I have a pit boss upright cabinet smoker, I was using competition pellets, I had them directly on the second highest rack, no water in the pan, on 270 temp.
They were like that in the smoke for 3 hours, then covered in a pan with brown sugar, honey, and butter for an hour and a half, then applied a glaze and put back in for 5 minutes, it was all following this video https://youtu.be/nL82hlORY-k?si=oCcaTzPbtPlsRbxu
The flavor was incredible, and most of the burnt ends had parts so tender it seemed almost like biting into Jell-O, but there were some bites where the outside of the burnt end on one side was really tough, not sure what I did wrong?
by scuz888
4 Comments
Make sure you cut them all the same size as close as possible. Otherwise, you’ll end up with some way overdone and the top layer of meat will be jerky. Happens to me sometimes. It’s kind of just the nature of the beast with these. Some pieces have more fat, some have more meat. If you keep them submerged in liquid during the wrapped part, it’ll help greatly, and when you do the final saucing portion, don’t let them overcook.
I could be way off but I think I have seen pork belly sold with the skin still on as well. I believe that some people use that to make cracklin but I would assume that if you smoke that like a burnt end that it would end u just being really really tough and chewy.
(Cut em once you’ve cooked the whole belly, less bark but they look way nicer and more likely to be cooked evenly)
I’d drop your cooking temp down, I never run over 250. 220 is my sweet spot for butter smooth and crispy skin, you can also hit that skin with a torch to give her a little pop.