BBQ, when it comes down to it, is a combination of smokey/savory flavors along with sweet flavors. Well, if you wanted to convince someone that they should take BBQ seriously for great food, giving them meat candy in the form of pork belly burnt ends is probably you’re best shot. There is no monitoring internal temps with this cook, its very simple to prepare, but the results are amazing.
Tap/Click above to watch the recipe or scroll below to follow the steps: Video – PitBoss-Grills.com
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Step 1: To cook pork belly burnt ends, the choice of BBQ pellet really depends on how strong you want the smoke flavor. For this recipe, the Pit Boss Competition Blend pellets were used, which provide a mild to sweet flavor from a mixture of Apple, Maple, and Hickory pellets.
Step 2: For the pork belly itself, ideally, you’ll want a slab that has had the skin removed to make it quicker/easier to work with.
Step 3: First, slice the pork belly into one-inch wide strips and then cut the strips into one-inch-sized cubes that will cook down to the perfect bite-sized chunks.
Step 4: Place the pork belly cubes into a suitably sized bowl, add some mustard, and then work it over the cubes with your hands to provide good adhesion for the BBQ Rub.
Step 5: When it comes to the BBQ rub for ‘meat candy’, you’ll want to go with a rub that contains some sugar. For this recipe, the Pit Boss Sweet Rib Rub was used.
Step 6: Being only an inch in diameter, the easiest way to load and unload these pork belly cubes from the pellet grill will be by placing them on a thin wire kitchen rack.
Step 7: If your pellet grill/smoker has an upper rack, that’s the best place to put pork belly cubes to achieve more consistent results away from the direct-heat of the main grate.
Step 8: This is what the pork belly cubes looked like after smoking at 225 degrees for 1 hour and 45 minutes, a little bit past halfway into this cook.
Step 9: To further develop the bark and flavor on the pork belly cubes, spray them with apple cider that will provide sweetness and acidity.
Step 10: After smoking for around 2 hours and 45 minutes, these pork belly cubes have rendered their fat down nicely and taken on some smoke, its now time for the second stage.
Step 11: Place the smoked pork belly cubes into a baking tray and pour over some sweet BBQ sauce.
Step 12: To develop the sauce further, add some honey and several knobs of butter. Mix that all together and then place the tray back into the pellet grill at a higher temperature of 275 degrees for another hour.
Step 13: With a total cooking time of around 3 and a half hours, the end result is perfect meat candy cubes. Seriously, if you have never tried pork belly burn ends, you’re missing out!
Hi, I’m Chris Scott. I started PelHeat.com back in 2007 and I have a background in pellet manufacturing. PelHeat.com is an educational resource on BBQ pellets, pellet grills & smokers. Check out our Pellet Grill & Smoker Database.
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