SMOKED PORK BELLY WITH ONION, TOMATO AND BBQ SAUCE

SMOKED PORK BELLY WITH ONION, TOMATO AND BBQ SAUCE

For about 2 people

In  preparation of this dish we will again use the cold smoke technique, this can be done in two ways, by using smoke moth in the cold smoke generator, or with pellets in a smoke tube. It doesn't matter which of the two methods you choose. With pellets you have a little more chance of temperature formation, but in this case that is not much of an problem because we will immediately finish the pork belly afterwards. In principle, with cold smoking, make sure that the outside temperature does not exceed 20 degrees. This is very important in connection with the formation of bacteria, especially if you intend to serve the cold-smoked product raw, such as salmon. After cold smoking, this is also a fun and easy preparation that is quite simple to perform after the extensive preparation. Hot and fast roasting on cast iron is always cool to do and produces a nice barbecue snack dish that is delicious at a party or birthday. In this case, if you want to serve the dish for a larger group, simply adjust the quantities to the group. Success guaranteed.

INGREDIENTS

• Pork belly 500 grams
• Rosemary 4 branches
• Laurel 4 leaves
• Salty Ras el Hanout 50 grams
• White wine vinegar 50 grams
• Smoke moth or pellets, apple and hickory
• Large onion, 1 pc
• Cherry tomato, 10/15 pieces
• Pickled jalapenos, to taste
• Parsley, a handful
• BBQ sauce, Blues Hog Champion blend
• Chili sauce

NECESSITIES

• Cast iron skillet
• BBQ with lid and indirect cooking option
• Heat shield when using kamado
• Smoke tube/ or Cold smoke generator
• Core thermometer
• BBQ tongs
• Bake to store bacon
• Knives
• Cutting board
• Plate
• Aluminium foil
• Satay sticks

PRE PREPARATION 1

• Prick the pork belly extensively on both sides with the skewer, these holes ensure that all the flavors of the brine bath penetrate well into the meat.
• Mix the Raz el Hanout with the white wine vinegar, this will ensure that the spices dissolve properly in the water.
• Weigh the pork belly and place it in a suitable container that can hold enough water to submerge the pork belly. Take a container that is as small as possible so that it needs as little water as possible.
• Pour water into the container with the pork belly and weigh this too, now add the weight of the water used to the weight of the pork belly.
• Now add 1% salt of this total weight to the water and make sure that this salt dissolves well. If you don't think this is salty enough, you could consider adding up to 1.5% salt.

• (example)

  • Pork belly                   -   500 gram
  • Water                         - 1000 gram
  • Total weight.               - 1500 gram
  • 1% salt.                      -     15 gram 
• Now add the rosemary and bay leaf and make sure everything is well mixed, put the container in the fridge.
• Let the whole thing stand for at least 48 hours, mix the herbs through the water every so often.

PRE PREPARATION 2

• Remove the pork belly from the brine after 48 hours and pat it dry.
• Provide a clean empty barbecue so that we have the barbecue ready for cold smoking.
• We are now going to cold smoke the pork belly, choose which method you want to use and smoke the pork belly for about 3 hours.
• After 3 hours of smoking, we remove the pork belly from the barbecue.
• Now fill the barbecue with the desired fuel and light it, ensure a continuous temperature of 140 degrees and place the heat shield when using a kamado.
• Make sure the temperature remains stable at around 140 degrees. Add a handful of smoke wood or pellets to the glowing coals and place the pork belly in the barbecue.
• Insert the core thermometer exactly in the middle of the bacon and cook it to a core temperature of 67 degrees.  
• Let the bacon cool down and set in the fridge after preparation, then cut it into nice cubes, approximately 2 by 2 cm.

PREPARATION

• Heat up the barbecue, place the cast iron skillet and let it get really hot. Meanwhile, cut the onion into half rings and finely chop the parsley.
• Fry the bacon cubes on the cast iron until golden brown and turn them regularly with tongs.

• Now remove the bacon cubes from the skillet and set them aside for a while, cover them with aluminum foil so that they stay hot.
• Fry the onions in the bacon grease until nicely browned. When the onions are cooked and colored as desired, add the bacon cubes back to the onions.
• Add the Cherry tomatoes and fry them briefly, keep stirring everything now and then with tongs.
• Deglaze the whole thing with some barbecue sauce and some chilli sauce to taste. Mix everything well, for the sauces its really up to your own taste. It is better to start carefully, adding sauce is always possible, removing it becomes more difficult.
• Heat everything well, then sprinkle with parsley and Jalapenos. The dish is now ready to be served