Pork Belly Bites

Sticky Hoisin Pork Belly Bites

Preheat your oven to 180°C (Gas Mark 6) and line a large baking tray with foil. Place the pork cubes in a mixing bowl and pour over the hoisin sauce, then stir until the cubes are all well coated. Transfer the pork to the tray, then put it into the hot oven for 30 minutes. While the pork is cooking, use a potato peeler or mandolin to cut the cucumber and carrot into long, thin slices (discard the seedy middle part of the cucumber) – you will need a total of 24 slices. Put the slices in a bowl and add the rice wine vinegar and mirin, then stir and leave to marinate while the pork cooks. When the pork has cooked, remove it from the oven and leave it cool. Drain the carrot and cucumber slices. To assemble, take a skewer or cocktail stick and push one-third of a cucumber or carrot slice up to the top of it, folding it and skewering through the fold; next, slide a chilli slice up the skewer, followed by a pork cube, then wrap the rest of the cucumber or carrot slice around the pork and make another skewered-through fold in it to keep everything in place. Repeat until you have used up all the pork, veg and chilli slices, then serve or refrigerate until needed.

Greendale Apple Pie Moonshine Pork Bites

Heat your oven to 140⁰C (Gas Mark 3). Take a roasting tin that’s small enough to hold the pork slices fairly snugly, then carefully pour in 100ml of the Moonshine and add the star anise and cloves. Season the pork belly slices with salt and pepper, then sit them together in the tin and cover tightly with foil. Put in the hot oven and cook for 1hr 30 minutes, then remove and leave to cool for about an hour. Next, heat the oven to 180⁰C fan (Gas Mark 6) and transfer the pork slices from the tin to a chopping board. Carefully trim away the rind from the slices with a sharp knife, leaving a thin layer of fat, then cut the slices into roughly 2cm chunks. Return the meat to the tin and roast in the hot oven for 15-20 minutes, turning regularly, until crisp and sizzling.
While the pork cooks, place a saucepan over a high heat and add the ketchup, soy sauce, maple syrup and remaining bourbon. Let it bubble away (stirring regularly) for about 5 minutes until thickened and syrupy, then turn the heat down low, just enough to keep the syrup warm until the pork is ready. When the pork has had 15-20 minutes, take it out of the oven and carefully pour over the syrupy sauce, tossing the meat to coat evenly. Put the meat back in the oven for 10 more minutes, until sticky, then transfer to a plate and serve with a bowl of crème fraiche or sour cream and plenty of cocktail sticks alongside.