. My question to ya'll is send all your belly help. Thanks Larry
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Lotsa good bacon info from Meathead on AR. If you want more, check out Rhulman's bacon at http://ruhlman.com/2010/10/home-cured-bacon-2/ Rhulman also talks about making pancetta from pork belly. All good stuff! Enjoy! -
I use amazing ribs recipe for bacon. It's a home run. 18 pound belly is BIG! Have fun with it!Comment
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One tip that I don't remember if I've seen mentioned is I like to trim all the fat cap off. I know bacon is supposed to have a lot of fat, but personally there's enough internally to still be good bacon IMO so I trim all the exterior cap away. It always turns out great. I've only done 3 batches so I'm no expert though. You can't go wrong with Meathead's recipes.Comment
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I like to do belly skin-on. Score the skin, apply rub liberally, then Q low and slow over liquid (skin-up) to about 190-195º. Once there, place over direct coals skin down to crisp the skin. The result is pork with a layer of delicious cracklins attached. I'm with Huskee on the fat, but the local Vietnamese market sells belly that has very little fat, mostly lean with a little fat under the skin. Pics attached to prove it happened!
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I love to make Malcolm Reed's Pork Belly Burnt Ends.
Here goes......
Take the pork belly and cut it into cubes about an inch square. Then take the cubes and cover them in your favorite sweet rub. (Memphis Dust is a great option for this)
I like to put the cube on a wire rack, this makes it pretty easy to move them all in and out of the smoker. (I do this with wings as well) Then I place the rack in the smoker at about 275 F. Let them smoke until they are at about 175 F internal, or they have enough bark. To me, the more bark the better, especially for burnt ends.
Once they have enough bark, take them out of the smoker and throw them into a foil or stainless pan. Cover the pieces in brown sugar, throw in a half or full stick of butter and maybe some honey or a sweet sauce. I looooove Blues Hog Sauce for this step. Cover the pan and throw it back on the smoker. Let them cook until about 190 F.
They should be soft and very tender. Remove the foil top and cover with a glaze of your choice. ( I like to use Texas Pepper Jelly's Rib Candy.) Make sure they are good and covered in the glaze.
Then return to the smoker, uncovered just to firm up that glaze. Enjoy. These are amazingly good.
This is a killer recipe.Comment
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I recently smoked my first pork belly (https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...-at-pork-belly) and it was amazeballs! It's high on my list for a repeat.
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I absolutely love pork belly! I've done many. As I see it there are two schools: with skin, and without.
I always remove the skin, as I cook/smoke pork belly til 203 deg F. By that time the skin is less appealing. It is thin, hard, and not great to eat.
If you want the skin on, then it should be 'popped' properly. Correctly 'crackled' skin on belly is amazing. The trick to 'popping' the skin is superhot temp for a short time.
Popping refers to the heat forming blisters on the skin that then pops (breaks) because of the heat.
Now, in my experience, to pop the skin one should cook the belly for a shorter time, so the skin still has some moisture and texture.
I have yet to combine the two, but would love input from other forum members.
Come to think of it, one thing we did as kids was to smoke the belly for an hour, then pop the skin over high heat, eat it as salty snacks by pealing it off with our fingers, then keep smoking the belly til done.Comment
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I think I got carried away by my passion for pork belly, so there were few details. In short, do:
dry brine
rub
smoke
rest
slice
When brining, this is one example where I deviate from Meathead's recommendations. I double the salt, since I personally think the pork both needs, and can take, more salt.
smoke it low n slow. Cherry wood goes great with pork, but use whatever you fancy. I cook it until IT is 185 deg F, then wrap it in a faux cambro for one hour. Slice and enjoy!Comment
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I recently did a pork belly braid. When it was done I sliced it into chunks and retried in its own belly fat. First time belly cook and conquer, I wanna do it again soon.
225 w dry rub, then applied peach bourbon sauce and when it was done it didn't taste like peach or bourbon but did taste phenomenal gave it a nice sugary sticky glaze.
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18 lbs is a large belly - the ones I have been getting are closer to 12 lb with skin off. I rub mine, smoke for 4-5 hours at 225*, wrap and go another 2 hours or so. Cool, refrigerate over night then slice or cube, sauce or not. For me the challenge is getting the lean tender and the crutch helps that immensely.
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Thank you all for your help! Sliced the bacon Sunday, had some with breakfast and blt's Tuesday. We're happy with our first run. Will try some your suggestions. Once again thanks great place to learn! LarryComment
Served it to lots of folks and to a person they really are overwhelmed.
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