Suanni bairou, spicy garlic pork

Soak the pork at least 30 minutes in cool water to draw out the myoglobin.

Skewer the slab in a few directions so it keeps its shape while poaching, or wrap it in butcher's twine.

To a pot of cool water add the knotted scallions, the smashed ginger and the liaojiu; nestle the pork in, cover and bring to a boil.

Hold at a rapid boil twelve minutes, then shut off the heat, keep it covered and do not lift the lid.

Let it come back down to room temperature naturally, two to three hours; that is what makes the pork juicy.

Finely mince the garlic, tip it into a bowl and pound it about two minutes.

For the seasoned soy sauce, put the soy sauce, water, slab sugar, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, star anise, fennel seed, sand ginger and black cardamom in a pot, cover and bring to a boil over a medium flame.

Drop to the lowest heat and simmer thirty minutes, still covered.

Dip a spoon in: when it coats the spoon in a thin even layer it is done. Shut off the heat, let it chill a couple of minutes and strain it into a jar.

Once the pork is under about 40C, pull the skewers out and dry it off in the fridge at least 15 minutes, longer is better.

Slice the pork as thin as you can from the wider side of the slab, about 1mm; pork belly first cut into 3 inch wide strips.

Slice half an Asian cucumber into similarly thin pieces with a vegetable peeler, curl the slices up on a serving plate and circle the pork slices over them.

Mix the pounded garlic with the salt, MSG and seasoned soy sauce, then the toasted sesame oil and the red chili oil.

Smother the sauce over the pork slices and garnish with scallions.

Variation: serve it hot by dipping the sliced meat into boiling water for a few seconds before mixing it with the sauce.