Bourbon-glazed pork belly with chorizo and roasted red pepper sauce

Slow-cooked with bourbon and star anise, the pork belly is then glazed with bourbon, soy and honey and served with a richly flavoured sauce.

This recipe is from The Dark Horse Bar and Grill and is one of the 12 finalists of Bite's Estrella Damm Tapas Competition in March 2014. Click here to see all of the finalists.

The Dark Horse Bar and Grill, 70 Parkway Drive, Mairangi Bay, Auckland

Bourbon-glazed pork belly

200 ml	Whisky, bourbon
1	Star anise
4 Tbsp	Tomato ketchup, we used Heinz
800 g	Pork belly
2 Tbsp	Soy sauce, we used Kikkoman
2 Tbsp	Manuka honey

Chorizo pepper sauce

2 Tbsp	Olive oil
1	Onion, white, finely chopped
4	Garlic cloves, crushed
3	Chorizo sausages, large, finely chopped
1 tin	Roasted red pepper, 400g, diced
300 ml	Red wine
1 tin	Chopped tomatoes, 400g
3	Bay leaves

Directions

1. Heat oven to 180 degC, pour 100ml of bourbon into roasting pan and add star anise. Season pork belly and lay in pan. Cover with tin foil and bake for 3 hours. Remove from oven leave to cool.
2. While pork is cooking, make the sauce, heat oil in saucepan, add onion and garlic and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes, stir, add chorizo and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the chargrilled red capsicums, red wine, chopped tomatoes and bay leaves. Continue to cook for another 20 minutes. Season to taste. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
3. While pork is cooling, put tomato sauce, soy sauce, honey and remaining bourbon into a pan, place over a medium heat and bubble for 5 minutes until thick and syrupy. Set glaze aside.
4. Heat oven to 220 degC, remove pork from roasting pan and cut into 2cm pieces. Return to the pan, coat the pork with the bourbon glaze and return to the oven cook for another 10 minutes.
5. Remove pork belly from oven and serve with chorizo pepper sauce.