Smoked pork belly and fried pork skin

[ponyo]

I did this cook few days ago but thought I would share some pictures.

Local asian mart had skin on pork belly on sale for $1.99 /lb so I bought some. I marinated the pork belly in pineapple, asian apple pear, apple, red wine, and coconut puree along with sea salt and bay leaves for two days. I Then I took it out and separated the skin from the pork belly. I sprinkled on some light kosher salt, course black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika and hung it on WSM. I used Kingsford charcoal as fuel and cherry wood chunks for the smoke.

After 3 hours in the smoker, I checked the pork belly and it was more than done. The bellies were reading about 211 F on my Thermapen and it probed like butter. You can see the big pool of grease drippings from the rendered pork belly collected on the metal pan below.

So I removed the finished pork belly from the smoker.

Now it was time for my WSM frying experiment. The empty water pan I used as heat diffuser during the cook had good bit of pork belly fat drippings from the smoke. So I removed the lid and the middle section of WSM leaving the bottom section with the cooking grate and the metal pan with the pork belly oil.

I took some of the marinated pork skin and placed it in the pork belly oil.

And it worked beautifully. Like really well.

Pork belly skin fried in pork belly oil

As for the smoked pork belly, I sliced some and pan fried it to make it crispier. The other pork belly, I just sliced and served.

pan frying the sliced smoked pork belly

plate of pan fried smoked pork belly

plate of normal smoked pork belly

table with fried pork belly skin, pan fried smoked pork belly, regular smoked pork belly, spicy green onion salad, salted shrimp, and lettuce.

little bit of everything in lettuce wrap

Everything was super delicious. I could've skipped the marinade step as I don't think it added much to the overall taste but it was fun to experiment. The fried pork skin was great but it was really for my puppy and she enjoyed it. Thanks for looking!

 

[KMFJD]

can i come over and help you eat that?

 

[DigDog]

never skip the marinade. it's not about taste, but the chemical changes it imparts to the meat, which then maillards better.

it looks to me as if you went slightly over with the cooking; also i would have probably added some glaze, but i'm sure they were great. pork & smoke, you can't go wrong.

 

[WelshBloke]

That looks bloody great!

 

[Ns1]

I dig the lettuce wraps. Great way to eat BBQ

 

[sdifox]

Magic animal!

 

[ponyo]

never skip the marinade. it's not about taste, but the chemical changes it imparts to the meat, which then maillards better.

it looks to me as if you went slightly over with the cooking; also i would have probably added some glaze, but i'm sure they were great. pork & smoke, you can't go wrong.

I do feel the belly took on better smoke and color due to the marinade and was maybe little more tender. But it wasn't worth the 2 day hassle. But I'm glad to have done it so I could learn.

I thought about glazing it with some Thai sweet chili sauce or sweet and sticky BBQ sauce but didn't. I might do that next time. I did take the pork belly to pretty high temperature at around 210-211 F but I didn't keep track of the smoker temp or the meat temperature. The only reason I knew the belly was at 211 F was because I probed it to check for tenderness with the Thermapen. The 3 hour mark was the first time I opened the lid of the smoker after the initial placement. Pork belly is really fatty piece of meat so it's pretty difficult to overcook. I prefer my pork belly and bacon well rendered and bit crispy. It's why I pan fried finished some of the smoked pork belly slices to crisp it even further.

That looks bloody great!

Thanks! It was great. It's weird because Americans love bacon but pork belly is no where to be found in most grocery stores. Don't get me wrong. Bacon is great but pork belly is even better.

I dig the lettuce wraps. Great way to eat BBQ

Gotta have some green. I'm used to eating lettuce wraps and veggies with meat because of KBBQ influence.

Magic animal!

Pretty much. And pork belly is the best part of the pig.

 

[Kaido]

never skip the marinade. it's not about taste, but the chemical changes it imparts to the meat, which then maillards better.

What marinade do you recommend? I just got seriously into home-cooked pork belly a few weeks ago. I've had some amazing bao buns in my time, but haven't yet replicated that delicious sauce that most of them have...

 

[Kaido]

Pretty much. And pork belly is the best part of the pig.

It's really one of those things that people not only have to taste, but taste well-prepared, to truly understand:

1. The meat must be cooked tender
2. The fat must be gelatinized or liquidy
3. The skin must be crispy (typically broiled or fried)

It's like eating a Krispy Kreme donut...sure, it's okay at room temp, but when you get one hot off the line & it just disappears like cotton candy in your mouth, there's just nothing that compares. A fresh, properly-prepared bite of pork belly is one of the closest experiences to heaven I can think of on this planet. Oh man. And if you get it with an amazing sauce on a steamed bao bun, wow wow wow wow...

