Hung Shao Pork - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 lb lean belly pork strips, chopped into postage stamp sized squares if you like but it's not really necessary. (Other cheap cuts of pork are also good; try the hock. And leave the skin on; it goes gelatinous and)
4 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons tamari
to taste oyster sauce, one big splodge
1 inch fresh gingerroot, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
1 teaspoon szechuan peppercorns, dry fried
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup sherry wine (optional)
1 pinch msg (if, like me, you have no shame. Just please don't mention this to my mother.) (optional)

Preparation

Stir-fry ginger and garlic in a big casserole dish.
Place pork in, skin down.
(Pluck it with tweezers first if it bears an unhealthy resemblance to your husband's back). Add everything else and a couple of cups of water.
Cover and simmer over a very low heat for an hour.
Turn the pork over.
Simmer again for an hour.
Fish the meat out and put it in a bowl.
Reduce sauce a bit, taste, and add more soy/oyster sauce if you think it's needed.
Strain through a sieve, pour over meat and enjoy.
I like to leave the meat, covered with the sauce, in the fridge for at least 24 hours before eating; the flavours intensify to a surprising extent. (It's also easier to remove fat from the top at this stage, when it's set.) Serve with rice; it's also good in sandwiches.
(The cold sauce turns into a delicious jelly.)