Gonna smoke a pork belly this weekend...

[Lookwell]

About a 4 pounder. 3/4 inch thick. Grilled or smoked most everything , but my first pork belly. The online instructions are pretty simple, but bland. Any tips ? Tricks ? Seasoning or method wise ? I don't think it would need a crutch, but my grill runs a bit on the hot side. Will be using a Weber 26 3/4 inch charcoal. Thinking apple or cherry wood.

TIA

 

[hookyIU1990]

Make burnt ends with it. Smoke it to around 160 with your fave rub, pull it off and cut it into cubes. Into an aluminum roasting pan with some sauce and rough chopped onion. Back into the smoker until they hit 200 or are tender.

 

[All4You]

About a 4 pounder. 3/4 inch thick. Grilled or smoked most everything , but my first pork belly. The online instructions are pretty simple, but bland. Any tips ? Tricks ? Seasoning or method wise ? I don't think it would need a crutch, but my grill runs a bit on the hot side. Will be using a Weber 26 3/4 inch charcoal. Thinking apple or cherry wood.

TIA

As per Hooky's suggestion, you can't go wrong with burnt ends. Same with cherry or apple wood to smoke. Also pecan is a nice smoke for pork belly. I have seen a few guys even use peach wood. I think it all comes down to milder woods for pork belly smoking. I really like a sweet/heat combo for a rub, especially for burnt ends. But really, I have seen and done belly alot of different ways (smoked or grilled, sauced or rub or both, ends or slab, brines of all kinds and no brine at all) and as long as you don't over cook it, you will be just fine. And to be honest, even then it's salvageable

 

[hookyIU1990]

Any fruit wood is good with any cut of pork, and the nice thing about it is you don't have to season it for a year like you do with oak or hickory. I prune our peach and apple trees and use it within a month or two.

I just started using pecan this year and it's fantastic on just about everything.

 

[All4You]

Any fruit wood is good with any cut of pork, and the nice thing about it is you don't have to season it for a year like you do with oak or hickory. I prune our peach and apple trees and use it within a month or two.

I just started using pecan this year and it's fantastic on just about everything.

Pork belly is really a forgiving cut, with the fat content, so it's hard to totally ruin it (though if you saw a few of my attempts it wasn't for lack of trying). Now and again I buy this from Kroger when I have a hankering and don't have the time to smoke my own.

https://www.kroger.com/p/kroger-lightly-seasoned-fully-cooked-pork-belly/0001111037498

I slice it into 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick strips, throw a knob of butter into the skillet (yeah I know it doesn't need any extra fat, it for the flavor and basting later), fry the strips a minute or two per side then sauce (whatever BBQ sauce I have handy, some mustard, brown sugar chili powder and Lea & Perrins) it directly in the skillet and spoon baste until the strips are well glazed. Makes a nice BBQ Belly sandwich on any kind of firm bun/roll (Brioche, Pretzel, Ciabatta or Kaiser).

 

[hookyIU1990]

If you ever find yourself at the Indy airport in the morning with time to kill, go to Harry and Izzy's for some bacon.

 

[sglowrider]

About a 4 pounder. 3/4 inch thick. Grilled or smoked most everything , but my first pork belly. The online instructions are pretty simple, but bland. Any tips ? Tricks ? Seasoning or method wise ? I don't think it would need a crutch, but my grill runs a bit on the hot side. Will be using a Weber 26 3/4 inch charcoal. Thinking apple or cherry wood.

TIA

 

[Lookwell]

I cubed it up and will season it in the a.m. for smoking tomorrow (Saturday 8/24). The weather is supposed to be low/mid 70's. Perfect weather. Cubs play at 2, Yankees at 4, White Sox at 7, and the Giants at 9. That's a pretty good day to keep an eye on my smoke.. Gotta get some Oktoberfest. Thanks everyone.

 

[hookyIU1990]

I'm going to smoke baby backs and cauliflower steaks tomorrow. It's going to be a great day to roll some smoke and do a little day drinking. I've got some odds and ends in the beer fridge to clean out.

 

[Eppy99]

Did you find a Kosher one? They’re hard to find.

 

[All4You]

Did you find a Kosher one? They’re hard to find.

When it comes to consuming pork, it's one of those situations in life where I would rather ask for forgiveness than for permission.

 

[Lookwell]

Did you find a Kosher one? They’re hard to find.

 

[Lookwell]

When it comes to consuming pork, it's one of those situations in life where I would rather ask for forgiveness than for permission.

Amen

 

[sglowrider]

When it comes to consuming pork, it's one of those situations in life where I would rather ask for forgiveness than for permission.

Huh? Its my passport/security stamp to western countries.

I walk around with strips of bacon at the airports esp at immigration so this way they know I ain't one of those stinkin' terrorists. (I have some dubious/country immigration stamps on my passport.)

 

[VanPastorMan]

Huh? Its my passport/security stamp to western countries.

I walk around with strips of bacon at the airports esp at immigration so this way they know I ain't one of those stinkin' terrorists. (I have some dubious/country immigration stamps on my passport.)

 

[All4You]

I'm going to smoke baby backs and cauliflower steaks tomorrow. It's going to be a great day to roll some smoke and do a little day drinking. I've got some odds and ends in the beer fridge to clean out.

These two words, Cauliflower and Steak, should never be used together to form a descriptor of a single food item. Same with the words Turkey and Bacon.
Allowances will be made for steak fried cauliflower, bacon wrapped turkey or a BLT with carver turkey.

I feel ya on the good eats weekend however. My wife and son are spending the day with my daughter, son-in-law and grandson. Since it's just me I prepared a pan seared 16 oz sirloin (3 & 1/2 minutes a side, medium high heat for a perfect medium rare). Fried some taters along with onion and yellow peppers from my garden as well as some minced garlic as well as some green beans from the garden and some Texas Toast.

 

[hookyIU1990]

Veggies and righteous protein at the same time.

Didn't get a pick of the cauliflower, but that's not the idea anyway.