Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Smoked Glazed Pork Belly (aka Pork Belly Burnt Ends)

The Labor Day weekend is summer’s last bow before fall arrives, and the holiday is usually marked with backyard cookouts across the US, involving grills and smokers.

My household planned on staying home during the weekend, spending some intimate time with the Big Green Egg XL…and I wanted to do something different with pork belly from my usual crispy smoked roast pork. I wanted something sweet, smoky…and spicy a la Sichuan style. And of course I’d heard of pork belly burnt ends so…

This here hunk of smoked pork belly with crisped skin…

…went back into the BGE with a generous application of my spice rub, along with helpings of butter, honey and brown sugar…

Which then turned into the sticky-sweet-and-savory pork belly dish below!

The only things I would have changed to this recipe: get a larger slab of pork and add some real heat–Sriracha or chili oil–to the glaze.  Oh, and I could’ve certainly used a lot less butter.

The recipe as is:

  • 6 tbsp salted butter (2 or 4 tbsp would be less wasteful)
  • 3oz Neem honey
  • 3oz light brown sugar
  • 1-2oz of spice rub (I used my cajun rub)
  • about 3 lbs of skin-on, boneless pork belly
  • a bunch of green onions, sliced, for garnish (optional)

In contrast to some burnt end methods that I’ve read, we didn’t cut or rub the pork belly before the smoke. We slapped the raw, uncut and unadorned pork belly onto the BGE to smoke at 300F (over hardwood coals and post oak logs) for about 15-20 minutes. We then applied direct heat to the skin for another 5-10 minutes to get crispy.

After pulling it off the smoker to slice and cube, I tossed the pork belly chunks in a foil pan with the glaze ingredients.  Then back onto the BGE they went for another 10-15 minutes to caramelize.

Once the pork belly got sticky and a little blackened, I pulled the pan from the smoker and let it sit while I chopped up the garnish.

It was mighty hard sneaking bites in of the hot bits of pork…but it was soooo delicious!

Fitness

Another extended fast 8/28-9/2

As a follow up to the week-long fast that began on 8/21, I proceeded to embark on another extended fast on 8/28 to offset the weekend binge and normalize my bio-markers for the long-term.

My blood glucose and blood pressure readings look fabulous as of this morning, all within normal reference ranges. In fact, if I didn’t know better, they look like the readings of an average healthy person.

Under the hood though, I felt tired and low energy this Friday morning…and my sleep was disrupted, thanks partly to some rambunctious kitten play during the night time hours. I’d like to find out how my thyroid is doing during these extended fasts, without going to my primary care doctor and getting lectured. So I’ll be researching online blood testing to see what’s possible.

The plan is to add a few more hours to this 2nd week of fasting to extend into Saturday midday, to adjust for the Labor Day holiday dining plans. I have some Wagyu steaks and brisket on the menu, and I’d like to better control my weekend diet before going into another fast.

One frequently mentioned side effect of not going keto or being fat-adapted prior to extended fasting is controlling hunger and cravings. So far, the literature regarding cravings have not been borne out during my fasts. Ghrelin levels may have declined, and “true hunger” pangs supposedly aligning with this, but in my case, my cravings reached epic, super-normal levels. There were instances on Thursday that I was ready to break into tears and emotional distress due to the anger and sadness I endured  while riding out the powerful urges.

The discomfort became so dire that I began to wonder if I had food addiction and was undergoing withdrawal symptoms. I admit, I’ve long associated hyper-palatable foods with fast-breaking, social gatherings, and stress-regulation, and I feel certain that I need to break this chemical dependence in order to reach a balanced, healthy state. I just wish I didn’t have to pile on a supposed eating disorder on top of everything else. Aside: did undergo ToM during this fast, so that may be a factor.

For the most part I’ve stayed consistent with weight training this month, as my JEFIT monthly log indicates. I just need to remain dedicated to the regular workouts and hope to increase muscle mass.

 

 

Dining

Franklin Barbecue: Storied BBQ landmark damaged by fire

As I was searching through the news finding out the status of BBQ restaurants in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, I found this news at Texas Monthly regarding the most famous of all BBQ joints “in the world”.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/aaron-franklin-will-rebuild/

Indeed a banner on the Franklin BBQ website indicated the indefinite nature of the shutdown.

As of 9/1/2017

However, we know that the same spirit and optimism moves the people of South Texas and Louisiana affected by the storm as we look toward the coming days of relief and recovery.

Fitness

Results from another extend fast 8/21-8/25

It’s August 2017, and it’s Restaurant Week all month long. Frankly though, it was just an excuse for me to binge, birthdays plus adventures in dining and all.

So weighing in at 160lbs on Monday 8/21, I embarked on another week long fast…and pretty much nailed it. I intended to do 5 days or 120 hours of straight water fasting, and made it to the 119 hour mark.

The last time I attempted the extended fast was a week before a birthday. I had to rifle through my MFP food diary to see what records I logged. From 7/24 to 7/29 I fasted, then broke fast on Sunday 7/30. The transition wasn’t as rough (with the help of Metamucil pills), and I stayed home for much of that time to avoid any embarrassing mistakes.

I started another week of fasting on 8/21 and ran till 8/25, for about 118-119 hours straight fast. I had a planned lunch with friends on Saturday, and I wanted to avoid any discomfort with food. I kept strict logs on exercise, weight, blood glucose and blood pressure readings. I tried to make sure to get enough sleep (though still not enough).

As was expected, day 1  went great. It seems that days 2-4 are consistently wracked with hunger pangs and willpower drain. Days 2-3 are marked by physiological indicators of hunger…tummy rumblings and sensitive stomach. Day 4 is more of an emotional and mental challenge to hurdle. These days required bone broth to help power me through the rest of the day. Day 5 allowed me to coast to the final hours without much agony. Work kept me busy because of document updates that are due on September 8.

Fruit and salad helped to break the fast, but I leapt to a steak dinner with baked potato immediately afterwards, with very minor bathroom drama. So the fiber pills do help a whole lot more than chia seeds. But to be fair, this is less than a 6 day fast, and a much easier transition.

I estimated a food intake of about 2500 to 3000 calories each day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which if the sum divided by 7 means that I would have eaten 1286 kcals roughly daily. I do have to remember there were some coffee and bone broth calories during the week to account for, but I would like to hope that I am in deficit for the week…and will account for something.

More positive news is that I kept blood sugar and blood pressure records for the entire time of the fast, which painted an accurate picture of my health status. Insulin resistance was my major concern and I wanted to be on a fasting protocol to drive down my insulin resistance and A1C (which I suspect ran up during this year).

Day 1 showed the highest glucose readings and it declined during the course of the week. Blood pressure was more challenging, because it stayed above normal reference range, and I took medication regularly to keep it down.

I need to moderate my fitness on day 1 since I tend to over achieve and end up regretting it for the next 48 hours…leaving me wrecked by the mid-week routine. Sleep is also a factor.

I’m starting a new 5 day fast on 8/28. With Labor Day soon approaching (and Wagyu brisket and steaks on the way), there sure to be much feasting going on.

Record-keeping plus more moderate feasting days guarantee better outcomes, which is what I aim for.