- Jun 28, 2015
- 483
- 296
I have my Pork Belly Burnt Ends nailed down, and try to have a few slices of pork belly in the freezer at all times, to make up a batch with any smoke I do. If I were challenged to a throw done, PBBE would be my go to.
But some of the other PB post lately got me think and channeling my inner Bubba Blue (Forest Gump). I didn't have a whole belly, so I couldn't do a braid. But I had 4 strips from costco, and set out to make a PB Smorgasbord.
So I turned my 4 strips into Sliders, Tacos, Fried Rice and PBLT's. My PBBE upset both Cardiologist and Endocrinologist alike, so I decide that for this run, I could at least give the Endo guys a break, so 0 sugar in any of this.
Prep the Pork Belly
==================
1. The night before the cook, I scored the fat cap in a diamond pattern, being careful to not get into the meat.
2. Place a rack in a foil pan, so the meat wouldn't be setting in the liquid pulled out
3. Heavily salted with Kosher salt and into the fridge overnight. It spent right at 12 hours in timeout. I figured this would tighten up the belly some so it would hold up better to hot smoking, and give me a bit of a baconny profile.
4. The next morning I rinsed the Pork Belly really good, patted it dry and left it out to develop a pellicle
5. In the meantime I got the All-Star preheating to its preferred 235. Loaded with Royal Oak Hardwood Briquettes and a few Apple, Cherry and Pecan chunks.
6. Right before going into the smoker, I apply my SLPOG rub (SPOG with half the pepper coming from Lemon Pepper). In the future, I will leave the S out of the rub, I under estimated how salty the Belly would get after just 12 hours.
7. Into the 235 All-Star.
8. After 3 hours, I spritzed with 25/75 apple cider vinegar/water, every 45 minutes
9. I pulled the strips when they hit @185.
10. After cooling, I wrapped in plastic and into the fridge overnight, so they could be good and firm for slicing. You don't know how hard it was to not sneak some of it at this point!
11. The next morning I sliced across the strips into 3/8 - 1/2 inch pieces perfect for sliders etc. I couldn't stand it any longer and did sample at this point, although a touch salty, they were fantastic even cold, and the one piece I fry tested was over the top! I was surprise at just how much of a bacon profile was achieve after just 12 hours of salt. Smokiness was also perfect.
You've suffered enough here's your first QView reward.
Belly right out of the smoker.
And sliced the next AM.
On to some other prep work before the final show.
Green Onion Mayo
=================
1. Sliced up some Green Onion
2. Some fresh garlic, I cheat and use the little plastic squeeze bottles of minced garlic from Wally world.
3. Some Mayonnaise. If your southern, I don't have to tell you to use Dukes, you already know. But for the love of all that is holly whatever you don't use Miracle Whip. LOL
4. Mix it up and in the fridge. I know sounds to simple but trust me, you will be putting this stuff on everything!
Sorry no pics of mayo, and no exact measurements just what feels right in the moment.
Simple Slaw
======================
You will quickly pick up on a theme here, I spend hours preping and caring for my smoked meats. But I have been known to cheat on the sides, and other prep work.
1. Some more Duke's, not going to give you a choice this time :-)
2. Some minced garlic
3. Some Lime Juice
4. Recipe calls for sour cream in equal parts with the mayo, but I didn't have any, and slaw was great.
5. Mix that up until thin but still a touch creamy
6. Thinly slice some purple onion
7. Cheat and get a bag of Tri-colored slaw mix at wally world. In my defense, my kitchen cutter is in the RV 1 1/2 hours from MIL's. And her kitchen cutlery appears to be one butcher knife that I am guessing she got in a soapbox in 1960, and has been sharpened to the fine edge of a Pick Axe.
8. Some salt and pepper to taste, and into the fridge to pickle for a bit.
This slaw has quite a bit to it, and I prefer it to a normal vinegar bite for slaw. And it was perfect for cutting not only the fat of the PB, but also taming the slightly over saltiness.
Again sorry no pics, no exact measurements.
One last pre-prep item, 3 cups of rice needs to be made ahead of time so it can be cold for making the fried rice.
Final Prep
==============
I had originally thought about grilling the PB slices to char them up, but in the end decided to do everything on my Camp Chef Griddle.
I buttered and toasted up some Hawaiian rolls. Tip: if you use Hawaiian rolls for sliders, they will be good no matter what you put inside them :-) I also had a few raw tortillas that I keep on hand for my breakfast burritos that I toasted up.
Next the Pork Belly slices went on to get a nice char going. As I was doing this I saved off the ends and any other pieces that weren't pretty enough, to go into the Fried Rice.
Time for another Qview Reward, here are the slices for the PBLTs, sliders and tacos. If you count these, plus the one's saved for the rice, I ain't saying your count won't come up a few short. You know QA at every stage is important.
Finally let's put this all together.
Pork Belly BLT (PBLTs)
===================
Pretty dog gone simple.
