Porkbelly.... for you cooks out there!

[sirhrmechanic]

Just picked up a couple of really nice slabs of porkbelly. Basically bacon without a cure or smoking.

So any tips on preparation (as bacon). There are a couple of good recipies for porkbelly such as Porchetta or some Chinese preparations.

But for doing as 'basic bacon...' any real 'prep' needed? Slice thin and (as I usually do, add some maple sugar) and fry crispy?

I've done Porchetta before and it was amazing. But also pretty rich! I'd rather do as bacon.

What say you, my fellow 'Hide chefs?

Sirhr

 

[Atomic_Lobster]

Gotta smoke it with some apple or hickory

 

[gunjunkie45]

If you want bacon, you'll want to cure it at the very least, smoking is optional but preferred. Curing salt and seasoning of your choice. Store at 50 degrees for a couple weeks. Look up recipes for cured bacon pork belly. It's not difficult. First time I did it as part of a class at a butcher shop that my wife signed me up for.

 

[ColbyLang]

fuck bacon, cube that shit up and make belly burnt ends. Your cholesterol levels will spike but you’ll be in pork paradise. 250° for 2 hours rubbed with your favorite seasonings, then return to a foil pan with honey, butter, brown sugar and a little BBQ sauce. Cover, back on the smoker for an hour.

 

[Pharmseller]

fuck bacon, cube that shit up and make belly burnt ends. Your cholesterol levels will spike but you’ll be in pork paradise. 250° for 2 hours rubbed with your favorite seasonings, then return to a foil pan with honey, butter, brown sugar and a little BBQ sauce. Cover, back on the smoker for an hour.

Taste is fantastic, but I don’t fancy the texture.

 

[ColbyLang]

Taste is fantastic, but I don’t fancy the texture.

Can go Asian inspired with them as well. Sweet chili glaze and toasted sesame seeds and finish back on the smoker until the sauce sets. Also needs to be meatier belly, not the pure fatty segments.

I buy whole bellies and quarter. Vacuum pack and freeze for various cooks. Beans, burnt ends, something

 

[91Eunozs]

fuck bacon, cube that shit up and make belly burnt ends. Your cholesterol levels will spike but you’ll be in pork paradise. 250° for 2 hours rubbed with your favorite seasonings, then return to a foil pan with honey, butter, brown sugar and a little BBQ sauce. Cover, back on the smoker for an hour.

This or straight up candied pork belly cubes …

Basically the same as above but cut into 1/2” or so cubes, and minus the bbq sauce. You have to use a mesh screen or mat on the smoker with it cubed up like that, but the flavor is amazing with so much surface area exposed to the smoke!

We typically don’t use both honey and brown sugar, usually one or the other, and we’ll sometimes throw on some type of marmalade instead of honey or sugar to mix it up.

 

[Ronws]

I would also save some of that pork belly in case I catch a deer. I have a grinder and also a table big enough for rendering all the cuts.

I would definitely have to make some sausage and patties, and some ground packages for venison chili. Maybe some diced meat for stew.

However, I have found that burgers are great. And when it comes to backstrap, slice into medallions, saute some onions with oil and whatever seasoning, and flip a few times on the heat and take it off. But I digress.

What others said here. I did once smoke a feral hog that my old friend John (RIP) harvested. Oh man, that turned out so good, I should have just retired from this construction thing and just open a BBQ joint.

 

[SONIC SAAMI]

If you bought it to make bacon, you’ll need to cure it.

 

[TheBigCountry]

You could make chicharrones…

Or cut em up nice and thin and air fry them till crispy

 

[dustingaunder]

I grind it up with lean 60 lean/40 belly and make summer sausage.

 

[300winemag]

I like this one:

Smoked Pork Belly Slices​

These smoked and seared pork belly slices are just what you need if you are looking for an appetizer that will take your party or get together to the next level. It's like bacon on steroids, and you'll wonder why you've never made these before!

Course Appetizer
Cuisine Barbecue, Grilling With Smoke, Hot Smoking

Prep Time 2hours hours 10minutes minutes
Cook Time 1hour hour 30minutes minutes
Total Time 3hours hours 40minutes minutes

Author Jeff Phillips

Ingredients​

• 3-4 lbs pork belly slices ¼-inch thick is perfect
• Kosher salt for the dry brine
• Jeff's original rub

Instructions​

• Lay the strips of pork belly on a flat sheet pan for dry brining.
• Sprinkle salt on the top side of the meat at about 10% coverage, then place in the fridge for one hour.
• Flip the meat over, salt the other side in the same way, and place it back in the fridge for another hour.
• After the second hour, the meat is ready to be seasoned with the original rub.
• Season both sides liberally with Jeff's original rub waiting between the top side and bottom side for the rub to acquire that "wet" look before flipping them over.
• Smoke the pork belly slices at 225°F (107°C) for approximately 90 minutes or until they reach an internal temperature of 205°F (96°C) as measured by an instant-read hand-held digital thermometer, such as the Thermapen or ThermoPop.
• When finished, remove them from the smoker and let them cool for about an hour. You can also place them in the fridge to cool for longer if you are making them ahead of time.
• Just before serving, heat a skillet or electric griddle to high heat and cook both sides of the pork belly slices until they are well-seared but not blackened.
• Serve immediately.

