First Time Pork Belly Burnt Ends

[TheKevman]

Inspired by a recent post I saw on here, I tried my hand at pork belly burnt ends this last Sunday. Following the Adrenaline Barbecue recipe from YouTube, I went to a local butcher shop and asked for pork belly. They only carried it frozen so I got a 2 pound belly and a separate 1 pound belly. I was a little disappointed because after that, I went to Mariano's and saw they had unfrozen pork belly for the same price.

I cubed the pork bellies, put some rub on them, and smoked them at 275 to 300 for two and a half hours. Hotter than I wanted to, but they seemed to be okay when I peeked at them.

I took them off, poured some barbecue sauce, butter, and honey on them, wrapped 'em up, and gave them another hour before tossing them in the liquid and putting them on uncovered for the final ten minutes.

They were... okay. I feel that I hear people cook pork belly burnt ends and they turn out life-changing-amazing. These were decent--my wife like them more than me—but they weren't jaw-dropping good. Any tips on how I might've done this better?


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[1buckie]

I'd imagine Adreniline has a good, well thought out recipe, but you could maybe try doing the first part of the cook with the bellies whole....just a light score where you're going to cut eventually...

Maybe 2/3's of the cook time.....then cut down, lite rub & let the fat left in the pieces do some of the flavoring work
To me, that's the magical part of any kind of burnt end cook up is that secondary bubbling out of the fat that's still in there....then add in what all flavoring so you'd like to add.....

Play around with the time you cook & the temps a little bit & see what effect that has too....you'll get this the way you like it pretty quick....first try looks pretty good already!!!

[mojo2454]

Wow, looks delicious! I'll definitely have to make those

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[normantravis6]

It may have been the belly itself. If it was cattier or leaner or whatever the pig ate during its life. Probably wasn't you at all.
I've done these a couple times and while my kids die for them, I'm not a huge fan. Super fatty and too sweet.
Always good to experiment though. Sounds like you did them the way the pros suggest.


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[TheKevman]

It may have been the belly itself. If it was cattier or leaner or whatever the pig ate during its life. Probably wasn't you at all.
I've done these a couple times and while my kids die for them, I'm not a huge fan. Super fatty and too sweet.
Always good to experiment though. Sounds like you did them the way the pros suggest.


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Thanks--"super fatty and too sweet" is how I'd describe them too. Could be the meat, could be they're not just my thing.

[TheKevman]

I'd imagine Adreniline has a good, well thought out recipe, but you could maybe try doing the first part of the cook with the bellies whole....just a light score where you're going to cut eventually...

Maybe 2/3's of the cook time.....then cut down, lite rub & let the fat left in the pieces do some of the flavoring work
To me, that's the magical part of any kind of burnt end cook up is that secondary bubbling out of the fat that's still in there....then add in what all flavoring so you'd like to add.....

Play around with the time you cook & the temps a little bit & see what effect that has too....you'll get this the way you like it pretty quick....first try looks pretty good already!!!

Sounds like good advice--thank you!

[michaelmilitello]

It may have been the belly itself. If it was cattier or leaner or whatever the pig ate during its life. Probably wasn't you at all.
I've done these a couple times and while my kids die for them, I'm not a huge fan. Super fatty and too sweet.
Always good to experiment though. Sounds like you did them the way the pros suggest.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks--"super fatty and too sweet" is how I'd describe them too. Could be the meat, could be they're not just my thing.

If they're too fatty, pork belly may not be the cut for you.  Pork belly is 50/50 lean to fat.  You could use pork shoulder instead.   It has enough fat to keep it moist but not so much that it's off putting.  My family doesn't care for the fat, so I stick with pork shoulder.  I usually cube up country style ribs (pork shoulder) for my recipe. 


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[TheKevman]

It may have been the belly itself. If it was cattier or leaner or whatever the pig ate during its life. Probably wasn't you at all.
I've done these a couple times and while my kids die for them, I'm not a huge fan. Super fatty and too sweet.
Always good to experiment though. Sounds like you did them the way the pros suggest.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good idea! Thanks!
Thanks--"super fatty and too sweet" is how I'd describe them too. Could be the meat, could be they're not just my thing.

If they're too fatty, pork belly may not be the cut for you.  Pork belly is 50/50 lean to fat.  You could use pork shoulder instead.   It has enough fat to keep it moist but not so much that it's off putting.  My family doesn't care for the fat, so I stick with pork shoulder.  I usually cube up country style ribs (pork shoulder) for my recipe. 


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[griz400]

grate cook there .. belly i only make bacon though ... mostly buckboard bacon .. good looking bbq