1st time smoking a pork belly

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Wine Country John

Newbie
Original poster
Aug 6, 2023
10
33
My first time smoking a pork belly. Came out pretty nice. A perfect cook- averaged 250-260 degrees for a solid 7.5 hours over Applewood & lump charcoal. Stalled at 155° for a few hours. I opted for a foil boat over a full wrap to preserve any bark i was building. The boat helped kick it into gear as i had a steady climb from 155-203° for the next 4 hours. Rested for 3 hours before cutting in and seeing how it turned out.

Rub-
Sugar, Salt, Pepper, Chinese 5 Spice, Espelete
 

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Looks good! That's one thing I've never been able to master. Either not enough fat renders, and it's too rich, or too much and it's like shoe leather.
 
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Looks good! That's one thing I've never been able to master. Either not enough fat renders, and it's too rich, or too much and it's like shoe leather.
I was worried about that- but it doesn't seem too fatty. The amount of liquid left in the boat at the end was pretty substantial. I think leaving the top off helped render it down better. I probably had a 20% loss in volume.

You can see it bubbled up in the photo before I made the boat. The belly was too long for my kamado so I balled up some tin foil to hopefully buy me an inch. By the end of the cook I probably had 3 inch clearance front and back that I didn't have at the start.
 
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