Barbecue Belly Pork

Ingredients

• 1 .5 kg belly pork
• 1 tbsp sichuan peppercorns
• 8 garlic cloves, grated
• 3 tbsp sea salt
• 200 ml olive oil
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 star anises, ground
• orange
• 2 bay leaveses, fresh
• 12 tsp chinese five-spice powder
• Quick pickled red cabbage slaw, to serve
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Score the pork skin with a sharp knife in fine parallel lines, about 5mm apart, cutting through the skin and just into the fat but not the meat — those channels are what render and shatter into proper crackling.
2. Mix the sea salt, ground star anise, and orange zest in a bowl. Rub generously into the scored skin, working it right down into every cut. Don't be shy with the salt — this is your seasoning for the whole joint, and the salt also pulls moisture out of the skin overnight, which is half the secret to crackling.
3. Blitz the bay leaves, grated garlic, Sichuan peppercorns and five-spice in a processor (or pound in a mortar) into a rough paste. Bloom the spices briefly by warming them with a tablespoon of the olive oil in a small pan over low heat for 30–60 seconds until fragrant — raw five-spice tastes dusty, bloomed it tastes of itself. Tip into the paste, then trickle in the rest of the olive oil and the sesame oil to a loose, glossy marinade. Set aside.
4. Sit the pork skin-side up on a rack over a tray and refrigerate uncovered for at least 12 hours, ideally overnight. The skin should feel dry as paper before it sees heat — any moisture and you're steaming, not crackling.
5. The next day, pat the skin bone-dry once more and slice the belly into strips around 1cm thick.
6. Fire up the barbecue to medium-high, or get a heavy stainless or cast-iron griddle pan smoking hot on the hob. You want an aggressive sear, not a gentle warm-up — cold metal means grey meat.
7. Lay the strips down in a single layer with space between each one — work in two batches if you need to. Crowd the pan and the fat steams instead of rendering, and you'll have flabby skin instead of crackling. Cook undisturbed for 3–4 minutes on the first side until deeply caramelised and the fat is bubbling and crisping at the edges.
8. Flip, brush generously with the five-spice marinade, and watch the garlic in the glaze — once it hits the hot pan it goes from fragrant to bitter in seconds, so keep things moving and don't let it scorch to black. Cook another 3–4 minutes until the second side is bronzed and the skin shatters under a tap.
9. Brush once more with the marinade, give it 30 seconds to lacquer, then lift onto a warm board. Taste a corner, season with another pinch of salt if it needs it — adjust now, not at the table — and rest for 2 minutes so the juices settle.
10. Pile the pork onto a warm platter, scatter over the sliced spring onions and coriander leaves, tuck the lime wedges around the edge for a squeeze of lime at the table, and set the chilli sauce or hoisin alongside for dipping.