A pig is always a crowd pleaser and is usually easy to prepare for a dinner party as one would just bung it into the oven and forget about it. Well, it would have been in England anyway. In Italy, the "pork belly" cut doesn't quite exist and it was rather like a Greek drama to procure 4kgs of pork belly as my translator, his mum and I dragged my brother to the butchers to discuss in amusing and very loud broken Italian and English what was required, while my brother guffawed behind my back as I tried as elegantly as possible to show the butcher which part was required by pretending to be a pig.
Belly, and most importantly it's rind, in hand, we then traipsed around looking for tahini and lime both of which are rarities in Italy. Again, this involved a customary scene of utter confusion and phone calls made in panicky voices to every family, friend and acquaintance known as if in search of panacea. To everyone's relief, all the ingredients were found and the belly was marinated over night in a blend of tahini, salt, lime and lemon juice - a Nigella special but freetarianised. Salt was then rubbed onto the skin to extract moisture. Three hours before cooking the belly was removed from the fridge to allow to relax and come to room temperature and the skin wiped completely dry before cooking for 3.5 hours at 150degrees and 0.5hours at 250degrees.
It was declared by a guest as the piece de resistance of the Christmas Eve dinner party and the cook "La Regina della notte" (the Queen of the night). Personally, I thought there was too much tahini (I could not find a measuring spoon in Italy and perhaps went tahini crazy) which the other half was also quick to point out, but I console myself with the superb crackling. Lots of crackling.
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