Pork Belly Burnt Ends Recipe
Brace yourself for the best pork nuggets ever.
To get the recipe to this point, I combined elements of the recipes from Texas Q, Mad Scientist BBQ, and Bearded Butchers.
The whole process takes 4-5 hours.
- Get that smoker going at 250°
- Cube a whole pork belly into reasonable nugget-sized cubes.
- Liberally cover with your preferred seasoning (my new crowdpleaser is this creole seasoning)
- Place the cubes on a wire rack and into the smoker for 2 hours
- After 2 hours, dump all of those into an aluminum pan and add 1 stick of butter, a healthy amount of seasoning, and reasonable drizzle of honey. Cover it with foil and place back on the smoker for another 1.5 hours at 250°.
- Remove the pan and put the cubes back on the wire rack from earlier. Coat each cube in your preferred BBQ sauce, and throw it back in the smoker for another 20ish minutes, until the glaze starts to crust and thicken up. You’ll know it when you see it.
- Eat pork nuggets until you can’t anymore.
If I feel inclined to vacuum seal and freeze for later, I’ll usually cut the pork belly into quarters, season it, and leave it on the smoker until it’s tender. It’s easier to vacuum seal this way and I can cube it, put it in an aluminum pan, and glaze it later.
Creole Seasoning That’ll Change Your Life
- 2 tablespoons sweet paprika powder
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 4 teaspoons garlic powder
- 4 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- Grind in blender until the blend is consistent