Pork Belly Poutine
We have started doing many different varieties of poutine ever since discovering it in Canada. Here is our Pork Belly Poutine on the smoker. The recipe is pretty involved because you are essentially doing the pork belly and fries and then assembling the entire dish.
Ingredients:
Pellets: Your choice. We used the Signature Traeger blend.
1 5-7 lb. skinless Pork Belly, cut into 1 inch cubes
Pork & Poultry Rub, or Brown Sugar Bourbon rub (dry rub of your choice to season pork belly)
1 Cup Apple juice
1 1/2 Cup Traeger Apricot BBQ Sauce
1/2 Cup Honey (your choice of brand and type)
Sweet Potato Fries (frozen)
Cheese Curds
Directions:
Directions:
1. Pre-heat smoker to 275*, lid closed for 15 minutes.
2. Thoroughly coat all sides of the pork belly cubes with your choice of dry rub.
3. Allow the rub to adhere on all sides for at least 15 minutes. Place the pork belly in the Traeger, fat-side down. I prefer to do this on a wire rack or cooking tray (spray cooking tray first).
4. Cook pork belly for 3 hours, spritzing with apply juice every 45 minutes or whenever it starts to look dry.
5. Pull the belly when the meat reaches in internal temperature of 190* - 195*F. Some people pull it earlier, but I like it really tender.
6. Place the cubes in a half-size aluminum pan, or glass bowl. Season and toss the cubes with more dry rub.
7. Place belly in a large cast iron skillet. Cover the cubes with Trager Apricot BBQ Sauce. Drizzle honey across the top. Toss in skillet until all cubes are completely covered.
8. Return the skillet (uncovered) to the smoker and cook for another hour or until all the liquid has reduced and caramelized.
9. Once you pull pork belly from the smoker, turn the heat to 450*.
10. Pork belly should rest 15 minutes before serving. Cover with foil to keep warm while fries cook. While they rest, put sweet potato fries on a sprayed baking sheet in one flat layer.
11. Cook fries for 20 minutes on one side. Flip them over and add cheese curds (or add curds during assembly phase). Cook an additional 15 - 20 minutes.
Assembly: Put fries & cheese curds on a plate, add the pork belly and drizzle with more Apricot BBQ Sauce.
You can add the cheese curds during the cooking time of the fries, when you flip them over if you want more melted cheese. The other option is to add the cheese curds after, during assembly and they should melt a little with the warmth of other ingredients.