Burnt ends of pork belly are always a big hit at our place. Besides the chicken wings, they do great at a party. But it only really becomes a party when you serve your meat on a stick. So we made the burnt ends skewers for this.
The easiest way to get the pork belly on skewers is to stick the skewers into the meat and then cut them into strips. Then you provide them with a nice layer of dry rub. Just take your favourite dry rub or take on of ours.
We turn our kettle barbecue into a smoker by filling 1 of the briquette trays with cold briquettes. Then we light about eight briquettes with a fire starter and put them on top. On top of that goes a block of smoking wood. This time we used apple. Make sure the hatch of your grate opens above the tray so that you can add briquettes or smoking wood if necessary.
The thermometer in the lid of a barbecue always indicates the wrong temperature. That is why we use the Smoke from Thermoworks for this bbq session. Here we connect two probes, one of which keeps an eye on the temperature in the kettle.
The other goes into the meat. Make sure the probe doesn’t hit the skewer. Otherwise, the probe will measure the wrong temperature, and the meat will not be tender enough at the end.
After an hour or two, the core temperature is about 80°C (176F). If you don’t have any patience, you can now take them off the grid and eat them. You could also grill them briefly over direct heat. We continue to cook them because we want the pork belly so soft that they just don’t fall off the skewer.
We achieve this by wrapping the skewers in aluminium foil. First, we put the skewers in an aluminium container, and then we sprinkle the skewers with a bit of raw cane sugar and pieces of butter. We put the thermometer through the foil back into the meat and set the Smoke to 96°C (205F). Close the lid, open the first beer and wait quietly.
After another hour, the pork belly burnt ends skewers are ready. The meat is wonderfully soft, and the neighbours start to get curious because of the delicious smells.
Ingredients
- 1 kilo pork belly
- 2 tbsp of your favourite dry rub
- 2 tbsp cane sugar
- 100 grams of butter
Instructions
- Insert metal skewers into the meat every 1 inch. Then cut the meat into pieces between each skewer.
- Sprinkle the skewers all around with an even layer of the dry rub.
- Prepare a barbecue with an indirect temperature of about 150°C (302F). Place the skewers on the grates’ cooler side, insert a thermometer into the meat, and close the lid.
- When the pork belly has reached 80°C (176F), place the skewers in an aluminium container. Sprinkle with raw cane sugar and put pieces of butter on the meat. Close the container with aluminium foil and put the container back in the barbecue until the meat has a core temperature of 96°C (205).
