Pineapple Pork Belly Ends

Burnt ends started as the brisket point trimmings Kansas City pitmasters gave away at the counter. Pork belly ends are the cheat code version — belly is already half fat, so you get the same candied-cube result in five hours instead of fourteen, and it's far harder to ruin. This is that technique aimed at the islands: shoyu and pineapple instead of ketchup-and-molasses.

One real warning about the pineapple. Fresh pineapple carries bromelain, a protease that will turn pork surface to mush if it sits on there for hours. Use canned juice or briefly boiled fresh juice for the glaze — heat kills the enzyme — and save raw fresh pineapple for garnish only. Kiawe is the right smoke for a cube this rich: hot, clean, and mild enough that the glaze still reads as pineapple.

Ingredients

• 5 lbs skinless pork belly, cut into 1.5-inch cubes
• Binder: 2 Tbsp shoyu
• Rub: 1/4 cup brown sugar + 2 Tbsp coarse black pepper + 1 Tbsp kosher salt + 1 Tbsp garlic powder + 2 tsp smoked paprika + 1 tsp ginger powder
• Glaze: 1 cup pineapple juice + 1/2 cup shoyu + 1/2 cup brown sugar + 1/4 cup honey + 2 Tbsp rice vinegar + 1 Tbsp grated ginger + 2 grated garlic cloves
• 4 Tbsp butter, cut into pats
• 1/2 cup pineapple chunks, small dice — added at the very end
• Sliced green onion and toasted sesame seeds to finish

Cook Sequence

1. Toss the cubes with the shoyu binder, then the rub, and set them on a wire rack with a half inch between cubes. Every face needs airflow.
2. Run the pit at 250°F with kiawe chunks going in early. Rack straight on the grate, smoke 3 hours until the bark is set and dark and internal reads 185-190°F.
3. Simmer the glaze ingredients in a saucepan 8-10 minutes until it reduces by about a third and coats a spoon. This also cooks off any bromelain in the juice.
4. Move the cubes into a foil pan, pour over two-thirds of the glaze, scatter the butter pats on top, and cover tight with foil. Back in the pit for 90 minutes.
5. Probe a few cubes — you want 203°F and zero resistance. If they push back, give them another 20 minutes covered.
6. Uncover, stir to coat, and run them 30 more minutes uncovered so the sauce tightens onto the cubes and stops pooling. Bump the pit to 275°F if it's still loose.
7. Off the heat, fold in the diced fresh pineapple and let it sit 10 minutes. Green onion and sesame over the top. Serve with toothpicks and expect to make more next time.

Round Out the Plate

• Hawaiian Mac Salad — cold and creamy against the candy
• Asian Slaw — acid and crunch, which this needs badly