Smoked balsamic pork belly - Yum

Hogman348

Ive been sitting on a recipe for a smoked balsamic pork belly for about a year. Whenever i remember it, i didnt have the pork belly handy, nor the 24 hours to marinate. Well i planned ahead finally last week and picked up a belly for the weekend cook. I did not regret it!

Marinade belly in a ziplock for 24 hours.
Stablized egg at 250 indirect with AR and drip pan, apple chunks, and 3 hours cooking time. after the first hour, i basted with the glaze every 30 mins. i did have a thermo in the belly and at 3 hours it was at about 180. I didnt use the temp though to judge the cook.

What i would do different... half the belly still had some skin on and it didnt crisp up due to the low temp, moist marinade, and glaze so i would have preferred to cut it off prior to cooking. then also maybe finish at a little higher temp direct to just give the whole thing a little more crisp. but it was still amazing.

Marinade ingredients:

• 1 slab of pork belly (1-3 pounds, or whatever you have)
• 4 large garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt + 2 teaspoons kosher salt (divided)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the glaze:

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup coconut palm sugar
• 1/4 cup water

Yum! It was delicious. Every bite was just like butter in your mouth. Like the best part of a pork butt in every bite. A little too fatty for the Miss's so more for me and my friends. wah!

IPASooner

Looks and sounds terrific...beautiful job!

jonnymack

Whoa, that looks pretty awesome. Tagging thread for future "inspiration".