 

[DigDog]

ponyo's marinade is on point, go with that one.

 

[NetWareHead]

I also have a WSM and wanted to know how you prevented the grease from catching fire in the empty water pan?

Ive tried smoking without water as part of an experiment, I figured if you eliminate the water, it would result in a hotter drier environment inside the chamber. I was smoking 2 pork shoulders and they let go of a tremendous amount of grease which when dripped onto the hot water pan, ended up catching fire. Burned up 2 pork shoulders and had to throw away. My smoker thermometer hasn't worked the same ever since, I guess I torched the probe.

If I want to conserve the drippings for later use, I'd add sand to the pan. And then place an aluminum pan over the sand to catch the dripping. I think placing a buffer (sand) in between the drippings and the fire is what works here.
\
BTW, what is that cool rack you have for the WSM? With hanging meat hooks!

 

[zinfamous]

never skip the marinade. it's not about taste, but the chemical changes it imparts to the meat, which then maillards better.

it looks to me as if you went slightly over with the cooking; also i would have probably added some glaze, but i'm sure they were great. pork & smoke, you can't go wrong.

maillard doesn't happen with smoking, though, so it doesn't really apply there.

I was going to agree with OP's point: "I could've skipped the marinade step as I don't think it added much to the overall taste but it was fun to experiment," because I always find this to be true, and keep telling myself that after the fact....but I do it anyway, always, because yeah, it's fun.

 

[BurnItDwn]

ohh man that looks sooooooooooo gooood

 

[DigDog]

maillard doesn't happen with smoking, though

but there *is* some caramelization; so, it does apply. time is more of a factor than heat is. i supposed if you did cold smoke, it wouldn't apply, but considering that puddle of fat, i'm puuurty sure that's caramelization you got there.

 

[Denly]

I did this cook few days ago but thought I would share some pictures.

Local asian mart had skin on pork belly on sale for $1.99 /lb so I bought some. I marinated the pork belly in pineapple, asian apple pear, apple, red wine, and coconut puree along with sea salt and bay leaves for two days. I Then I took it out and separated the skin from the pork belly. I sprinkled on some light kosher salt, course black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika and hung it on WSM. Thanks for looking!

That is a lot of fruits for marinate, do you come up with that combination yourself? I normally only use 1 kind.

 

[Perknose]

MARRY ME!!!!

 

[kage69]

I'm starting to think we need an AT Cook Out, because licking the screen isn't really getting me anywhere here.

#AnandtechPorkTornado2018

 

[BurnItDwn]

Where and When is the ATOT cookout?

 

[HomerJS]

I did this cook few days ago but thought I would share some pictures.

Local asian mart had skin on pork belly on sale for $1.99 /lb so I bought some. I marinated the pork belly in pineapple, asian apple pear, apple, red wine, and coconut puree along with sea salt and bay leaves for two days. I Then I took it out and separated the skin from the pork belly. I sprinkled on some light kosher salt, course black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika and hung it on WSM. I used Kingsford charcoal as fuel and cherry wood chunks for the smoke.

After 3 hours in the smoker, I checked the pork belly and it was more than done. The bellies were reading about 211 F on my Thermapen and it probed like butter. You can see the big pool of grease drippings from the rendered pork belly collected on the metal pan below.

So I removed the finished pork belly from the smoker.

Now it was time for my WSM frying experiment. The empty water pan I used as heat diffuser during the cook had good bit of pork belly fat drippings from the smoke. So I removed the lid and the middle section of WSM leaving the bottom section with the cooking grate and the metal pan with the pork belly oil.

I took some of the marinated pork skin and placed it in the pork belly oil.

And it worked beautifully. Like really well.

Pork belly skin fried in pork belly oil

As for the smoked pork belly, I sliced some and pan fried it to make it crispier. The other pork belly, I just sliced and served.

pan frying the sliced smoked pork belly

plate of pan fried smoked pork belly

plate of normal smoked pork belly

table with fried pork belly skin, pan fried smoked pork belly, regular smoked pork belly, spicy green onion salad, salted shrimp, and lettuce.

little bit of everything in lettuce wrap

Everything was super delicious. I could've skipped the marinade step as I don't think it added much to the overall taste but it was fun to experiment. The fried pork skin was great but it was really for my puppy and she enjoyed it. Thanks for looking!

DUDE!!