Roasting Belly

All roasts evoke expectations of pleasure and will still be many people's favourite meal. But roast pork is often dry unless you have a reason to get a really big piece, loin especially. (All roasts are in fact better if you have a large joint.) I do like Nigella's way of marinating a piece of pork loin with bay leaves and then serving it on a bed of fresh bay . But even this can be dry.

Belly pork is cheap and tasty. It was out of favour for ages because many won't eat fat on meat. But it is the fat which makes it tasty and staves off dryness.

You can roast a whole piece - best from a butcher who will bone and score it for you - or cook the strips which look like rashers which are quicker but less impressive. One excellent way of lifting both cuts is to use a marinade/sauce which enhances but does not swamp the flavour.

Oriental Pork

1. Make a marinade with 3 cloves garlic at least, 2 tbspns soya sauce, a splash of oil, salt and pepper, and a teaspoon of Chinese five spice powder or paste (I have got a jar of the paste).
2. Rub this into a kilo piece of boned belly pork, including the scored fat and the inside.
3. Leave a few hours or overnight.
4. Roast in a glass or ceramic dish (a tin will react with the ingredients in the marinade).
5. Roast at No 8 for the first 20 minutes or so to get the fat crisp, then turn the heat down to No 6 for 4o minutes.
6. Slice through thickly so everyone gets some crackling and use the juices (some fat poured off first) as a gravy.

The same mixture can be poured over the rasher slices which will only take about 40 mins to cook - you won't get crackling this way.