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Thread: Smoking a Pork Belly (not bacon!) - Final Temperature?

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    129

    Smoking a Pork Belly (not bacon!) - Final Temperature?

    Gentlemen,

    Was going to smoke a pork belly this weekend for some guests coming to town. What would a good final temperature be? I'm planning on vacuum packing a wet brine with maple syrup and bourbon for a day or two and then throwing it on the BGE. I've never smoked a belly before.

    I'm thinking of setting the fire to 205* or 225* on the smoker with apple / maple wood but don't know the proper temperature for when to pull the meat.

    I have a large BGE and a DigiQ for heat monitoring. Any help would be appreciated. Also, seeing as this is also my first time cooking belly, any guesses on how long it should take?

    thanks,
    Charlie

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Lafayette, IN
    Posts
    4,563
    Since pork belly isn't a tough cut of meat, it doesn't need to go real high to break down the collagen. So, going with normal pork temps, I'd pull it at about 150º-155ºF and let it rest for a bit, wrapped in foil, to come up to a done temperature of about 160ºF. And, honestly, I'd be comfortable at even slightly lower temps, but that's not for everybody. I just happened to grow up in a home where pork wasn't done until it was leather. So, now that I have had, and made, tender, smoked pork, and haven't gotten sick, I like to live a little closer to the edge.
    Jason

    "Don't get stuck on stupid." --Lt. Gen. Russel Honore


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