Pork Belly 1st Attempt

[Dantij]

Fired up the Lang 48 for the first time in a month. Mother nature finally gave me a break. Smoked a pork belly and a shoulder. Both turned out amazing. Sorry, no pics. My question is about the belly. Should I have trimmed some of the fat off? I was expecting it to shrink down and render off more than it did. I think my cubes were a little bit too big, @ 2x2 inches. How will they turn out if I trim the fat a bit?

 

[JC in GB]

With no pics, I would need a taste to give you a valid assessment.

 

[Jonok]

I made some pork belly a few years ago for a fairly large group that wanted it as tacos. I got three of the leanest bellies I could find, “Mexicanized” my usual rub with a lot more cumin, some sage, oregano, and some smoked and dried hot banana peppers I had laying around.
I smoked the heck out of them with mesquite for 10 hrs or so at, as I recall, 240.
They looked to be holding their shape until I tried to get them out of the smoker. I ended up essentially pulling the meat as I scraped it out of the smoker into a hotel pan.

Not what I intended, but I finished pulling the meat and then drained off what fat I could (and made refritos with the smoky fat instead of with lard).

The meat was actually a hit, but it wasn’t for lack of effort at royally screwing things up on my part.

Since then I’ve only used pork bellies to make bacon...

 

[Dantij]

Funny how things work out!
I mexicanized my pork shoulder to perfection. Smoked it for @ 3.5 hours, made a tomatillo sauce, moved the shoulder to a foil pan with the sauce and bumped the temp up to @ 280°. Pulled it, served with flour tortillas. The best pulled pork you'll ever make.

 

[NWMike]

I've done pork belly twice. The first time I did not capture the fat that was melting and when I opened the door it went up in flames, making the burnt ends more burnt than I wanted!

The second time they turned out great. I did not remove any of the fat and did some larger chunks (2x2) and some smaller (1.5x1.5) and felt that the smaller pieces came out more tender.

Looking to do more as they were a huge hit!

Mike

 

[NWMike]

Pic of the Pork Belly Burnt Ends.

 

[smokerjim]

i'll take a plate of those please, looks delicious

 

[Marian Starks]

Looks delicious, I'm gonna give it a try.