Smoked Pork Belly
Super tender pork belly, lightly cured in coffee & treacle then smoked over oak.
Servings: 8 People
Equipment
- Smoker/Barbecue
- Large Rectangle Container
- Butcher's Paper
- Spray Bottle
Ingredients
- 2 kg Bone In Pork Belly Skin Removed
Brine
- 1.5 Litres Water
- 75 g Table Salt
- 60 g Light Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Black Treacle
- 1 tsp Instant Coffee
- 1 tsp Pink Peppercorns
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 1 Star Anise
Rub
- 20 g Maldon Salt
- 15 g Coarse Ground Black Pepper
- 40 g Demerara Sugar
- 1 tsp Espresso Powder
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 tsp Onion Granules
- 1 tsp Garlic Granules
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tsp Cumin
For The Cook
- 2 tbsp French’s Mustard
- 75 ml Apple Cider Vinegar
- 75 ml Water
Instructions
- Place all of the brine ingredients (use only half of the water) into a large saucepan. Place over a medium heat & cook until the salt & sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from the heat, transfer to another container & add in the remaining water. Leave to cool completely.
- Lightly score the fat on the top of the pork belly then place into a large container. Pour over the cooled brine then leave in the fridge for 4-6 hours, turning the pork over halfway through.
- Next, remove the pork from the brine & rinse off under cold water. Transfer to a clean tray & leave uncovered in the fridge overnight.
- To prepare the rub, combine all of the ingredients together in a bowl then set aside.
- The next day coat the pork belly with the French’s mustard then cover completely with the rub. Leave at room temperature whilst your barbecue gets up to temperature.
- Preheat your barbecue/smoker to 275°f/135°c & set up for indirect cooking.
- Once at temperature, place the pork belly fat side up into the barbecue & leave to cook undisturbed for 3 hours. In the meantime, combine the water & apple cider vinegar then place into a spray bottle.
- After 3 hours have passed, spray the pork with the vinegar/water every 30 minutes until a deep bark has formed.*This will roughly take a further 2-3 hours.
- Next, give the pork a good spray with the vinegar then wrap in a double layer of butcher’s paper. Place back in the smoker (the same way up) & continue cooking until the pork probes like butter.*Roughly a further 3-5 hours.
- Once the pork is cooked, remove from the smoker, leaving it wrapped in the butcher’s paper but also wrapping in a tea towel. Leave to rest for a minimum of 1 hour.Once rested, remove the bones from the belly (they should just slide out) then slice to serve.Alternatively, leave the belly whole & chill in the fridge to set. Once set, slice thick then pan fry to heat up.
Notes
The rub that we use on the pork contains espresso powder. You can buy this online but it is cheaper to make & is also surprisingly easy to do. My guide to making espresso powder can be found here.
I recommend cooking the pork belly indirectly on a barbecue but you could also cook it uncovered in an oven set to 130°c.
For longer, slow cooks, I use briquettes as the fuel as appose to lumpwood charcoal. Meat only takes on smoke during the first 3-4 hours of cooking so I’ll throw a small lump or two of oak in with the charcoal at the beginning of the cook then leave it to burn.