Pork Belly Burnt Ends are some of the most tender morsels you will ever taste. Traditionally, burnt ends are made from the tip of a beef brisket or a poor man’s version are made with chuck roast. Recently we had a taste of red chile pork belly in a breakfast dish at one of our favorite restaurants. But to create a version of that dish I needed to smoke a pork belly and make a red chile glaze sauce to coat the burnt ends. It was a challenge that I happily accepted! I picked up a 5 pound pork belly at Costco that had an even ratio of pork to fat. For this recipe I only used half the pork belly and cut it into 1 inch cubes. The pork was seasoned with a Chipotle Lime rub and set on a wire rack. Once the smoker was prepped with apple and hickory pellets, I set the temperature to 250 degrees. I placed the rack with pork belly on the smoker and spritzed it with apple juice every hour to allow it to caramelize and create that crisp outer texture. It took a little over 3 hours to reach an internal temperature of 195 degrees. They were transferred to an aluminum pan where I dotted the pork with slivers of butter and spooned the red chile glaze over top. The pan was covered with aluminum foil and placed back on the smoker for another hour. After resting for 30 minutes we unwrapped the foil and each had a bite. They were so tasty and it took every bit of willpower to not eat them all. We managed to save enough to recreate a special breakfast dish which is in the works to share soon.
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An Inspired Cook 