Pork belly 'Burnt ends'

What are Burnt Ends?

The origin of the term Burnt ends comes from flavorful pieces of meat cut from the "point" half of a smoked beef brisket. A traditional part of Texas barbecue, burnt ends are considered a delicacy in barbecue cooking. Either the entire brisket is cooked whole, then the point end removed and cooked further, or the point and flat are separated prior to cooking. Due to the higher fat content of the brisket point, it takes longer to fully cook to tender and render out fat and collagen. This longer cooking gave rise to the name "burnt ends".

Since pork belly is also very fatty the term has started to be used to describe cubes of belly cooked in a similar way, we've developed this simple recipe as a homage to burnt ends using our soy-free pork belly cubes

Serves 6-8 with sides

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

2T Smoked paprika (mild

2T Celery Salt

2T Garlic granules

1T ground cumin

4T Soft dark brown sugar

75mls Apple Cider vinegar

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Meat:

1kg Ethical Butcher soy-free pork belly cubes

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BBQ sauce: OR - use your favourite ready made sauce

100mls Rubies in the Rubble tomato ketchup

4T Golden granulated sugar

2T Black treacle 

3T Apple cider vinegar

2T Smoked paprika

1/2t mace

1t garlic powder

To Serve:

4 organic spring onions

Small bunch of coriander - optional

Squeeze of lime juice - optional

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Method:

Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl and pour into the vac pack bag that the pork arrived in, massage well and squeeze out the air, ideally leave in the fridge overnight to marinade or at least for a few hours.

To cook the pork use an oven dish with a lid or a Dutch oven style pot. Cook the pork for 3 hours at 120C covered.

If you're making the BBQ sauce mix while the pork is cooking, you can make a larger batch and keep in the fridge for a week or so, the recipe proportions are not crucial so adjust to taste and add chipotle if you like a spicy BBQ sauce.

Remove from the oven after 3 hours and turn the oven up to 250c

When the pork is back at room temperature remove from the oven dish and using tongues place the pork cubes in a bowl and cover with the BBQ sauce, stir until well coated on all sides.

Place the cubes skin side up if possible on a baking tray or open oven dish and put in the very hot oven for 7 minutes then keep watching and checking on it to achieve the desired level of caramelisation without burning.

Serve immediately with scattered finely diagonal chopped spring onions and if desired, some chopped coriander and a squeeze of lime juice.

Ideal with cornbread and a beer!