Smoked pork belly

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 2 kg boneless pork belly
• 34 g curing salt
• 34 g iodized salt or other salt
• 10 g sugar
• 6 g black pepper
• 6 g paprika powder, hot
• 6 g caraway powder
• 4 g garlic granules
• 4 g onion granules
• 8 bay leaves
• 20 juniper berries

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Rest period approx. 7 days; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes; Total time approx. 7 days 2 hours 50 minutes

Cured and hot smoked

Kitchen utensils required: blender or immersion blender, vacuum sealer, smoker. Using a blender or immersion blender, chop all ingredients except the meat. Cut the meat into 4 roughly equal pieces and rub them well with the spice mixture. Place 2 pieces of the marinated meat into each vacuum bag, divide the remaining salt mixture between the two bags. Vacuum seal the bags. It’s important that there is no salt or fat on the edge of the bag, otherwise it will leak out! Place the bags in the refrigerator and turn them over once a day. The meat needs to be cured for one day for every 1 cm of thickness. Rinse the cured meat in cold water until all spice residue is removed, then rinse briefly in lukewarm water to remove any salt residue. Finally, pat the meat dry with kitchen paper. Dry or hang the meat at around 11°C for 2 days – but this is not absolutely necessary for those who can’t stand it any longer. Now smoke the meat in 2 batches: first batch 1.5 hours, second batch 1 hour, both times at approximately 100 °C