SLOW COOKED PORK BELLY
Pork belly is a delicious and tasty ingredient that you can easily prepare on the Big Green Egg. It is actually nothing more or less than the uncut variant of the beloved rashers of bacon, only better! Have you bought a nice piece of pork belly and are you looking for the right recipe? Then we would really recommend this slow-cooked pork belly recipe by expert Ralph de Kok. Due to its high-fat content, nothing can really go wrong when slow-cooking pork belly.
INGREDIENTS
PORK BELLY
- 2lbs pork belly without rind
- 2 tbsp garlic puree
- sea salt
- ½ bunch thyme
- ½ sprig rosemary
- 6-8 bay leaves
METHOD
- Score the fatty side of the pork belly crosswise. Score the meat side crosswise as well, as this will allow the meat to absorb the flavours. Rub the pork belly on both sides with the garlic puree and sprinkle generously with sea salt. Place half of the thyme, rosemary and bay leaves on the fat side and half on the meat side. Cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for one night.
- Take the pork belly from the fridge. Slide the air regulator underneath the ceramic base fully open, divide three fire starters on the charcoal and light them. Leave the lid of the EGG open for 10-12 minutes. In the meantime, rub the seasoning on the meat side of the belly and partly on the fat side. By leaving a little of the seasoning on the fat during cooking, the fat and therefore the meat will get extra flavour.
- Position the convEGGtor and lay the Stainless Steel Grid in the Big Green Egg. Lay the pork belly with the fat side up on the grid, as this will allow the tasty fat to be drawn into the meat and baste itself during cooking. Moreover, very little fat drips on the convEGGtor, which would otherwise create lots of smoke. Close the EGG’s lid and increase the temperature to 100°C. Leave the pork belly to cook for about 3 hours until the meat reaches an internal temperature of at least 175°F. This can be measured with the Dual Probe Remote Thermometer or Instant Read Digital Thermometer.
- Remove the pork belly from the EGG when the core temperature has been reached. You can cut and serve it in thin slices or opt to grill the slices at a temperature of 445°F (without the convEGGtor) about one minute per side. You can also cool down the pork belly (and store it covered in the refrigerator), cut it into slices and then grill it the next day. Or eat the slow cooked pork belly one day and grill the leftover slices the following day.