Pork Belly Burnt Ends

Pork Belly Burnt Ends

Burnt Ends are normally associated with smoking brisket where the point muscle might overcook while the flat muscle is still coming up to temperature. The overcooked point is then chopped into smaller chunks and returned to the smoker covered in BBQ sauce.

On a pork belly there isn’t normally an overcooked piece but the same technique of cooking and then saucing the belly chunks produces beautiful bite size pieces, sometimes also called candied belly. 

To speed up the cook, I cut the belly into chunks before cooking, they’ll only take 4 to 5 hours instead of 8 or 9, oh yes this is a waiting game. It’s worth it though. 

Method

1. Cut your pork belly into 3-4cm cubes. Make sure you take the skin off the belly before you do this.
2. In a bowl, dust your pork belly cubes with your rub.
3. Setup your Big Green Egg for an indirect cook with the plate setter and stainless steel grid and the Egg set to 110°C. Allow everything to warm nicely.
4. Add a couple of wood chunks to the burning charcoal (I love the new EGGspander system as it allows you to lift everything out really simply to add wood chips and chunks).
5. Place your pork belly cubes onto the grid, making sure to leave a space between each of them.
6. Cook for about 2-2.5 hours until they reach an internal temperature of about 80C.
7. Now add them to a pan, adding the honey and BBQ sauce. Stir to coat them and return the pan to the BBQ.
8. Cook for a further 1.5 hours but be careful not to burn the honey.

Notes 

I like to mix up my rubs here a little to give both heat and sweetness. A favourite for heat is Bad Byrons Butt Rub (available here). For sweetness I like Angus and Oinks Porky White Chick.

Tefal make a great set of pans for use on the Egg called Ingenio. I use them all the time. For the photos here though, I used a Big Green Egg cast iron skillet designed for the MiniMax.