Ballistic BBQ host Greg Mrvich’s recipes are known for their complex mix of flavors. And, his cherry glazed pork belly slider recipe featured in this Backyard Life video follows suit. It’s a sweet, savory dish that dishes out a little bit of heat.
Greg begins by dicing an eight-pound skinless pork belly into the two-inch squares needed to fit inside his Hawaiian sweet rolls. Once cut, Greg places them on a rack before cooking them, later.
Next, Greg creates a homemade rub made of black pepper, white sugar, brown sugar, kosher salt, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder, chili powder, ground allspice, paprika and celery seed. Greg combines these ingredients into a shaker and applies them liberally to the pork belly slider.
Once his pork belly’s been seasoned, onto Greg’s pellet grill they go. Greg’s using black-cherry wood pellets, and will cook his pork at 250 to 260 degrees for approximately three hours.
Wild-Cherry Glaze
While the pork’s cooking, Greg begins creating his wild-cherry glaze. It consists of a pickling blend—Karo corn syrup, mustard seed, coriander, crushed red pepper, black pepper and whole bay leaves, and a cup of water that are boiled down and left to sit overnight—along with wild-cherry preserves, pork lard and, finally, cayenne pepper. The latter three ingredients create his dish’s signature sweet, salty and savory flavor profile.
Before applying his glaze, Greg concocts a bed of acidic coleslaw that’ll rest atop his pork belly, and offset its sweet glaze. To create it, Greg adds a mixture of apple cider vinegar and fresh lemon juice to a 14-ounce bag of pre-shredded coleslaw, then refrigerate it for a few hours to allow the juices to settle in. (Greg suggests making the slaw ahead of time.)
Greg’s rubbed pork belly’s been smoking for three hours, so now it’s time for him to apply his wild-cherry glaze. Before doing so, however, he’ll finalize it with a few ingredients: Brown sugar, agave nectar, a few dabs of butter and dehydrated, chopped onion.
Finally, Greg coats his pork with the cherry glaze, then transfers it into a new pan that’s placed back on the grill for a few more minutes of cook time. When the meat’s done, he lets it rest in the pan a bit before plating it.
Now, it’s time to finish off his sliders. He adds coleslaw and a pickle atop his pork, then tops things off with his Hawaiian bun.
Let’s get high on the hog, y’all!
Pork Belly Burnt Ends (Sliders)
Cuisine: AmericanDifficulty: moderate12
servings6
hoursWant to cook like BBQ master Greg Mrvich? Then, follow his pork belly sliders recipe to create a dish your backyard guests will go hog wild over!
Ingredients
1 skinless pork belly, 8-9 pounds, cubed into 2” squares
- Dry Rub – Mix ingredients together in a bowl
1/4 cup course ground black pepper
2 tbsps. brown sugar
2 tbsps. white sugar
1 1/2 tsps. kosher or sea salt
2 tsps. onion powder
2 tsps. garlic powder
2 tsps. mustard powder
2 tsps. chili powder
1 tsp. ground allspice
1 tsp. paprika
- BBQ Glaze
16 bottle bottle of Karo syrup
1 cup water
1 tbsp. pickling spice
1 pinch cayenne pepper
- Coleslaw Dressing
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsbsp celery seed
1/2 tbsp ground black pepper
Directions: BBQ Glaze
- Place water and pickling spice in a pan and bring to a bowl. Simmer until about 1/2 cup of the water is boiled out. Set aside.
- Add 16-ounce bottle of Karo syrup to pan over medium heat.
- Add pickling spice, water mixture.
- Add one pinch of cayenne pepper and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens.
- Set aside and allow to cool prior to using.
- COOKING INSTRUCTIONS FOR PORK BELLY BURNT ENDS
- Preheat smoker or grill to 250ºF – 260ºF.
- Apply a liberal coating of dry rub to pork cubes (on cooking rack).
- Place pork in smoker and cook for 3 hours.
- After 3 hours has passed, remove pork from smoker and place in an aluminum cooking pan.
- Sprinkle on brown sugar (about ¼ cup), drizzle with agave nectar (or honey), then apply about 2 tablespoons of butter to the top of the pork.
- Seal pan tightly with aluminum foil and place back in cooker for 1 ½ hours (until tender).
- After the 1 ½ hours has passed, remove pork from cooker and transfer into fresh aluminum pan.
- Drizzle about ½ cup of glaze over the pork, and toss with your hands or tongs to coat. Return to cooker for 5-10 minutes to “set” the glaze.
- After the five minutes has passed, remove pork from cooker and allow it to rest for about 15 minutes before serving.
- DIRECTIONS FOR COLESLAW
- Mix dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
- Toss dressing with a 14-ounce bag of pre-shredded coleslaw.
- Refrigerate slaw for a few hours.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Build sliders by adding 1-2 slices of pickle to the bottom bun. (Greg used Hawaiian sweet rolls). Add dressed coleslaw on top of the pickle. Place one cube of pork on top of the slaw. Crown with the top bun and enjoy.
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