The cut of pork matters a lot. Leg and fillet are more or less tasteless. The fattier the cut, the better the flavour. I always use shoulder for a good roast to feed the masses, preferably on the bone but even boned and rolled is fine. Always slow-roasted for hours, with a boost at the end to crackle the crackling. As a gourmet for two, you can't beat belly on the bone. Good pork sausages are made from shoulder. One of my favourites is the herby, cured Italian pork jowl (guanciale), for a peerless carbonara. It's extremely fatty but begod it tastes wonderful. Free-range pork, preferably not the boring Landrace breed, always tastes much better than Belsen-house pork, and has a much nicer texture. A thick-cut pork chop, baked with mushrooms, lemon, fresh thyme and cream, done the Delia way, is a thing of beauty too. I cut the rinds off and freeze them to go into my boeuf en daube when the weather turns cold.

Discussions about how to get good crackling can get very heated. For me it's good, deep scoring with a Stanley knife, just seasoning without oil and a 15-minute hot boost at the end of roasting. Shoot.