Pork Belly Goodness

Teefus

Based on feedback from the Eggers here I decided to try pork belly low and slow. It was a triumph.

I started with about half a skin off belly. There was still a good layer of fat on the skin side to I scored and salted it for a few hours to pull some moisture out. After about 8 hours I washed it off and covered both sides with "The BBQ Rub" from Killer Hogs and let it sit covered overnight.

Yesterday morning I got my fire going (Rockwood) and roasted it over a drip pan at 275° for four hours. I spritzed the top every hour or so with a mix of pineapple juice, cider vinegar, and water (equal parts). When it hit 160° internal I foil wrapped in a bath of BBQ Rub and Sweet Baby Ray's. It spent another 90 minutes in foil braising and rendering the fat. I unwrapped and placed back on the grill with a coating of sauce. It took about 30 minutes to set up nice and firm. After a 20 minute rest I carved for service. It was fork tender and delicious. I do a pretty good rack of ribs and I have to say I preferred the belly.





As a side dish I did braised cabbage wedges in a tomato sauce made with chicken stock, tomato paste, cumin seeds, dry mustard, pepper flakes, and sliced sweet onions. Basically this recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H7AV9mgsfU

johnmitchell

That looks Spectacular 😋

Teefus

I just finished repeats for lunch. It's just as good the second day.

JohnInCarolina

Really nice cook!

KimberlyO

Yum!

lousubcap

Great cook right there.  That money shot belongs in a magazine.  Sweet bark/cracklin as well, 

Dyal_SC

Very nice!

JohnfromKentucky

Teefus said:

I started with about half a skin off belly. 

 When it hit 160° internal I foil wrapped in a bath of BBQ Rub and Sweet Baby Ray's. It spent another 90 minutes in foil braising and rendering the fat. I unwrapped and placed back on the grill with a coating of sauce.

First, that looks amazing!  But I have 2 questions:

What do you mean by half a skin off belly?

And whenever I wrapped ribs in foil, it tends to burn and not do so well. Do you have so much sauce that it doesn't burn off?

loco_engr

Nice looking cook!  congrats

Langner91

JohnfromKentucky said:

Teefus said:

I started with about half a skin off belly. 

 When it hit 160° internal I foil wrapped in a bath of BBQ Rub and Sweet Baby Ray's. It spent another 90 minutes in foil braising and rendering the fat. I unwrapped and placed back on the grill with a coating of sauce.

First, that looks amazing!  But I have 2 questions:

What do you mean by half a skin off belly?

And whenever I wrapped ribs in foil, it tends to burn and not do so well. Do you have so much sauce that it doesn't burn off?

I read it twice, as well.  I assume he meant a half a belly, with all of the skin off.  It wouldn't make much sense to take half of the skin off a whole belly.

Around here, it is hard to find skin on bellies, and even harder to find whole bellies.  Most are half, skin-off bellies.

Teefus

Yup. I got a seven pound belly from Costco. The skin had been removed. I used half on this cook. Sorry for the grammatical jumble.

@JohnfromKentucky - After braising in the foil to tenderize and render the fat I put the meat back on the Egg and sauced it up. It baked at 250° - 275° for 30 minutes or so and the sauce set up nice and tight. No problems with burning. It just doesn't run that hot at this stage.