Cantonese cured pork belly (lap yok)

For 4 kg of meat, mix 3.5 tablespoons of salt, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1 1/4 cups soy sauce, a quarter cup of dark soy sauce, an optional tablespoon of Sichuan peppercorn and optional rose cooking wine.

Slice skin-on pork belly into 1.5 inch wide strips.

Toss the pork in high-alcohol liquor (vodka at 50%, in place of baijiu; anything over 30% works), then move it to a clean container, leaving the excess liquor behind.

Pour over the marinade and toss thoroughly; weight with a few plates.

Refrigerate 36 hours, tossing every 12 hours.

Poke a hole through the skin of each strip with a sharp knife, push kitchen twine through with chopsticks and tie.

Tie the strips to the oven rack with space between them, over a big tray lined with foil to catch the drips; or lay them on the rack.

Dry, not cook, at the oven's lowest setting, 120 to 150F, propping the door open if the oven runs hotter; his took 20 hours at 150F, until firm, brown, shiny and much shorter.

Optionally wrap in paper towels, uncovered, and refrigerate 4 weeks to ferment; then seal in vacuum bags and freeze, good for 8 to 12 months.