Mash soaked and drained fermented black beans with a fork and set aside.
Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the minced (or grated) ginger and cook for 1-2 minutes until softened and fragrant. Add the minced (or crushed) garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes until softened and fragrant. Add the green onions and cook for another minute or two. Add the mashed beans and cook for another minute or two.
Add all remaining ingredients, except for the cornstarch mixture, and bring to a boil. Add some citrus fruit peel too if you want a zesty edge. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by half and the sauce becomes thick and gloopy. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and simmer for another minute or until thickened.
Let the black bean sauce cool and store in an airtight container (preferably glass). Will keep for up to 2 weeks.

Cover the bottom of a wok or large frying pan with groundnut oil and heat until shimmering.
Add the belly pork cut into approximately 1½" cubes and fry, turning occasionally until lightly browned. Set aside.
Reheat the wok and fry the ginger until lightly coloured if using, add the carrot if using, add the onion if using, add the garlic, add the pepper and fry a little. Return the belly pork to the wok, add the black bean sauce and a little stock, water or rice wine for lubrication if necessary. Add the chopped cooked potatoes if using. Cover and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Uncover to thicken the sauce if necessary. Before serving cover with sliced spring onions which have been soaking in rice wine, then dress with a drizzle of sesame oil

In a medium bowl, stir together the soy sauce, rice wine, and cornstarch until the cornstarch is dissolved. Add the chicken and toss to coat and let it marinate for at least 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine the vinegar(s), soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and cornstarch. Stir until the sugar and cornstarch are dissolved. Set aside.

Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat until a drop of water sizzles when thrown in. Add the oil and coat the bottom of the pan. Add the Sichuan peppercorns and stir-fry for about 30 seconds until they spit and release their flavour mixed peppercorns (red, green, white, black and some allspice) aren't too bad a substitute for Sichuan peppercorns - lightly crush them with a pestle and mortar first then add the chillies and fry until they begin to darken.

Shake off the marinated chicken pieces and stir-fry them, adding them gradually so as not to overload the pan. Fry until no longer pink.
Add the minced ginger and garlic and stir-fry. Add the white parts of the green onion and fry. Mix together the leftover marinade, the sauce ingredients, the black bean sauce and a little water (perhaps from rinsing out the frying pan). Pour over the chicken, stir to coat, add the unsalted peanuts I just rinsed the salt off some salted peanuts, stir, cover and cook for a few minutes. Keep stirring occasionally as the sauce will stick.

Transfer to a dish, sprinkle the green parts of the green onions on top, and serve immediately with rice.

Mix together the honey, vinegar and soy sauce. Toss the chicken cubes in the mix to coat thoroughly, and leave to stand for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.

Heat a frying pan, add the chicken cubes and marinade. Cook on a high heat for about 20 minutes, until all the liquid has absorbed into the chicken. Stir regularly to prevent burning.

When the chicken is thoroughly cooked, serve immediately on a bed of crispy salad or perhaps some rice?.

Joint, skin and debone the chicken or leave as larger pieces on the bone - your choice and cut the flesh into large-ish chunks (or chop up the equivalent pre-prepared chicken breasts or thighs). Peel, roughly chop, then blend the onion, ginger, garlic, chillies, and lime juice to a paste. Add a little of the yoghurt if necessary for lubrication. Stir in the ground spices and the rest of the yoghurt. Mix in the chicken pieces with a fork - piercing them a little to make sure the marinade will penetrate. Leave for 24 hours or so if you can.

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 6-7.
Pick the chicken pieces out of the marinade shaking off any excess and and lay them out on a rack over an oven tray with a little (2-3 tbsps) water in it (to stop the runoff from burning). Roast for about 30 minutes until they begin to brown a little. Add a little more water to the tray underneath if the juices begin to stick or burn
Set aside. Meanwhile mix the ground spices for the sauce with a little water to make a paste. In a large, deep frying pan or wok cook the paste in a generous amount of oil/ghee until the oil begins to separate and any harsh aroma has cooked off. Add the leftover marinade and cook down until thickened and the oil begins to separate. Add the crushed tomatoes or tomato juice and cook until thickened and any raw flavour has cooked off (this will take quite a long time with fresh tomatoes). Add any juices in the oven tray from cooking the chicken Gradually whisk in the chilled butter and cook for a minute. Add a few drops of vinegar if the sauce isn't quite sour enough. Add some finely crushed (use a pestle and mortar) dried methi leaves if using you can add these earlier to the frying marinade if you prefer which means they don't need to be so finely ground and then stir in the cream.
Mix with the cooked chicken pieces and serve.

