SmokeBarbecue
Pork belly burnt ends
Meat candy. Cubed belly, smoked, then glazed until the edges go sticky and the centers stay jiggly.
Made it?
3 hr 45 min · 35 min hands-on · pull 200°F · rest 15 min
Ingredients
4.5 lb on the fire · ~3.2 lb to the table · 6 plates at 8 oz
- skinless pork belly, 1½-inch cubes4 1/2 lb
- kosher salt2 tbsp
- brown sugar2 tbsp
- paprika1 tbsp
- black pepper1 tsp
- barbecue sauce1/2 cup
- honey or butter2 tbsp
Method
- 1
Toss the cubes in salt, sugar, paprika, and pepper. Spread on a wire rack with space between pieces.
- 2
Smoke at 275°F until the cubes have bark and sit around 165–175°F, 2–2½ hours. Do not crowd them.
- 3
Transfer to a pan with sauce and honey. Cover and cook 45–60 minutes until 200°F and a probe slides in.
- 4
Uncover 15–20 minutes to tighten the glaze. Rest 15 minutes. They should wobble, not collapse.
If you don’t have it
- Skinless pork belly → Thick-cut pork jowl, or leftover unsliced bacon slab. Jowl is smaller and richer. Cured bacon slab is already salty — cut the rub salt in half.
- Apple wood → Cherry or a hickory/oak mix. Straight hickory is fine for 5 hours on pork. Mesquite is not.
- Barbecue sauce → A honey-vinegar glaze or a dry rub finish. They do not have to be sticky. Dry cubes with a hard bark are a different, good snack.
Same cook, different day
Slider tray
A party. Same cubes, potato rolls, pickles. Keep them warm in a 150°F oven, not a slow cooker bath that strips the glaze.
Overnight dry
You want extra bark. Cube, salt, and rack in the fridge uncovered overnight. Then the same 275°F smoke.
Chili-honey
You want heat. Add cayenne to the rub and a spoon of hot honey in the pan. Still uncover to set.
On the plate
With this, try
- With this dish, try making pinto beans.
Start when a packer wraps, or at the beginning of a shoulder. Soaked beans, smoked hock, onion, chili. Simmer until creamy. Salt late.
2 hr 30 min
- With this dish, try making vinegar slaw.
Anytime. Better after an hour in the fridge. Cabbage, carrot, cider vinegar, a pinch of sugar, salt, pepper. No mayo if the meat is already rich.
20 min
- With this dish, try making skillet mac.
In the oven while a roast rests, or the last stretch of a smoke. A real béchamel, cheddar, a breadcrumb top. Do not start it at the same time as a packer and expect timing to match.
40 min