Smoked Pork Belly - first time, and want feedback/suggestions!

[sharpsh]

Hi everyone - I'm very new to smoking, and did a 3lb pork belly this past weekend. Did a dry rub overnight, then 3.5 hours in the smoker skin side up using a hickory/oak/apple mix. No water in the pan, and dry chips. I applied BBQ sauce every hour or so. I think it came out great, but some of the bark was so hard it was inedible.

Thoughts, feedback, and suggestions would be really helpful as I'm trying to get better with every smoke I do!

Thanks!

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• sharpsh
• May 10, 2016

image.jpeg

• sharpsh
• May 10, 2016

 

[SmokinAl]

Next time you may want to cure it & make bacon.

Al

 

[sharpsh]

How would I do that?

 

[sfprankster]

Brine it and make banh mi

or pasta(in the same thread linked above).

 

[worktogthr]

When you say the bark was inedible...was the skin on the belly?  If the skin is not blasted with high heat it will be very chewy.  It looks delicious!!!

 

[rexster314]

Most BBQ sauces are high in some form of sugar. Basting the meat with it, you ended up with burned on sauce that can be very hard. That's more than likely what happened with yours. Dry rub is ok, it usually has sugar in it as well, but it won't burn up like sauce will. Basting it with sauce the last half hour would be ok, you just have to keep turning it or put it off in a cooler side of the grill (indirect heat)

 

[sharpsh]

Yeah, the skin was on. I flipped it a few times to crisp it up, but I think maybe the BBQ caramelized too much and made the bark too hard...

 

[stickyfingers]

I did one 2 weeks ago. Basically I used the 3-2-1 method and it was awesome. I cut 1" slices to eat...very good.

 

[foamheart]

Crackling Pork...... You added some smoke, it sounds delicious.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/190014/pork-crackling-not-cracklins-foamheart

It was total awesome sauce!