RecipesCharles Sieg

Candied Pork Belly Burnt Ends

Cubes of pork belly smoked over maple, then glazed in butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup until they turn to candy.

Candied Pork Belly Burnt Ends: A pile of glossy, deep mahogany candied pork belly cubes, each about an inch across, lacquered in a sticky brown sugar and maple glaze, a few speared two at a time on plain wooden toothpicks, heaped in a shallow matte black enamel dish
Smoker
225°F
Total time
4hr 45min
servings
30

Method

A line, step, tool, or note tagged Filled in was added by the editor because the original left it out.

  1. Start smoker with maple pellets and get it to 225 degrees. Turn on Super Smoke (Traeger). Set other brand smokers to a similar temp and maximize smoke.
  2. Unwrap the pork belly and put it on the cutting board. Pork belly should be coming out of the refrigerator, fully defrosted. That said, it’s easier to cut a slightly frozen pork belly into cubes.
  3. Trim any skin and excess fat from the pork belly.
  4. Cut the pork belly into ~ 1” cubes. Put the pork belly cubes into the bowl.
  5. Add 1 tbsp of dry rub, 1 cup of brown sugar, and 1 tbsp of cinnamon to the bowl. Mix the powders and the pork belly cubes until the cubes are thinly coated with the mixture.
  6. Take the bowl to the smoker and lay the cubes directly on the grate. Wash the bowl and set aside for later. Take the butter out of the refrigerator and let warm.
  7. Smoke the pork belly for 3 hours. After 3 hours, remove the pork belly and put the cubes back into the bowl. The cubes should have a slight bark with a deep red color.
  8. Add the stick of butter, 1 cup of brown sugar, and 1/4 cup of maple syrup to the bowl. Mix all of this together until the cubes are thoroughly coated.
  9. Transfer the cubes back to the smoker and smoke for 1 more hour. This allows the latest mixture to caramelize on the pork.
  10. Remove from smoker and rest for 15 minutes. Consider using toothpicks to serve, 2-3 cubes per toothpick. These things are sticky but delicious.

Notes

Scaling

  • A bigger batch takes the same time as long as the cubes sit in one layer with a little space between them. Use a second rack before crowding the first.
    Filled in
  • Mix the glaze in a bowl big enough to toss the cubes without mashing them; they are soft after three hours of smoke.
    Filled in

Storage

  • Warm leftovers in a covered pan in a 300 degree oven so the glaze loosens instead of burning. The federal chart says to reheat leftovers to 165 degrees.
    Filled in

Nutrition Facts

30 servings per recipe

Serving sizeabout 5 cubes

Amount per serving

Calories640

% Daily Value*

  • Total Fat 59g76%
  • Saturated Fat 22g110%
  • Trans Fat 0g
  • Cholesterol 85mg28%
  • Sodium 65mg3%
  • Total Carbohydrate 17g6%
  • Dietary Fiber 0g0%
  • Total Sugars 16g
  • Includes 16g Added Sugars32%
  • Protein 10g
  • Vitamin D 0mcg0%
  • Calcium 20mg2%
  • Iron 0.7mg4%
  • Potassium 230mg4%

* The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

How this label was figured
Ingredient lineCountedUSDA foodNote
6-8 lb. pork belly3,175 gPork, fresh, belly, rawFigured at 7 lb, the middle of the range.
1 tbsp dry rub for pork11 gA home blend of brown sugar, paprika, salt, black pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder
1 cup brown sugar220 gSugars, brown
1 tbsp cinnamon7.8 gSpices, cinnamon, ground
1 stick of unsalted butter113 gButter, without salt
1 cup brown sugar220 gSugars, brown
1/4 cup real maple syrup79 gSyrups, maple
  • The label counts all of the pork belly’s fat, including what renders out in the smoker and what is trimmed away, so a real serving comes in lower.
  • The pork belly is figured at 7 pounds, the middle of the range.
  • The USDA lists no trans fat for pork belly or butter, so that line counts none from them.
  • The USDA lists no vitamin D for pork belly, so that line counts none from it.

Where burnt ends come from

Burnt ends began as brisket trimmings given away at a Kansas City counter, and a 1972 magazine piece made them famous.

Burnt ends started as beef, not pork. Wikipedia credits them to the Kansas City restaurant Arthur Bryant’s and its namesake pitmaster, and defines them as pieces of beef cut from the point half of a smoked brisket.

At Bryant’s they were not on the menu. Calvin Trillin, who was born in Kansas City in 1935, wrote about the restaurant for Playboy in 1972: “The main course at Bryant’s, as far as I’m concerned, is something that is given away free – the burned edges of the brisket. The counterman just pushes them over to the side and anyone who wants them helps himself.” He told Feast Magazine that he remembers them as “just trimmings,” pushed to the side of the counter.

How free scraps became a menu item is not recorded. Feast writes that they went from throwaways to a signature of the city’s cooking, “but no one knows exactly how that happened.”

The cubes on this page are pork belly, which is its own argument. That half of the story is on the Smoked Pork Belly Burnt Ends page.

Sources

More to cook