Pork Belly & Cumin

[Sven Svensson]

I read a recipe a few years back and adapted it to the smoker. I don’t have a lot of pictures of the process but maybe this will be motivation to do it again and take more photos.

I took a pork belly and scored it. I used a sweet rub, put a little cracked pepper on it. And then I rubbed in a ton of cracked seed cumin I processed by hand in my mortar and pestle. I did not get a picture of that. Sorry.

I first put it under my broiler on high for about 30 minutes and then transferred it in a pan on a rack, to my smoker. The pan caught the rendered fat so it wouldn’t mess up my smoker. There it sat for about 4 hours at 250. The results were incredible. It rested in a cooler for about 45 minutes on our way to a backyard party. I put it on a platter and everyone just used their fingers and pulled it apart. Then, to my surprise and a little shock, they started putting it in corn tortillas with salsa that I didn’t bring and it disappeared in about 20 minutes. I felt a little bad for the person who brought the tortillas and a bowl of hamburger taco meat. I was pretty sure a lot of the pork belly was going to go home with me and I’d use it in Ramen. Nope, every bit of it was gone. It was super simple and I really need to do that again. Cumin and pork belly were made for each other.

I think the other folks went home with their taco hamburger but no salsa or tortillas. Sorry about that.

 

[indaswamp]

Fun fact...way back before the spice trade really got going globally from east to west, the Romans did not have access to black pepper, or if they did it was infrequent and reserved for royalty. The common spice on the table was cumin and was used just like we use black pepper today. Matter of fact, some of the old world salumi recipes I have seen that date back thousands of years use cumin as a spice.

 

[bauchjw]

Wow! Really beautiful smoke, it looks incredible. I don’t know why I’ve never thought of going heavier with the cumin? Hm, great post, thank you!

 

[Sven Svensson]

I had never done this before and found out that the Cumin seemed to cut right through the fat like an acid would. Almost made it taste healthy.

 

[1MoreFord]

Cumin is to me like cilantro is to some others. A little goes a long ways. It is indispensable in chili but overpowers a lot of other spices. I once bought a bottle of hot sauce that I taste tested in the store at room temp and loved. When I got home and put the jar in the fridge it became inedible for me because the cumin flavor multiplied several times becoming unbearable.

 

[SmokinAl]

That really looks delicious!
Al

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks Great Sven!!!
Nice Job!
Like.

Bear

 

[Sven Svensson]

Thanks Bearcarver . All the good stuff I learned from you. I’ve been stalking your posts for years. I refer to your step-by-step guide weekly.

 

[smokebuzz]

Looks great, I like doing bellys in nontraditional ways also, but i REALLY avoid cumin... Not sure i even have any in the spice cabinet..

 

[daspyknows]

Looks tasty. Not a big fan of cumin and rarely use it but maybe I should revisit it again.