Hey folks, I'm Randy with BBQGuys.com. We are out here cooking on the Cajun Preaux Charcoal Grill, and today I'm going to show you how I do my Cherry Wood smoked, rosemary & garlic infused pork belly. Let's get to it.
Ok, I was able to pick up a nice slab of pork belly at the local butcher shop.
To help the fat render & all of that good smokey flavor soak in, I’ll start off by
scoring the skin… about every quarter to half inch.
The skin can be tough, so make sure you are using a sharp blade.
Now you don’t want to cut down into the meat, just low enough that the strips are
separated from each other.
Another reason for scoring is that it will make it easier for slicing in between the
cuts.
For the brine....
I’ll lay the pork belly, skin side down in this pan, where I have a few sprigs of
rosemary and cloves of garlic.
For the brine liquid, I’m using apple juice..
The acidity helps to round out the natural saltiness of pork.
We’ll brine this for about an hour..
I like to top off the liquid once I get the pan in the fridge.. so I don’t make too
much of a mess on the way.
Ok, let’s get the grill ready.
I’ll get a solid batch of coals going on one side of the grill.
I’m shooting for an ambient grill temp of around 450F.. because for this cook we are
going to start off high and finish low.
While we wait for the coals to get hot, I’ll pull the pork from the brine & pat it dry.
Spread a generous amount of salt.. and a enough oil to coat the skin.
Massage that in well, to make sure it reaches into the cuts… and on the meat side.. sprinkle
a little cracked pepper.
So our pork belly isn’t roasting in it’s own juices..
I’ll lay it on this rack, skin side up.
Because this grill has multi level capabilities, I’ll set the charcoal basket on the top
notch, so it’s closer to the meat.. for the initial roast.
I’ll pour some of my leftover apple juice into the roasting pan, to help the pork stay
moist during the cook.
For smoking , I find cherrywood works great with pork.
I have the vent under the pork set halfway open, and the right one all the way open to
make sure we get plenty of airflow for good heat.
To force the smoke to roll over to the belly side, I’ll shut the lid vent on the opposite
side from where I’m roasting.
Alright..
It’s been roasting for about an hour.. look’n good!
It’s getting some nice color, so I’ll go ahead and rotate it, just to make sure
we get some evenness in our smoking process.
If you want to get a little extra crispyness on the skin..
A blowtorch is a good option to have.. and it’s pretty fun to use.
Now this is a good time to top off the smoking wood & work towards lowering the temp.
For the rest of the cook, I’ll shoot for a grill temp of around 220F.
Alright, we’re 2 hours in.. the fat looks like it’s rendering well…
I’ll give it one last turn and for a big cut like this, I am thinking about 3 hours
will have it where I want it.
let’s let this bad boy cruise a little longer.
Man, this is smelling like a big slab of slow roasted bacon!
I’ll go ahead and give it a good feel for tenderness.
We are about at the 3 hour mark..
The skin is sounding nice and crispy..
Let’s get it off the grill & let it rest about 10-20 minutes.
Let’s see what we got… nice..
I’m happy with how this came out.
If you find yourself with leftovers.. slices come out great pan fried and coated with your
favorite barbecue sauce.
I’m ready to try this.
All that fat cooking down and soaking into the meat should make for a mouth watering
bite… let’s check it out!
The pork belly came out great!
Super juicy and smokey & that garlic and rosemary really came through.
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