1. Toasted Hawaiian Roll.
2. Some Green Onion Mayo
3. Lettuce
4. Tomato
5. Glorious Pork Belly Slice
Pork Belly Sliders
=====================
Just about as simple
1. Toasted Hawaiian Roll.
2. Some Green Onion Mayo
3. Pickle, gottza to have a pickle
4. Glorious Pork Belly Slice
5. Spoonful of Simple Slaw
Pork Belly Taco's
========================
Really just a slider in Taco form. I had intended to Blacken some slices for the tacos, but with them being salty I figured it wouldn't work out. I did blacken a couple for me to try and although good, they were definitely salty.
1. Toasted Tortilla
2. Green Onion Mayo (taking the place of Creama on a fish taco)
3. A couple of Glorious Pork Belly Slices
4. Simple Slaw
Pork Belly Fried Rice
=======================
You got to have a side to serve, but nothing says that side can't also have PB in it! Every since I got my Camp Chef griddle I have been dreaming of making fried rice on it, but this was my first time. I am not sure who enjoy making it on the CC more me, or the Mrs. that normally cleans up the kitchen after I make it inside!
One prep step and another cheat. While at Wally world (damn I spend to much time there). Grab a package of Sunbird Fried Rice Seasoning, and mix it with a couple of table spoons of soy sauce. We use low sodium, you know I am very careful with my diet ;-)
1. Start with the ends and other non pretty pieces from the PB.
2. Dice it up and get a good char going on it
3. Take the PB off the griddle, but leave all that yum yum grease!
4. Dump the bowl of cold rice on the griddle.
5. Let it sit for a couple of minutes so you get some good charred pieces on bottom.
6. Then dump the seasoning/soy mix on the top of it, and mash the mound down and start mixing it up. Now's your chance to live out your dream as a Benihana chef!
7. When the rice is getting close to where you want it, push it to the side and scamble 2 eggs.
8. Chop the eggs up and mix back into the rice
9. Transfer your PB back and mix it in.
10. Toss a big hunk of butter in the middle.
11. If you want traditional flavor give it a couple of squirts of sesame oil now. I use olive oil.
12. Yes another cheat, open your bag of frozen peas and carrots and dump some on. I will resist the urge to make another Forrest Gump reference. But I bet Jenny sure would like my fried rice ;-)
13. Channel your inner Benihana chef one last time, you can even use 2 spatulas and get jiggy with it at this point, until everything is mixed well and the frozen veggies are heated.
One last QView of Daddy's plate. 2 tacos, 1 slider, and a heaping helping of rice. Mrs. really surprised me the PBLT's were mainly for her, but she liked the sliders with slaw better. First time she has ever eaten slaw on a sammich! I must admit I ain't much of a traditionalist my self, but think I will make a batch of this simple slaw for my next Pulled Pork adventure.
But some of the other PB post lately got me think and channeling my inner Bubba Blue (Forest Gump). I didn't have a whole belly, so I couldn't do a braid. But I had 4 strips from costco, and set out to make a PB Smorgasbord.
.
So I turned my 4 strips into Sliders, Tacos, Fried Rice and PBLT's. My PBBE upset both Cardiologist and Endocrinologist alike, so I decide that for this run, I could at least give the Endo guys a break, so 0 sugar in any of this.
Prep the Pork Belly
==================
1. The night before the cook, I scored the fat cap in a diamond pattern, being careful to not get into the meat.
2. Place a rack in a foil pan, so the meat wouldn't be setting in the liquid pulled out
3. Heavily salted with Kosher salt and into the fridge overnight. It spent right at 12 hours in timeout. I figured this would tighten up the belly some so it would hold up better to hot smoking, and give me a bit of a baconny profile.
4. The next morning I rinsed the Pork Belly really good, patted it dry and left it out to develop a pellicle
5. In the meantime I got the All-Star preheating to its preferred 235. Loaded with Royal Oak Hardwood Briquettes and a few Apple, Cherry and Pecan chunks.
6. Right before going into the smoker, I apply my SLPOG rub (SPOG with half the pepper coming from Lemon Pepper). In the future, I will leave the S out of the rub, I under estimated how salty the Belly would get after just 12 hours.
7. Into the 235 All-Star.
8. After 3 hours, I spritzed with 25/75 apple cider vinegar/water, every 45 minutes
9. I pulled the strips when they hit @185.
10. After cooling, I wrapped in plastic and into the fridge overnight, so they could be good and firm for slicing. You don't know how hard it was to not sneak some of it at this point!
11. The next morning I sliced across the strips into 3/8 - 1/2 inch pieces perfect for sliders etc. I couldn't stand it any longer and did sample at this point, although a touch salty, they were fantastic even cold, and the one piece I fry tested was over the top! I was surprise at just how much of a bacon profile was achieve after just 12 hours of salt. Smokiness was also perfect.
You've suffered enough here's your first QView reward.
Belly right out of the smoker.
And sliced the next AM.
On to some other prep work before the final show.
