Hello all. I made this 5.5 pound pork belly (skin off and with a rack of 5-6 ribs attached) on my pellet smoker. I used Meat Mitch pork rub and threw it on cold at 225 x 8 hours, spraying apple juice through the cook. When it hit 170F, I wrapped it in foil with a little apple juice. Two hours later, it passed 200 but with inconsistent temps (one area was 201, another was 207 etc..). I brushed sauce at the end and smoked it for 20 more minutes until the sauce set.
It was great but but didn’t pull and was a bit dry. I’m thinking part of the issue was having that rack attached.
Grill/Smoke/Roast = SnS Grills Kettle + SnS Deluxe Insert & Drip n' Griddle
Grill/Smoke/Roast = Hasty-Bake Gourmet Dual Finish with HB rotisserie and Grill Grates
Smoke = Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5"
Pizza = Blackstone Propane Pizza Oven (Stacy's, but she let's me use it sometimes)
Indoor Cooking = LG Studio 30" gas range
Camp Cooking = Coleman 2 burner white gas stove
Thermometer = FireBoard FBX2 with 2 ambient and 6 meat probes
Thermapen Mk IV = Light blue
Thermapen Mk IV = Black
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Auber 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 1 fan)
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Fireboard 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 2 fan)
Knives
Wusthof Classic Ikon set: 9" carving knive, 2X 8" Chef's Knife, 7" Santoku and three utility knives
Kamikoto Kuro set: 7" Santoku, 6.5" Nakiri, 5" Utility
Amazing Ribs Brazilian Steak knife set
Favorite wine = whatever is currently in the wine rack
Favorite beer = Sam Adams Boston Lager or Shiner Bock
Favorite whisky = Lagavulin Distiller's Edition 16 year old single malt
Best Cookbooks - Meathead's "The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", Chris Lilly's "Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book", Aaron Franklin's "Franklin BBQ"
Cookbooks to check out - Raichlen's "Brisket Chronicles" and anything by Adam Perry Lang.
Current fanboy cookbook - "Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant"
Cooking pork belly attached to ribs is trying to cook two entirely different cuts together that really would normally be treated differently.
Like EdF says, pork belly is normally used differently - I've sure never heard of it being used for pulled pork. What you did here was take two cuts that really want to be treated differently, and cook them together. Sounds like it didn't work out optimally.
EdF I’ve read/heard from more than one source that pork belly produces the "best kind of pulled pork." Check our minute 9:50 and on in this video. What do you think?
I don't doubt that belly can be "pulled," but it doesn't seem like the obvious move to me. Not that it wouldn't be good -- properly cooked pork belly IS GOOD -- but the form factor doesn't seem right.
I did some pork bellies a month or so ago. One of them pulled nicely, the other 3 pieces didn't. IIRC the one that pulled hit a bit higher temp than the others. Probably around 205 or so? The others were closer to 195.
I know when people cook whole hogs the belly is usually pulled and comes off in nice, long threads almost like spaghetti. That is what I was hoping for.
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