This belly pork ribs recipe is really special because it's cooked like a brisket. This is because the two meats share the same intramuscular fat, which helps them to break down into insanely juicy goodness.

Shopping for Pork Belly Ribs

Ask your butcher to cut you some St Louis pork belly ribs. You can also ask them to trim off any excess fat or cartilage off the ribs. Otherwise, you will have to do it yourself.

Tips for low and slow ribs

These ribs took around five hours to cook, which is short for low and slow, but it’s still a long time to keep one eye on the BBQ.

To keep everything on track, we monitored the meat and pit temperatures using our Signals Wi-Fi and Bluetooth thermometer. The thermometer will alarm whenever your temperatures fall out of range, or your goal temperature has been reached. But you can also monitor it all remotely using our free app, so you don't have to stay by the BBQ for the whole cook.

Keeping the pit temperature consistent is really important for this type of cook, so we paired the Signals with the Billows BBQ control fan. Once we set our desired pit temperature to 130 °C, the Billows brought it up to temperature and kept it there the whole time, adding air every time it started to drop to bring it back on track.

Ingredients

Belly Pork Ribs Recipe

• 2kg St Louis pork belly ribs
• 100g Salt
• 200g Cracked black pepper
• 50g Ground garlic powder
• Favourite BBQ sauce

Equipment

• Signals smart BBQ thermometer
• Billows BBQ control fan
• Tin foil
• Basting brush

Directions

• Set your BBQ up with the Signals smart thermometer and Billows BBQ Fan, selecting 130 °C for your pit temperature.
• To make the rub, combine equal parts salt and pepper with one part garlic powder. Mix well.
• Rub your pork belly until it is well coated. The meat will absorb the salt while cooking, and the pepper will form a nice crust.
• Add some smoking chips or a chunk of wood to your coals. To avoid direct cooking, use heat deflector plates if you have them.
• Insert the Signals penetration probe into the pork belly and set the alarm to 70 °C. Close the lid and relax.

• Once the internal temperature reaches 70 °C, it’s time to wrap the pork. Lay two layers of tin foil out and carefully place the ribs onto the foil. Wrap them up tight so no juices escape. Place the probe back in the meat through the foil and set the alarm to 90 °C. Wrapping is the braising stage; it breaks down the muscles to produce the tender end result.
• Once the alarm goes off at 90 °C, remove the pork from the grill and rest it for at least 30 minutes. The longer you rest it, the better it will be as it continues to cook in this stage.

• When you can no longer wait, unwrap the pork to re-crisp the skin and glaze it with your favourite BBQ sauce. Unwrap the foil very carefully, as it will contain a lot of juice. Place the pork back on the grill and brush some bbq sauce on it.
• Serve by slicing the belly into thin slices, or cut along the bone and enjoy a meaty pork rib.

Dan Cotton

Chef, The Coal Shed

@thecoalshed

"Working in a fast paced kitchen I need something I can rely on every time to give me fast and accurate temperatures. Thermapen gives me the confidence to make sure my food is not just safe but consistent every time."