Braided Pork Belly recipe and method

Martin

A smoked pork belly, braided like a bread loaf—why not!

Course dinner, Main Course

Cuisine American, bbq

1 slab pork belly about 5 pounds
Plenty of BBQ rub we chose an Asian-inflected one for this
Your favorite BBQ sauce that matches your rub we used a good spicy one with some oyster sauce mixed in

Preheat your smoker to
250°F
(121°C). Use your Smoke X
to monitor the pit temp throughout the cook.
Prepare the belly for braiding by cutting it into four strands. Cut long slits through the meat starting one or two inches from one of the short sides.
Season the strands well on all their sides.
Fan out the strands and braid in the following order: move 4 over 2, move 1 over 3, move 2 over 3. Repeat.
Pin the loose ends together with a skewer or sew them together with some butcher's twine and a thick needle. (Obviously, remove the needle.)
Place the meat in the smoker, insert a probe in it and connect it to your Smoke X2. (This is more for monitoring purposes than anything else at this point.)
Cook the meat for 2 hours, then wrap it in aluminum foil, re-insert the probe, and set the high-temp alarm on the meat channel to 165°F (74°C). Put the meat back in the smoker and turn the smoker temp up to 300°F (149°C).
When the high-temp alarm sounds on your meat channel, check the belly in a few places with your Thermapen ONE
to make sure the whole thing has reached the target temp.
Unwrap the braid, put it back in the smoker, and brush it with your sauce. Cook about 30–45 more minutes, until the sauce sets up.
(Total cook time will be somewhere in the vicinity of 4 to 6 hours, depending on several factors.)
Remove the meat from the smoker, take a bunch of pictures—if you want to—and carve it up! Get some good sandwich bread for it, or just go to town with your fingers!

Keyword braided meat, presentation piece