Pork Belly - Semi Fail

[petehalsted]

If you are going to share your successes, you need to share your fails! Good news, most of my fails is still better than Mickey D's!!!!

So I wanted to try to do Pork Belly with Cracklins by leaving the skin on. I was loosely following this video

8PM Saturday night I used my Jacard to put lots of holes in the skin, Rubbed Kosher Salt and apple cider vinegar on the skin side. And my "Sweet Heat" rub on the meat side.

I put it in the fridge uncovered at an angle so liquid wouldn't pool on the skin.

9AM Sunday AM I tried to crispy the skin similar to the video and found out my portable grill just didn't have the BTUs to do it (or might have been lack of enough drying time), so I grabbed my MAP torch that I use to light my AMNPS and used it to "crisp" the skin. This seemed to crisp it some but didn't do any "puffing" and caused the belly to curl up some.

I figured I was in trouble at this point but I was committed to seeing it through, so I went ahead and put it in the smoker at an angle (again so liquid wouldn't pool on the skin)

I took it off when it it 195.

As suspected, it was a fail, I had something closer to leather than the cracklings in the video. The other issue is this method trapped the big bunch of fat between the skin and the meat and caused it turn to something almost like jello, but not render off like "normal".

If you like melt in your mouth smoked pork fat, you could make your self sick with what came out of the smoker (don't ask me how I know this <G>)

So anyway to "save" the belly. I trimmed off the skin and some of the fat (and then ate half of the fat instead of tossing it). Cubed up what was left, put in a skillet with some our our homemade sweet sauce and did some quick Pork Belly burnt ends. They were not as good as when I do them in the smoker from the start, but let's just say they sustained me while I manged the rest of the smoke.

Final Notes: I really think the biggest reason for the fail was the skin really needs to be dry. I think it needs to dry brine until the skin is good and dry for this to work. At least that is my guess.

Long and short of it, I wanted to give it a try, but I like my normal Pork Belly Burnt ends way to much to experiment with this anymore.


Skin Side, it's like soft leather, not crispy


Meat side, got to admit it sure is pretty.


Here is some of the fat that I was describing that I cut off of the cube before I made the rest into Burnt Ends. This stuff was some great melt in your mouth flavor explosions, but not something a man over 50 should even look at much less eat!

Didn't take photos of the Burnt Ends, they weren't as pretty as my normal ones, and was just a snack to hold me over at this point.

 

[SmokinAl]

Too bad your recipe didn't work out.
I embedded the video in your post, since we don't allow YouTube links.
Al

 

[petehalsted]

Thanks Al!

 

[atomicsmoke]

I am not sure what you consider the fail...the chewy skin or the large amount of fat left? If latter ...belly is a very fatty cut. Some fat will render but most will still be there, so unless you plan to eat it i wouldnt waste a slab of belly using this method. I roasted some belly once , loved it, skin was perfect, loved the fat too, but my family only picked the meat. So it won't happen again.

I agree large amounts of fat are off putting for most people, especially after altered studies have ingrained "fat=cvd" in our brains.

It also has a texture that doesn't make it particularly interesting in the mouth.

Most people love fat taste but not biting into it.

That should be kept in mind before attempting recipes like this or pancetta, lardo.

I for one can't have enough fat: dry cured, cooked, rendered, cracklings.

 

[petehalsted]

I am not sure what you consider the fail...the chewy skin or the large amount of fat left?

Mainly the skin, I wasn't able to get the cracklings, I really suspect it needed to dry brine much longer.

I have made Pork Belly burnt ends several times, and love them and even the wife, who "hates" fat, eats her fair share. The difference is when I do burnt ends, I remove the skin. And when they smoke, it seems that fat renders a bit differently when it doesn't have the skin protecting it and trapping it between the skin and the "meat".

It's possible this belly just had a much thicker layer of fat, but I don't think so. Its hard to describe, but basically the finished belly just "felt" like it had more fat because of the way the fat rendered versus when it is directly exposed to the smoker.

Don't get me wrong I ate myself stupid on the fat, if the belly had been any bigger, my wife would have probably found me laying on the kitchen floor passed out from fat intake. But overall I just like the way it comes out when I do my "normal" Pork Belly burnt end process from the beginning. I was hoping to get something close to them, plus cracklings and achieve nirvana. But I failed, I could probably do again with much longer dry brine and get closer, but my normal Pork Belly burnt ends are so good, I just don't have enough incentive to try to perfect this version.

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks Great, Pete!! :)
Fail or not fail--I "LIKE" it.
I have always loved most fats, Bacon, Ham, Steak, etc.
I like my Meat Medium-Rare, but my Fat Well Done.
The only fat I don't like is the jelly-like slime, like in the interior of a Butt.

Bear