Smoked Pork Belly Fritters: Tender Cooked, Crispy Fried

Step 1

Preheat your smoker to 225°F (107°C). Connect your  Smoke X2 and Billows BBQ-control Fan to smoker and bring it up to temp. Add your choice of smoking wood. We used cherry.

Step 2

Apply just enough mustard to the pork belly to act as a binder.

Step 3

Season the pork belly strips generously with BBQ rub.

Step 4

Place the pork in the smoker. Insert a probe (we used a 2.5″ needle probe) into the thickest piece of pork belly.

Step 5

Set the high-temp alarm of your meat channel to 210°F (99°C) and smoke the meat. It should take 4–6 hours to get up to temp and become probe tender.

Step 6

When the pork is nearly done, prepare to fry.

Step 7

In a medium-large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and BBQ rub.

Step 8

Add the buttermilk, creamed corn, and beer to the dry ingredients and whisk vigorously until well combined.

Step 9

Preheat 2–4 inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot. Do not fill it more than halfway. Clip a probe to the side of the pot and attach ChefAlarm. Set the high- and low-temp alarms to 375°F and 350°C (191°C and 177°C) respectively.

Step 10

Remove the temperature-verified pork from the smoker. Cut it into about 1-inch pieces.

Step 11

When the oil comes to temp, drop 5-8 pieces of pork into the batter. Coat them well and place them piece by piece in the oil.

Step 12

Allow the fritters to fry until golden brown and crispy-delicious. It will not take long!

Step 13

Use a kitchen spider to remove the fritters to a paper-towel-lined sheet tray to drain.

Step 14

When the oil comes back up to temperature, cook another round of fritters. Repeat until they are all cooked.

Step 15

Serve with your choice of BBQ sauce for dipping, then go buy more belly and get going on a second batch.