Pork belly done right
With Dutch crunch topping
No BBQ recipe list is complete without pork belly. With a little love and the right approach you can turn this stone cold classic into something incredible. The most important thing is to not grill these fatty slices of pork pleasure with the heat turned too high. That’s asking for unwanted flames and a too crispy finish (read: burnt meat).
To make these, you’ll cut nice and thick yourself, and cook them low and slow before just gently tickling them with fire on a cast iron grill grate. The result is a smokey slice of pork perfection with a beautiful balance of fat, salt, and acid.
The ingredients:
(serves 8)
- 3 lbs (1½ kg) high quality pork belly, like Heyde Hoeve, skin removed
Rub
- 2 tbsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tsp granulated garlic
- 2 tsp onion powder
Sauce
- 2 large onions, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 bottles IPA (beer)
- 10½ oz (300g) molasses
- 1⅔ fl oz (50ml) soy sauce
- 1 fl oz (30ml) vinegar
- Chipotle-tabasco to taste
Dutch Crunch Topping
- 2 tbsp piccalilly
- 5⅓ oz (150g) cashews, roasted and chopped
- 5⅓ oz (150g) pearl onions, cubed
- 5⅓ oz (150g) gherkins, cubed
Gear:
- BBQ with cover for indirect and direct grilling
- Cast iron grill grate for direct grilling
- 2 or 3 apple wood chunks for smoking (2 x 2 inch pieces), like Smokey Goodness Apple Smoke Chunks
- Core thermometer
- Hand blender
- Butcher’s string
How to make:
Duration: prep 3 hours
Cooking about: 10 minutes
Prepare a BBQ for indirect grilling and heat to 110 °C (230 °F).
Mix together all the ingredients for the rub. Rinse the pork belly under running water and pat dry. Fold in half and tie with butcher’s string, then spread the rub over the meat.
Place your wood chunks amidst the hot coals and your meat on the BB grate. Cover and smoke for about 3 hours, until the core temperature of the pork reaches 76 °C (169 °F).
Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the sauce except the tabasco in a pan over heat and reduce to about three quarters of the original volume. Season with the tabasco and set aside.
For the Dutch Crunch Topping use a hand blender to blend your piccallily until smooth, then mix in the cashews, pearl onions, and gherkins. Set aside.
Convert your BBQ to direct grilling, raise the heat to 200 °C (392 °F), and put in the grate. Cut the smoked prok belly into inch thick slices, coat both sides with the sauce and grill on both sides. Make sure you coat them with the sauce a few more times while grilling. Serve with the Dutch crunch topping.
