Chine New Year - Crackling Roast Pork Ken Hom style.

With it being Chinese New Year on Thursday it seems only fitting to indulge in a non-fish dish and go for roast pork of some sort (rather than bush conger - it being the year of) - so it's off to Ken Hom's most excellent , Foolproof Chinese Cookery the book that accompanied the BBC series of the same name in 2000 has become something of a collectors item (keep an eye in your local charity shop cookbook section)........

Pierce the belly pork all over (a carving fork is good fork this) and mind what is underneath........

hang the meat above a large pan of boiling water and use a ladle to scald the skin.......

prepare a rub of 2 tbsp coarse sea salt, 1 tbsp of  ground roasted Sichuan peppercorns, 2 tsp of five spice powder, 1 tsp of ground black pepper and 2 teaspoons sugar - these need heating in a wok for around 3 minutes being careful not to burn! - rub the seasoning into the flesh side of the belly.........

Cornish pasties for a Chinese New Year? - not so! -these are Ken Hom's party specials, pork potsticker dumplings, easy to make for any self-respecting Cornish kitchen........

the belly pork (skin side up) sits on a wire rack in a roasting tray with half an inch of water into the oven at 200° for 30 minutes then for a couple of hours at 180° - some ovens work better using a lower rather than higher shelf to prevent the skin burning rather than going crisp.......

cracking crackling cooked to perfection the Ken Hom way......

a couple of dips to accompany the 'pasties'.........

and then all that remains is to settle the arguement over who gets the last piece of pork!