Slow smoked Pork Belly

Nothing beats a good piece of bacon... Or does it? This Low and slow smoked Pork Belly does! Delicious, tender, juicy and with a stunning glaze! You gotta love it! Don't you?

Gang Main Course

Keuken asian, Belgian

Trefwoord asian style, beer syrup, glaze, glazed, kamado recipes, low and slow, pelletgrill, pork belly, smoked, syrup, Traeger

Voorbereidingstijd 5

Bereidingstijd 10

Totale tijd 10 5

Servings People

Equipment

BBQ with lid
Cherry wood pellets or chunks (depending on the type of BBQ you use)

Ingrediënten

1 kg Pork Belly Duke of Berkshire for this recipe

For the Rub

8 parts Paprika powder
4 parts salt
4 parts ginger powder
4 parts lemon grass powder
4 parts dried mint
4 parts cane sugar
2 parts mild curry
1 part chili powder

For the glaze

300 ml Bourgogne des Flandres (for best results) Can be replaced by another lambic style beer
150 ml sugar
300 ml water
200 ml sugar
1 kaffir lime juice and zeste
1 thumb grated ginger
10 dried kaffir leaves

Instructies

Mix all ingredients for the rub by hand to break up any clumps (depending on the amount you want to make 1 part can be a teaspoon, tablespoon or cup. These rubs last long so you can make quite some at once)
Remove the pork rind but keep the fat on the piece of pork belly. Score the fat cap in a cross hatch pattern.
Rub the pork belly thoroughly with the homemade rub. Make sure all parts are covered.
Prepare your BBQ/smoker for an indirect session at low temperature (75-100°C). Use some cherry wood chunks or pellets for a smoky flavor (depending on what type of BBQ you use). For this recipe I've used my Traeger Ironwood 885.
Smoke the pork belly for 8-12 hrs. (depends on the piece you are using). The pork belly is done when you can poke it with a toothpick without any resistance.

Glaze

While the porkbelly is smoking you can start making your syrup. I've learned while doing this that the best result is obtained by making the two syrups separately and combine them in the end.
For the beer syrup add the beer to a sauce pan and add half the amount of sugar as you added beer. Let gently simmer until you've got yourself a syrupy liquid.
Make the second syrup in a similar way. Combine water and half the amount sugar to a saucepan and add the grated ginger, zeste and juice of a half kaffir lime and the dried leaves. Let gently simmer until you have a tasteful syrup.
Mix both syrups at taste. You are looking far a delicious malty caramel beer syrup with a subtle touch of kaffir lime and ginger.
Half of the smoking session start with adding the glaze with a brush every hour. This way the sauce can stick to the porkbelly and get a nice smoky touch.
Cut the pork belly in slices from about 1cm when they are done. Baste them with a last layer of sauce. Don't exagerate. You don't want to cover the taste of your pork.