Has anyone smoked pork belly?

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Allana1

Assistant Cook
Joined
Jan 14, 2019
Messages
4
I tried some smoked pork belly at a friends BBQ and loved it! Just wondering if anyone has tried this before and if they have a tested recipe :)

Thanks!!
 
As a child of the 60s I smoked a LOT of strange things, but never any type of pork product.

We were trying different things and we were smokin' funny things, makin' love out by the lake to our favorite song ~ Kid Rock
 
tCan you break down the 7 day cure? Ingredients, process?
sure, my pleasure

INGREDIENTS:

Sure, my pleasure.

I make a reserve of dry rub that will make enough for probably 3 pork bellies, approx.

DRY RUB:

1/2 cup of kosher salt
4T pink salt #1
1/2 cup brown sugar
4T ground dried chili
4 T smoked paprika
1 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1 t ground black cardamom
1t ground black pepper

1 whole pork belly approx 12 lbs. I normally cut into 2 pieces for more ease of handling, but you can cut into any amounts you see fit just keep in mind that you want a length that represents a bacon strip, so don't cut against the grain.

You will need to remove the skin on the fat side of the pork belly. Make sure you try and get as close to the skin as possible trying not to remove the fat along with the skin, this is a skill and the knife makes a difference but we really want to retain as much fat as possible. There are area's however that are just fat and seem to be out of place, so to speak, these can be removed or trimmed, hopefully that makes sense.

After that job is done and with gloves take some of the rub and massage it into the belly, all over, sides as well. You don't need as much rub as you might think, no need for waste, just recover what has escaped and reuse, but it needs to be well massaged into the meat.

Wrap in plastic wrap each piece individually, and then double wrap. Write the date and time with a felt pen and put in a refrigerated space for around 7 days, flipping over every 24 hours.

Remove the plastic wrap and then wash the rub off the belly in a few changes of water. The belly should feel stiff and drier, this is normal. Place on a rack and put back in the fridge uncovered overnight.

This is the stage just before smoking. I generally add black pepper back onto the belly. I take whole black pepper and use a mortar and pestle and make a fairly large crack then press back into the belly. I've used coriander seed in the past and that works well to, it really up to you and you don't have to add anything if you don't want to.

I like to get the smoker into the 170-180 range and smoke until I get an interior temp of around 150. 3 to 5 hours depending on the smoker.
 
I cure a whole pork belly with an Asian cure and cook it low and slow in the oven. I'm sure any kind of cure could be used.

My husband has cured and smoked for bacon a few times.

If you don't want a huge amount of smoke in the meat, you can always wrap it in foil and continue cooking. Too much smoke depending on the flavor profile you are looking for would be my only worry, but wrapping will take care of that.
 
Thank you! My grandmother had a smoke house. We have smoked several things, but never pork belly or bacon. It's something we keep talking about doing but have never gotten around to doing it.
 
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