Recently I was invited to a food bloggers dinner in which fancy food bloggers (and me) get together for a pot luck. I wanted to bring something unique to my craft, but also do something that I don’t usually make. I’ve done pork belly burnt ends a couple times before and figured this might be a great idea… or it could backfire with a bunch a foodies and I’d be shunned forever. No pressure.
I don’t see pork belly too often around where I live, but when I do it comes in a giant, 10 lb. slab. It looks like a pork pillow I can rest my head on! A pillow I’d love to chop up, smoke, sauce, and eat. With that said, I open the package, rinse off the pork belly, and pat dry with paper towels. NOTE: if you haven’t already, now is a good time to get your smoker going.
Next I trim off some fat from the top. Sometimes the butcher sells it with a thick amount of fat on top. Some folks, when making pork belly burnt ends, don’t trim it at all, some do because they want more of a firm bite…and less fat. I didn’t trim much fat of these, but think I will trim the fat down to 1/4 inch next time. There may be a little silver skin on the non fat side, as well as some sections of stringy fat. Feel free to trim off using your boning knife (or whichever type of knife you like to use to trim).
Once that is done, I like to get some spicy brown mustard and rub all sides and then cut the slab of pork belly into 1 1/2 inch cubes. After that, I sprinkle on my rub of choice. For these, I used Whomp! Rub by Meat Mitch. Get a little generous with the application of it. Pat rub into meat. The smoker should be close to desired smoking temp of 225F so go put those bad boys on.
To make your life easier, you will want to place these pork cubes on a cooling rack for a quicker, easier transfer on and off the grill. I didn’t use one and had to keep my grill open for a while as I was placing them on there one by one. It took a while and the heat from the bottom of my Kamado Joe started to flare up because of the extra time it spent being exposed to more oxygen. I recommend the mesh grates for the cooking rack so it holds the cubes better. For my grill, I put a couple of chunks of cherry wood in, although other fruit woods like apple or peach would be good, too (or you could try pecan). Let it smoke for three hours and you should notice a nice bark developing on them.
Once that is done, pull off the rack and put these cubes into an 8×8” or 9×13” pan (depending on how many you are making) and mix with a half stick of butter (4 Tablespoons), about another Tablespoon of Rub, three Tablespoons of maple syrup, and 3/4 Cup of BBQ sauce.
I like to use a BBQ sauce that has some sweet and heat to it, such as Spicy Patriot Sauce from Code3Spices or Whomp! Sauce by Meat Mitch (I went with Whomp! Sauce for this particular cook). Stir it around, wrap foil on top, and put back on the grill for another 60-90 minutes (at the same 225F temp).
After 60-90 minutes, take the wrapping off the top of the pan and let it cook for another 20 minutes. You do this to help the sauce stick better to the meat. Otherwise, you will be needing to dip these pork belly burnt ends (yes, they’ve now graduated from “cubes” to “pork belly burnt ends”) into the sauce. Wouldn’t you rather have them stick to the burnt ends instead?
Some like to serve these on toothpicks as to not get their hands messy. Others use forks. But if you’re like me, just dig right in with your fingers (but make sure you have some napkins by your side)!
As for the food bloggers & influencers event, the pan quickly vanished!
I hope yours turn out great! Enjoy the journey!
PORK BELLY BURNT ENDS
INGREDIENTS
- 5-7 lbs. pork belly
- 1/8 Cup spicy brown mustard
- Rub (about 5-6 Tablespoons)
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 3 Tablespoons maple syrup
- 3/4 Cup BBQ sauce
GRILL
- 225F temp
- Fruit wood of your choice (I used cherry)
DIRECTIONS
- Trim fat on pork belly slab down to 1/4 inch
- Apply and spread spicy brown mustard over all sides
- Slice into 1 1/2 inch cubes
- Sprinkle rub and apply to all sides
- Place in smoker for three hours (may need 3.5 hours depending on desires bark on cubes)
- Remove from grill, place cubes into 8×8 or 9×13 pan (depending on amount)
- Cut butter into a few pieces and put in foil pan. Also pour in maple syrup, BBQ sauce, and some more rub.
- Wrap top of foil pan with a sheet of foil, place back on grill for 60-90 minutes (still at 225F)
- Unwrap, stir, and let sit in smoker for another 20 minutes.
- Remove, let sit for 10 minutes, then dig right in!
