Smoking a Pork Belly (not bacon!) - Final Temperature?

[Charles Brown]

Gentlemen,

Was going to smoke a pork belly this weekend for some guests coming to town. What would a good final temperature be? I'm planning on vacuum packing a wet brine with maple syrup and bourbon for a day or two and then throwing it on the BGE. I've never smoked a belly before.

I'm thinking of setting the fire to 205* or 225* on the smoker with apple / maple wood but don't know the proper temperature for when to pull the meat.

I have a large BGE and a DigiQ for heat monitoring. Any help would be appreciated. Also, seeing as this is also my first time cooking belly, any guesses on how long it should take?

thanks,
Charlie

[Jason Roehl]

Since pork belly isn't a tough cut of meat, it doesn't need to go real high to break down the collagen. So, going with normal pork temps, I'd pull it at about 150º-155ºF and let it rest for a bit, wrapped in foil, to come up to a done temperature of about 160ºF. And, honestly, I'd be comfortable at even slightly lower temps, but that's not for everybody. I just happened to grow up in a home where pork wasn't done until it was leather. So, now that I have had, and made, tender, smoked pork, and haven't gotten sick, I like to live a little closer to the edge.