This is Kansas City, home of burnt ends. When I don’t have time for a whole brisket, pork belly makes a great alternative. Check out my approach and recipe for BBQ Pork Belly Ends and Asian Cajun Ends.
- Trim off excessive fat from the belly. Some may prefer more fat, but there’s plenty in the belly so no need to brine.
- Cut trimmed belly into 1 inch cubes.
- Season with your favorite rub. In this case, it’s my own rub. I decided to do BBQ and Cajun, so I used Zatarins Cajun Seasoning and Buffalo Wild Wings Asian Zing for a unique combo. The Cajun seasoning provides a terrific, blackened end.
- Prep your smoker for indirect heat, 220-240 degrees. I like using lump charcoal and pecan chucks and apple wood chips for the bellies.
- Place seasoned cubes on a baking rack (to make easy to get to smoker) or this time I tried a pizza pan to help blacken the cubes while smoking.
- Smoke belly cubes for 3 hours, spritzing with apple juice/apple cider vinegar mixture (3 parts juice to 1 part vinegar)
- The last hour I like to put direct on the grill (take off the pan or baking rack)
- After 3 hours of smoke, place in foil pan with your desired sauce/liquid. I used apple juice, butter, honey, and BBQ sauce for the BBQ rubbed (left pic) and orange juice, Asian Zing sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings, and butter for the Cajun seasoned (right pic). If you prefer not to use the Asian Zing, use butter and your favorite hot sauce.
- Cover with extra BBQ sauce and honey (left), Asian Zing sauce (right)
- Put back in smoker, covered with foil for another 60-90 minutes, depending how hot you run your smoker.
- After braising for 60-90 minutes covered, remove foil cover for another 15 minutes to let some of the sauce absorb more smoke and it will also make the cubes stick to your fingers delicious.
Left: Asian Zing (Buffalo Wild Wings Sauce) & Cajun seasoning (Zatarans Cajun Seasoning)
Right: BBQ Sauce, honey
Follow the blog now for not only real estate content, but I’ll also be posting more recipes at the request of several readers. Please reach out to me with questions and remember, it’s your house, make the most of it and enjoy it with friends and family!
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