Bacon burnt ends

So here's some pictures of the bacon burnt ends that I have been working on. Kinda using Daniel Vaughn's write up of Heim BBQ's recipe guidelines as the basis.

Started with a 3 lbs slab of pork belly that I quick cured with brown sugar, salt and maple syrup for 5 days turning each day. Tossed it on Suzie with some apple and oak chunks at 275 for 3.5 hrs when it became probe tender. Now the pictures kick in.

Here's the cut slab before cubing. Not much of a noticeable smoke ring on the fat side but a decent ring on the bottom which is meat side.



Cubed and tossed in a bowl, added more of the base seasoning which was a rub with black pepper, cayenne, chilli powder, mustard powder, salt, onion, garlic and cumin.



Sauced with my version of No. 5 (look on pg 26 of the recipe I think )



Separated them into two dishes with some additional brown shugga, cause you would right?



Back out on the smoker for another 1.5 hrs letting the fat render further and the sauce caramelize. Nice and tender to the pinch, super freaking tasty. And they look good to boot!






So I am doing this recipe again in a few weeks so to make some changes I want a bit more flavour in the original cure, you really couldn't pickup much of any of it. So might up the seasoning within the cure by adding some pepper, cumin, maybe something else to add a bit more depth to the cure. Smoke and saucing worked, might trim more of the fat cap off just so I dont need as much time rendering the fat as it was quite juicy. Other than that things were spot on and this will be a staple to the menu here at the Calow household (affectionately known as Wildman BBQ and Juke Joint!)

Those look amazing Jeremy. I finish mine in Sailor Jerrys with brown sugar.

Jeremy,

Those look and sound amazing. And those last two pics? Cookbook quality!

Chuck that sounds like something I should kick off trying too hehe. Really cant go wrong with Sailor Jerry's tbh.

Thanks Jim, I was shooting the finished product for my web page so that might be the difference vs. the mid round which was cell phone all the way

Hell yeah!!!

WOW!! Those last two pics tells the story, outstanding job.

That looks great Jeremy. I'll have to that a try.

Like that last shot Jeremy. Looks lovely.

Wow, great looking burnt ends!

Thank y'all, I do think there's room for improvement so we'll see what the next batch is like in a few weeks here theoretically when work quiets down a touch.

We were watching FN on the DVR, and one of the yahoos made pork belly burnt ends. Pammi wants me to make some, so that's what we're having for Independence Day.
Yours look amazing, though!

Haha Phil, no such luck. The BBQ Snob had tweeted about these a few years back and I thought they were the most amazing sounding things ever. So when he wrote up a little article in Texas Monthly https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/smoked-in-texas-bacon-burnt-ends-at-heim-bbq/ I just had to try and make it. This is my second attempt with a third coming on the 7th of July so, we shall compare notes!!

Jeremy, I just found out TODAY that we're having a cookout on Independence Day. Probably doing burgers.
But I'm going to see if I can talk Pammi Sue into these as an appetizer!

Well that sounds like a winning setup for a party ever! Can't wait to see how it turns out. I think I'm pulling my pork belly out of the freezer thursday night for my party on the 7th, hopefully getting even more flavour out of it this time!