Crispy Skin On Pork Belly! What To Do?

lashing1c · Oct 9, 2012

I bought a 7.5 pound Pork Belly Yesterday and Cut in Half because I want a few trys to make it right. After reading so many post on here I decide that I am going to use the KISS method when it comes to seasoning. I did my first 1 with just a heavy dose of Crushed black pepper grinded up in a coffee grinder I have dedicated for that purpose. I applied a liberal amount of Salt and Pepper. I put Cherry wood on UDS that has 2 levels with a weber cover. I smoked about 2 hours on Top level FAT SIDE UP at 235 with a deflector as not burn the bottom. It was at 140 when I moved it to the bottom grate turned it FAT SIDE DOWN. I cranked up the UDS to as high as I could get it and attempted to CRISP UP THE FAT. It kinda worked. It certainly rendered more of the fat off.

I have never had Pork Belly before and it tasted like ribs with out the bone which is awesome. When i fried some pieces in a frying pan it tasted like Bacon which seems logical based on the fact it is uncured bacon meat. That is really the taste that I liked. It is due to that crispy skin.

Questions:

What are some of the ways to crisp up that skin? Little scared doing it on another grill due to flare ups. Anyone done it in the oven or broiler?

What if I did it fat side down longer in the UDS? Does that grease smoke harm the meat in anyway?

Skidder · Oct 9, 2012

Probably tasted like bacon due to the salt and the smoke. Crispy skin calls for higher heat which in my opinion calls for the grill. You can do indirect and still get the high heat without the flair ups.

neuyawk · Oct 9, 2012

lashing1c said:
I have never had Pork Belly before and it tasted like ribs with out the bone which is awesome.

What if I did it fat side down longer in the UDS? Does that grease smoke harm the meat in anyway?

It tastes like ribs because it's basically sitting ribs.

The grease smoke is what you look for in North Carolina BBQ. Not only does it not harm it's AMAZING.

GARNAAL · Oct 9, 2012

crispy skin...

I normally crosshatch the skin (~3.4 inch) with a very sharp knife when I grill the slabs of bacon - skin down a bit after smoking them - that way the skin gets really crispy from the fat that drips from the cuts..
:mrgreen:

jaestar · Oct 9, 2012

Deep fry it in lard after smoking it.

landarc · Oct 9, 2012

Are you looking for something like this?

The fat was crispy, the meat and fat were meltingly tender. For this cook, here is what I did.

1.I marinaded the pork belly, it is best to score the meat and the fat, but, just scoring the fat worked fine. Then I removed the meat after a 12 hour marinade (or so).

2. I then wiped the meat dry, docked it with a skewer to make sure the fat was punctured to a 1/8" depth, applied a rinse of cider vinegar, making sure to get it into the scoring of the fat. Then applied a light rub of sugar and kosher salt, let this air dry under a fan for 2 hours or so. It must be dry.

3. Into the smoker for 2-3 hours (at 235F), to render it down, then onto a hot grill over a very hot fire. You want the fire to be at least 8" from the meat though. It will caramelize the skin and cause it to almost fry itself.

4. An alternate step, and I have seen this done for Siew Yuk (crispy skin pork) is that the pork is dropped into a searing hot lard coated frying pan. The skin, as it is dry and well punctured, turns to crackling almost instantly.

buccaneer · Oct 9, 2012

The key is dry skin and temps

Refrigerators are dry environments

and air dry also works

Dr_KY · Oct 10, 2012

I go the route of dry skin. Either jacard it or stab a billion times with a knife then rub in salt and baking soda and cook over medium high heat.

It will blister and be as crispy as anything.

Crispy Skin On Pork Belly! What To Do?

lashing1c

Knows what a fatty is.

Skidder

Babbling Farker

neuyawk

is one Smokin' Farker

GARNAAL

is one Smokin' Farker

jaestar

Full Fledged Farker

landarc

somebody shut me the fark up.

buccaneer

somebody shut me the fark up.

Dr_KY

Quintessential Chatty Farker

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