Smoked Pork Belly Burnt Ends

Pork, Smoked

Source:

Ingredients

8 lb skinless pork belly (this amount takes up a lot of room on a smoker, half it if needed)

½ C your favorite BBQ rub

for the braise

1 ½ sticks butter, sliced

½ C brown sugar

¼ C honey

for the glaze:

1 C BBQ sauce of your choice

¼ C apple jelly (substitute a different jelly—pepper is good—if not available)

¼ C apple juice

1 Tbsp Frank’s Red Hot sauce

Special equipment:

Cooling racks

Disposable aluminum pans

Aluminum foil

Directions

Preheat your smoker to 250°F (121°C). Set up a Smoke thermometer to monitor the air temp, with a high alarm at 275°F (135°C) and a low alarm at 225°F (107°C).

Cut the pork belly into squares, 1-1.5” on a side.

Toss the belly pieces with the BBQ rub to coat.

Place rib pieces on cooling racks to facilitate moving to and from the smoker. 8 pounds won’t fit on one rack. We used two racks and two smokers for this.

Place in smoker and cook for 2 hours. Set air temp alarm on your smoke to regulate the temperature—high alarm at 275°F (135°C), low alarm at 225°F (107°C).

Remove racks of belly pieces from heat. They are already delicious!

Place pieces in an aluminum pan and add the sugar, honey, and butter.

Insert a probe from the Smoke thermometer into a large piece of pork. Set the high-temp alarm for the pork to 203°F (95°C).

Cover the aluminum pan tightly with foil and smoke for about an hour, until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 203°F (95°C).

Remove the pan from heat and transfer pork pieces to a second pan. Combine ingredients for BBQ sauce and pour over burnt ends.

Toss to coat.

Return pan to the smoker, uncovered, for about 10 minutes to set the glaze.

Remove from heat, pile on a plate and call your friends!

With the aid of your Smoke thermometer, you can get the kind of well-regulated heat you need to melt the collagen and fat of a pork belly into succulent, tongue-pleasing burnt ends. And with the two-channel cooking ability, you can also make sure you get them off the smoker as soon as they’re done, so you don’t have to wait a moment longer! Enjoy!