Cure Method:

Add 1L of water & all of the other ingredients to a pot and bring to the boil, stirring to ensure everything dissolves.

Add this to the rest of the water, mix and allow to cool.

Once fully cooled, add the pork belly (we did this with the rind removed but the option is yours).

Ensure the joint is fully submerged, cover and put in the fridge for approx. 5 days depending on the size of your joint.

After this time, pour off the wet cure, rinse the pork belly and add back into the container adding fresh cold water this time and allow to soak for a further 24 hours. This will prevent it from being too salty.

This is now ready for a hot smoke. We decided to treat this as though it is a hot smoked bacon joint like they do in North American. Because of the cure, we felt it would give better results cooked to 75C instead of 93C like we did with our other pork belly. 

Rub and Smoke Method:

Combine all the rub ingredients together.

If using, massage the Olive Oil / Mustard / Hot Sauce all over the pork belly to cover.

Sprinkle the rub all over the pork belly evenly. Allow 15 minutes for the rub to take and adhere to the joint.

Set smoker temperature to 110C. Once up to temperature, start smoking. We are using Cherry Flavour Bisquettes, but you can use whichever flavour you wish.

Put the pork belly into the smoker with a drip tray underneath.

Allow the joint to smoke until an internal temperature of approximately 75 C. This will take approximately 4-6 hours.

Rest the joint and slice to enjoy.