Crispy Pork Belly with Tequila BBQ Sauce - Chef Recipe Tim Christensen

Ingredients

Pork belly:

1 kg pork belly
1 kg chicken bones
4 brown onions
2 carrots
1/2 head celery
300mL red wine
20 g peppercorns
2 g bay leaves

Tequila BBQ sauce:

Makes 1 litre

5 ripe tomatoes
2 chipotle peppers in adobe
2 brown onions
2 cloves peeled garlic
200 g brown sugar
200mL vinegar
50mL tequila
1 cinnamon quill

Method

Tequila BBQ sauce:

Core ripe tomatoes, coat with olive oil and salt, then roast in a hot oven until soft and lightly charred – about 10 minutes.

Transfer tomatoes to a hard-based pot, turn the heat to low and start to reduce all of the liquid.

Dice the onions and garlic, cook on low in a separate pan with a coating of olive oil until they are caramelised. Keeping the heat on low, add vinegar, chipotle peppers, brown sugar and cinnamon. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, making sure to keep stirring.

Turn the heat up to high, add the tequila, then light on fire (making sure to keep the pan flat on the stove and not to pick it up until the flame has gone out). Cooking all the alcohol out of the tequila takes 2-3 minutes.

Add onion mixture to the tomato pot and cook for 15-20 minutes. Again, make sure to stir every so often so it doesn’t catch on the bottom.

Add salt to taste and at this point you can add more sugar, vinegar or chipotle, depending if you like it sweeter, spicy or tarter. Ideally, the sauce should be a perfect balance of the three.

Blend with a stick blender and transfer to containers, it will keep in the fridge for up to 10 days.

Crispy pork belly:

Clean the pork belly by taking off the nipples and checking the ribs have been removed.

Score the skin in a diamond pattern, about 1cm apart.

Rub table salt into the skin and leave in the fridge for 12-24 hours.

While waiting for the pork to salt, make the chicken stock. (This recipe can be used with store bought or a simple veggie stock).

Peel and roughly chop the carrots, onion and celery. Roast in a hot oven with chicken bones, until a dark brown colour, about 15 minutes.

Transfer chicken bones and veggies to a pot, add red wine to the hot baking tray that was used for the bones, cooking off all the alcohol and deglazing the tray.

Add cooked wine, peppercorns and bay leaf to the pot and fill with water until the chicken is covered. Bring to the boil and simmer for 8-12 hours, you can use a slow cooker and leave it on overnight without having to worry.

Wash salt off pork belly and transfer to a deep tray with a lid, line the bottom with baking paper and make sure the tray is deep enough so the skin doesn’t touch the top.

Fill up the tray with chicken stock to just below the skin of the pork, making sure the skin stays dry, but the meat is submerged in stock.

Place lid on and cook for 2 hours at 165 C.

Cool pork and cut into portions.

When ready to serve, heat a pan covered in olive oil and salt and just before it starts smoking, place pork in skin side down and fry until crispy.

Make sure to move the pork so it doesn’t stick. Transfer the whole pan to the oven and heat for 5-7 minutes.

Serve with tequila BBQ sauce and choice of sides, or make into tacos using corn tortilla, pickled red radish, jalapeno salsa and avocado crema.