Free Chinese Recipes

Ingredients

• 2.65 kg (6 lb) belly of pork with skin, and rib-bone attached

Dips and Accompaniments:

• 1 dozen Lotus Leaf or Thousand-Thread Steamed Buns
• 2 saucers sweet soy paste
• 2 saucers spring onions cut into 5 cm (2 in) sections
• 2 saucers each containing 45 ml (3 tablespoons) Aromatic Salt and Pepper Mix (refer recipe)

Serve 6

** Free Chinese Recipes **

Method:

1. Cut the pork into 2 pieces for easier handling. Pour a kettleful of water over the skin, dry and clean thoroughly.

2. Place the pork under a moderate grill, skin-side up, for 6 minutes; turn it over and grill the bone-and-meat side for 6 minutes. Turn the pork over again and grill the skin side for a further 6 minutes, when some black spots will have appeared on the skin.

3. Scrape the black spots away with a knife, and repeat the grilling, but reduce the time to 5 x 5 x 5 minutes. As more burnt black spots appear on the skin, scrape them away.

4. Now place the pieces of pork on a wire rack and put them in a cool-moderate oven at 150°C (300°F)/Gas 2. Roast the pork for 30 minutes, beginning skin-side down, for 10 minutes and ending with skin-side up for 10 minutes. By this time both sides will be thoroughly cooked.

5. Bring the pieces of pork to the table or to a side table, and place them on a heavy chopping board. Cut the crackling from the meat, having first removed the bones. Cut the meat into thin slices and the crackling into squares, and eat them sandwiched in Lotus Leaf or Thousand-Thread Steamed Buns, brushed with sweet soy-paste sauce, with helpings of spring onion.

Note: Some pieces of crackling may eaten independently after being sprinkled with Aromatic Salt and Pepper Mix. When properly cooked the recipe may require one or two experimental runs-the dish should measure up to its high reputation.