Hey yall, new griller here trying to smoke some pork belly strips then crisping em up a bit at the end. 2nd time smoking ever, 7th time grilling. They are cooked wonderfully throughout except for this chunk of fat on the side that turns into chewy rubber. It's probably obvious, but could one of yall help me figure out how to fix this? Am i not cooking it long enough? It was at about 225 mostly for about 3 hours today then some at 275-300. The fat inside the pork is incredible and buttery. I just can't replicate that on the exterior chunk. 😮💨 Thanks yall
by IrregardlessOfEdu
23 Comments
Could be the skin? Cut it off before cooking
You mean the skin?? I think you should have just cut it of before grilling.
That’s probably the skin, you can cut it off, or I like to leave that part alone for the whole cook, and then fry it in oil on the cast iron for pork belly chicharrones bites. Love love love it!
That definitely looks like skin. Not far. Cut off before cooking.
A way I’ve done it it’s toe it up like a cinnamon roll and then smoke until
Internal
Is 190-200 like pulled pork. Everything is tender then
Wow I am a dumbo. It is the skin. To my noob ass when it’s uncooked it all looks like fat. I sliced it off all 3 pieces and they’re fucking delicious now. Thanks y’all, haha 🙂
You can bread it with just all-purpose flour only over the fatty side, If you are cooking on a gas or charcoal grill…or you deep-fry everything on oil!! 👍
Crispy skin on pork belly is one of life’s greatest pleasures. If you don’t have too much sugar or seasonings on it that could burn, baste the fat side with the 350-400 degree oil. It will puff up and get extremely crispy, like chicharrón, pork rinds, etc.
Next time you make pork belly, maybe try that out – heavily salt the skin well in advance to pull out moisture, rinse and pat it dry before cooking. Keep the seasoning simple to prevent it from burning at the last step, cook the pork belly to your desired doneness.. transfer pork belly to a wire rack over a high walled baking dish.. heat oil or pork lard in a pot on the stove to 375 degrees or so, then slowly and carefully ladle it over the pork skin. If hot enough, the skin should puff up 3x its size instantly.
Low and slow smoking isn’t great for skin. Popular trick is to cover the skin in a layer of salt to protect it from the smoke. Once your cook is done remove the salt and grill the skin over direct heat to get it all blistery and crispy. Check out Chudds Barbeque on YouTube, he’s got some skin on pork belly videos and he explains the process.
It’s the skin you either cook it til that part is crunchy or remove it.
Does no one else like chewy meat? I would love to bite into that pork skin
That’s the literal skin. Cut it off. Make cracklin for your pup. I have to cut mine off if I get it
I like to boil the pork belly skin side down in a pan ( just a little bit of water, don’t want it to come up the sides too much and cook the meat) for about ten before I cut into strips or cubes ( for skewers) and marinate for grilling. Skin comes out soft but slightly toothsome, super yummy.
ETA, if you do your pork belly like this and have leftovers, be sure to warm them up before eating or the skin gets chewy again. But after warming up it goes back to that soft, silky texture from fresh off the grill.
Holes! Poke holes
Buy pork belly with no skin.
I always score my belly pork skin in a diamond pattern, the skin will crisp better that way as there’s less surface area to crisp up, plus, the heat can get into the fat better too.
If it hasn’t crisped up at point of serving, I run my kitchen blowtorch over it to give it extra charring/crackling.
If you’re looking for bacon-like results out of pork belly you need to cure it first.
Smoke it and when it starts to bubble/crackle, sear it on cast iron. Makes the skin into chicharrones. I did this when I bought some tomahawk pork chops with belly on the bone. Thing is an amazing cut of pork.
Here’s the recipe for the pork chops and some picks of the chicharrones: https://grillinfools.com/reverse-seared-tomahawk-pork-chops/
Do bigger pieces, score and smoke fat up
You can take the skin off first before cooking it.
Please don’t cut off skin to a delicious pork belly. You can score the skin and it will not be so chewy. It would be easier if you had a thicker piece. These people who cut it off are dumb. Don’t waste the best part!
Before you cook your pork belly you should brine it in an acidic bath 12 hours probably make your whole strip tender
Use a knife