Pork Belly Burnt Ends

FAMILY FAVORITE

Family Favorite

 

These are super rich.  You can only eat a few pieces.  Feeds 20-25 people as a side dish.

These pictures are of a double batch (2 bellies).

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 whole pork belly (approximately 15 lbs).  Buy this at a butcher shop.  Don’t buy the small packages from the big box stores.  They typically have less meat on them and they are usually sliced much thinner than what we want.
  • 1 cup BBQ salt (recipe on this site) or your favorite pork rub.
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar.
  • Mulberry or other mild smoke wood.

INSTRUCTIONs

  1. Cut the pork belly into 1.5″ cubes.  (They will shrink by 30% – 50% when cooked).
  2. Coat the meat with the rub and brown sugar.
  3. Place on trays or cookie sheets so as much of the surface is exposed as possible.  (Some recipes call for placing the cubes on racks but I would only do this in a wood-fired smoker where lots of dripping grease would not make a mess.)
  4. During the entire cooking time, check the meat every hour and remove as much grease from the tray as possible.
  5. Smoke at 250 degrees for 4 hours.
  6. Increase the temperature to 350 degrees and cook for an additional hour to form a nice bark.
  7. Some recipes call for simmering the meat in a mixture of BBQ sauce and sugar or honey to make them sticky.  I don’t think these need it.  They are excellent dry and you can add your favorite sauce when you serve them.  My choice for pork is the JRP’s Tangy Caribbean BBQ Sauce.

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