So many ways to serve this. Wrap in a tortilla or baby gem lettuce, cucumber and generous dollop of hoi sin sauce. Also makes a lovely finger food/canapé. Use the leaf of a little gem lettuce and pile in the pork, sauce and cucumber. Generously serves 8 as a starter.

Great for a party to leave on the table and let people help themselves. If by some miracle you have leftovers, it keeps well for a few days

If you buy from your butcher, ask him to remove the skin. If buying from a supermarket I have found it best to buy a rolled joint and unroll it. At the time of publishing, a rolled joint is £4 per kg cheaper than a slab.

Start this recipe with marinating for 24 hours.

SERVES 6 as a main course: easily doubled for a larger crowd.

INGREDIENTS:

2kg whole piece of pork belly skin removed

MARINADE:

1tsp dry chilli flakes

3 lemongrass sticks, roughly chopped

5cm ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

4 red chillis, roughly chopped

120ml light soy sauce

60ml sesame oil

1tbsp palm sugar or soft light brown sugar

1 tsp ground star anise

1 tsp Chinese five spice

6 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

Put the belly in a dish in which it fits snuggly. Blitz all the marinade ingredients in a mini food processor and pour over the meat making sure everything is covered top and bottom, cover and leave to marinade in the fridge for 12-24 hours.

The next day, pre heat the oven to 150C Fan. Place the pork in an oven proof dish along with the marinade. Cover with water half way up the pork. Tightly cover the dish with foil and place in the oven for 3 hours or until tender.  It should easily pull apart with a fork when cooked.