Thanks to many on this site, I ventured out and did something new for me this weekend. Pork Belly Burnt Ends. I used some ideas I have seen on this site and others to create the dish. In the end they came out great. Very tender, sweet, juicy and some smoke as well. Family loved them. One change I might make next time is to cut my cubes a little smaller. I cut the cubes a little more than an inch. I am thinking if they were a little smaller, the fat might have rendered a little more. I cooked relatively low at 225 and then 250, to try and get more smoke, so cooking time was a little longer. I have seen where you can cook at 275 for less time and get same results. I decided to try the lower temps with this cook. These were great though, don't get me wrong.
I started with a 8# belly I picked up at Costco. Since this was my first time, and it was just the four of us, I decided to cut the belly in half. I used half, 4#, vacuum sealed and froze the other half for later.
The Process I used for this cook:
* Cut the belly into even (or as close as I could get) cubes just over 1 inch
* Season all sides of the cubes with a locally sourced BBQ rub. I am sure any rub would work well.
* Let the rub work into the meat while the pit is coming up to temp. Original temp was set at 225.
* Place the meat on the pit set at 225 for 1 hour. Since I have a Rec Tec, I also used the Extreme Smoke option. For ease of handling, I also put the meat on a wire rack, frog mat would work
* After 1 hour of smoke at 225, turned the pit up to 250 for 2 hours.
* After 2 hours, took the meat off and put into a disposable half tin. I added a couple of handful of brown sugar, honey, maple syrup and a stick of butter to create a braising liquid.
* Sealed the half tin with aluminum foil and back on the pit for 2 hours at 250
* Took the tin off the pit, and drained the braising liquid into a bowl.
* Tossed the cubes with a glaze to cover all sides, and back in the pit for 30 minutes to set the glaze.
* After 30 minutes, removed from the pit and onto a platter. Hmm Hmm good.
* Glaze Recipe -- This made more than I needed saved the rest and my son used as a sauce for a grilled chicken sammy he made.
* 1 cup of BBQ sauce - ( I used half dinosaur sensuous slathering and half Sweet Baby Rays Original because it is what I had available and needed to finish them)
* 1 Tablespoon Sriracha Sauce (Any hot sauce would do, I even thought about cayenne might have been good. Or none at all heat is not for you, although might need a dash of vinegar to break up all the sweetness)
* 1/4 cup apple juice
* 1/4 cup peach preserves (Saw it in the store, looked good, something I don't normally use, so gave it a try)
* A couple teaspoons of rub originally used as the seasoning for the belly.
Started with 4# Pork Belly
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Cubed and Rubbed waiting for the Pit
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After 1 hour on the pit at 225 before turning temp to 250 (Sorry did not get a pic when pulled off)
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In the tin with ingredients to create braising liquid
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After 2 hours of braising
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After 30 minutes with the glaze (I did not get a picture of the burnt ends with the glaze mixture before going back on the pit)
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Plated
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