Green Onion Mayo
=================
1. Sliced up some Green Onion
2. Some fresh garlic, I cheat and use the little plastic squeeze bottles of minced garlic from Wally world.
3. Some Mayonnaise. If your southern, I don't have to tell you to use Dukes, you already know. But for the love of all that is holly whatever you don't use Miracle Whip. LOL
4. Mix it up and in the fridge. I know sounds to simple but trust me, you will be putting this stuff on everything!
Sorry no pics of mayo, and no exact measurements just what feels right in the moment.
Simple Slaw
======================
You will quickly pick up on a theme here, I spend hours preping and caring for my smoked meats. But I have been known to cheat on the sides, and other prep work.
1. Some more Duke's, not going to give you a choice this time :-)
2. Some minced garlic
3. Some Lime Juice
4. Recipe calls for sour cream in equal parts with the mayo, but I didn't have any, and slaw was great.
5. Mix that up until thin but still a touch creamy
6. Thinly slice some purple onion
7. Cheat and get a bag of Tri-colored slaw mix at wally world. In my defense, my kitchen cutter is in the RV 1 1/2 hours from MIL's. And her kitchen cutlery appears to be one butcher knife that I am guessing she got in a soapbox in 1960, and has been sharpened to the fine edge of a Pick Axe.
8. Some salt and pepper to taste, and into the fridge to pickle for a bit.
This slaw has quite a bit to it, and I prefer it to a normal vinegar bite for slaw. And it was perfect for cutting not only the fat of the PB, but also taming the slightly over saltiness.
Again sorry no pics, no exact measurements.
One last pre-prep item, 3 cups of rice needs to be made ahead of time so it can be cold for making the fried rice.
Final Prep
==============
I had originally thought about grilling the PB slices to char them up, but in the end decided to do everything on my Camp Chef Griddle.
I buttered and toasted up some Hawaiian rolls. Tip: if you use Hawaiian rolls for sliders, they will be good no matter what you put inside them :-) I also had a few raw tortillas that I keep on hand for my breakfast burritos that I toasted up.
Next the Pork Belly slices went on to get a nice char going. As I was doing this I saved off the ends and any other pieces that weren't pretty enough, to go into the Fried Rice.
Time for another Qview Reward, here are the slices for the PBLTs, sliders and tacos. If you count these, plus the one's saved for the rice, I ain't saying your count won't come up a few short. You know QA at every stage is important.
Finally let's put this all together.
Pork Belly BLT (PBLTs)
===================
Pretty dog gone simple.
1. Toasted Hawaiian Roll.
2. Some Green Onion Mayo
3. Lettuce
4. Tomato
5. Glorious Pork Belly Slice
Pork Belly Sliders
=====================
Just about as simple
1. Toasted Hawaiian Roll.
2. Some Green Onion Mayo
3. Pickle, gottza to have a pickle
4. Glorious Pork Belly Slice
5. Spoonful of Simple Slaw
Pork Belly Taco's
========================
Really just a slider in Taco form. I had intended to Blacken some slices for the tacos, but with them being salty I figured it wouldn't work out. I did blacken a couple for me to try and although good, they were definitely salty.
1. Toasted Tortilla
2. Green Onion Mayo (taking the place of Creama on a fish taco)
3. A couple of Glorious Pork Belly Slices
4. Simple Slaw
Pork Belly Fried Rice
=======================
You got to have a side to serve, but nothing says that side can't also have PB in it! Every since I got my Camp Chef griddle I have been dreaming of making fried rice on it, but this was my first time. I am not sure who enjoy making it on the CC more me, or the Mrs. that normally cleans up the kitchen after I make it inside!
One prep step and another cheat. While at Wally world (damn I spend to much time there). Grab a package of Sunbird Fried Rice Seasoning, and mix it with a couple of table spoons of soy sauce. We use low sodium, you know I am very careful with my diet ;-)
1. Start with the ends and other non pretty pieces from the PB.
2. Dice it up and get a good char going on it
3. Take the PB off the griddle, but leave all that yum yum grease!
4. Dump the bowl of cold rice on the griddle.
5. Let it sit for a couple of minutes so you get some good charred pieces on bottom.
6. Then dump the seasoning/soy mix on the top of it, and mash the mound down and start mixing it up. Now's your chance to live out your dream as a Benihana chef!
7. When the rice is getting close to where you want it, push it to the side and scamble 2 eggs.
8. Chop the eggs up and mix back into the rice
9. Transfer your PB back and mix it in.
10. Toss a big hunk of butter in the middle.
11. If you want traditional flavor give it a couple of squirts of sesame oil now. I use olive oil.
12. Yes another cheat, open your bag of frozen peas and carrots and dump some on. I will resist the urge to make another Forrest Gump reference. But I bet Jenny sure would like my fried rice ;-)
13. Channel your inner Benihana chef one last time, you can even use 2 spatulas and get jiggy with it at this point, until everything is mixed well and the frozen veggies are heated.
One last QView of Daddy's plate. 2 tacos, 1 slider, and a heaping helping of rice. Mrs. really surprised me the PBLT's were mainly for her, but she liked the sliders with slaw better. First time she has ever eaten slaw on a sammich! I must admit I ain't much of a traditionalist my self, but think I will make a batch of this simple slaw for my next Pulled Pork adventure.