 

[doubloon]

Crispy. That would be the easiest quickest in the oven.

But if you have the slilz smoked burnt ends like colby says is the shiz-nits. Snack on them, put them in soft tacos mmmmm

 

[triumph001]

I used this bacon recipe in my former life when I taught high school kids useful things. Is is sized for two whole pork bellies (usually 20-25 lbs in total) so it might need cut down depending on the size of the bellies you have. It takes time and a smoker capable of cold smoke for the best results. I assume you still have some maple syrup laying around since you didnt have to pay up when the pope finally checked out.


Maple bacon brine

1 cup salt
12 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp Black pepper
3 cups Apple juice
3 ounces pink salt (Cure #1, Prague powder #1)
8 ounces Real maple syrup

Procedure:
* Do not add the cure #1 until the very end once the brine has cooled down.

Place all dry and wet ingredients except for cure #1in a large stock pot and warm it until all salt and sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow to cool down to room temperature and add cure #1 to the brine and stir untill dissolved. Allow the brine to cool down to 40 degrees in the refrigerator.

Submerge the fresh sides in the brine and store in the refrigerator at 38-40 degrees and allow it to cure. Allow the bacon to cure for 3-5 days depending on the overall thickness. Brine penetrates the surface at a rate of approx. 1/4 inch per day, thicker bacon needs more time than thin.

Once curing is complete remove the bacon from the brine and wash the surface with cold water for 5 minutes. After rinsed allow bacon to air dry on a rack until the outside becomes sticky. This pellicle is important for the bacon to absorb the smoke properly and take on a nice smoked color on the outside. Once the pellicle has formed place the bacon on the shelf of the bradley smoker or hang from a dowell on bacon hooks.

Set up the smoker with a cold smoke attachment an apply 4-6 hours of cold smoke. Try to keep the cabinet from exceeding 85 degrees, ice can be added to a pan to help keep the cabinet temperature down. Once smoking is done remove the bacon and place in a ziploc bag and place in the refrigerator for a few days for the smoke to penetrate the meat.

Place the bacon in the freezer for a minimum of 8 hours to allow it to freeze solid. Slice to your desired thickness and vacuum seal and label the product.

 

[mheimer_45]

I raise pigs for a living. If you want the best cut eat a pork shoulder steak. It’s has a rep as poor man’s ribeye. Which is funny cuz I spend a lot on great cuts of beef. You can only get so many shoulder steaks from a pig.

 

[Maggot]

If you want bacon, you'll want to cure it at the very least, smoking is optional but preferred. Curing salt and seasoning of your choice. Store at 50 degrees for a couple weeks. Look up recipes for cured bacon pork belly. It's not difficult. First time I did it as part of a class at a butcher shop that my wife signed me up for.

Grandpap had a smoke house. I was young and dont remember a lot other than the smell, but there was also a huge salt box. Seems like he smoked it first, then put it into the salt cause they didnt have much refridgeration.

 

[timesublime]

If you bought it to make bacon, you’ll need to cure it.
View attachment 8779259

Prague #1?

 

[Threadcutter308]

If you're going to be using curing salts, research and make sure you know what you are doing. I don't remember all the details, but as I recall, #1 and #2 curing salts are very different animals. I think it is #2 that can make you very sick (or even kill you) if you don't use it properly. And, always use gloves when coming into contact with either one, just to be on the safe side.

Please do your research.

 

[mrdrar]

Google buta no kakuni and pick whatever recipe sounds best. Nothing like it.

 

[Numedal]

If you're going to be using curing salts, research and make sure you know what you are doing. I don't remember all the details, but as I recall, #1 and #2 curing salts are very different animals. I think it is #2 that can make you very sick (or even kill you) if you don't use it properly. And, always use gloves when coming into contact with either one, just to be on the safe side.

Please do your research.

#1 is salt and sodium nitrite. Intended for wet cures.
Find a good brine calculator, make up a brine for equilibrium curing. Makes it pretty much impossible to over cure.
Always weigh curing salts, a little goes a long way and getting it wrong can lead to the meat either not curing correctly or excessively high nitrite levels (if memory serves FDA max is something like 150 PPM)

#2 is intended for dry/air cures. Contains sodium nitrate as well. Best avoided unless you really know what you're doing. Very easily contaminated.