Pork Belly

I bought a lean pork belly a few months ago either at Sam's or Costco and I plan on taking it out of the freezer and smoking it on one of my grills, egg, vertical or the home fabricated cast iron kettle grill this weekend.

Any suggestions on the cook. I've never smoked one. Bought it because I thought I remembered reading, perhaps on here, of people smoking them.

A buddy does them quite often.

He turns them into "pork burnt ends" and says folks like them as good as his brisket burnt ends and they don't take near as long to make.

He cooks them at 225 and uses small amounts of hickory...about 1/2 what he uses on ribs. Same rub and similar sauces that he uses on ribs.

not sure what kind of smoker you have but if you are hanging your belly over any kind of open flame, do be extremely careful of flare ups. Once a belly flares up it won't stop. And then you'll have to dump your beer on it to put out the fire. And no one likes to waste good beer like that...

I make candied pork belly and it's killer. Smoke the belly at 250 fat side down with only salt, pepper, and garlic.

Then crank up the heat to 350-400 and coat it with maple syrup, brown sugar, and crushed red pepper

BeerThirty said:

not sure what kind of smoker you have but if you are hanging your belly over any kind of open flame, do be extremely careful of flare ups. Once a belly flares up it won't stop. And then you'll have to dump your beer on it to put out the fire. And no one likes to waste good beer like that...

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Most folks I know use a heat defuser for low and slow.

Paymaster said:

Most folks I know use a heat defuser for low and slow.

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Is that the same thing as a cookie sheet pan?

watermedic said:

Is that the same thing as a cookie sheet pan?

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Occasionally you'll see folks use those in a pinch, but generally the use much thicker pieces made of ceramics or cast iron.

Big Green Egg calls their's a "plate sitter".

Char-Griller calls their's a "Smoking Stone".

Kamado Joe and Primo call their's "heat deflectors".

Kettle grillers use fire-rated bricks or baskets to offset the coals.

The OP of the thread mentioned using an egg or similar to smoke it with. Most meats smoked on these are done indirect in relation to the coals....through the use of a heat deflector between the coals & the meat.....or well offset from the meat in a kettle.

Gives us lots of versatility with the same grills we use to direct cook burgers, steaks, loin, chicken.....we can also add a deflector and smoke at lower temps with the same grill.

Never tried one. Post up pics and results. Bet it will be good!!

I call it cooked and Good. Just goiter done as the south say.

Looking forward to results.

PF