Sift a few tablespoons of flour into a plastic bag. (The kind without holes that you could use to asphyxiate a child or your loved one. If you can find one. A bag - not a loved one.) Season generously with salt, pepper and any other spices you fancy. Toss the beef cubes in the bag until they are well-coated in flour.
Heat oil in a large frying pan and over a high heat fry the beef in small batches until nicely browning, decanting into a casserole as you go.
Fry the chunks of carrots and add to the casserole.
Slice the leeks into fat rounds and wash thoroughly to rid them of any grit. Pat dry and fry until they begin to crisp at the edges. Add to the casserole.
Halve any fat garlic cloves lengthways and fry them to take on a little colour without burning. Add them to the casserole.
Degrease the pan with 2 tblsps balsamic vinegar and a glass of white wine, allowing to bubble and reduce by half. Add to the casserole.
Cook the tomato juice a little until it reduces a little and its flavour mellows, add to the casserole dish.
Add the stock to the casserole so the contents are barely covered - reduce the stock or dilute with water as required.
Add the bay leaves and any herbs you fancy thyme, oregano, finely chopped rosemary, etc. to the casserole. All I had were sage leaves, which I'm not over-fond of, so I sliced then fried them a little to cook off some of their more offensive aromatics.
Stir.

Cover with a well-fitting lid and bake at Gas Mark 3 for 1½-2 hours, stirring once, until the beef is tender. Once cooked, boil off any excess liquid if necessary so the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Allow to cool a little before filling the pudding.

Meanwhile make the suet pastry:
Using a knife mix the suet, sieved flour and seasoning with just enough water (about 10 fl oz) to cohere together into clumps. With your hands gently gather into two balls - one about 3 times the size of the other.
Roll the balls out so that one is large enough to line your pudding basin I used a plastic bowl - which works just as well and the other large enough to cover it as a lid. (If the pudding is to stand up after cooking and turning out you will need the pastry to be at least a ½" thick. Possibly an inch.)
Gently press the larger pastry sheet into the pudding bowl and trim off excess.
Spoon the stew into the pudding (removing the bay leaves and any herb stalks).
Lightly wet the edge of the pastry, cover with the pastry lid and crimp the edges together to seal.
Tightly wrap the pudding in three or four layers of cling film. Traditionally you would use baking parchment then aluminium foil tied up with string, but cling film is a lot easier, providing you don't leave any holes.
Steam the pudding for about 2 hours. To serve, remove the cling film, run a knife thoroughly around the inside of the basin to loosen the pastry (you might pre-grease the basin with butter before lining with pastry, but given the amount of fat in the suet I'm not sure it would make any difference), invert the basin over a fairly capacious dish and lift away.

Boil the potatoes in their skins until they're easily penetrated with a knife. Cut into chunks (1-2" is about right), season generously, slather with butter and a good squirt of mayonnaise.
Now feel free to add some cream or sour cream or yoghurt, herbs (dill/parsley/mint/tarragon/thyme/etc), finely chopped onions (spring/red/shallots/etc), or mustard.
Stir together gently without breaking the pieces up too much. Serve hot, warm, or cold.

Poke the cloves into the half onion, peel and halve the garlic cloves, put in a small saucepan with the bay leaves and the milk. Heat gently to a simmer. It can be useful to cover the pan with cling film, to prevent the milk from boiling over. You might even be able to simmer it for a little with the cling film lid on. Take off the heat and leave to infuse for at least 15 minutes, then strain and reserve the milk.

Melt 50g butter in another pan over a medium-low heat, and stir in the flour. Cook for a couple of minutes until it smells biscuity, then gradually whisk in the milk, a little at a time, to make a smooth sauce. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes or so until thick.
Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil. Separate the cauliflower into florets and boil them for 5 minutes or so, until just tender, and easily penetrated by a knife. You don't want them quite falling apart, but you don't want them too firm either. Bear in mind they'll continue cooking a little after. Drain thoroughly and keep warm.

Melt the remaining butter in a frying pan over a medium-high heat and fry the cauliflower until slightly browned and caramelised. Season and decant into a baking dish. If you fancy adding some breadcrumbs then add a little extra butter to the pan and fry them until golden and crunchy. Season. Preheat the grill to medium.
Grate both cheeses and stir the Cheddar and half the parmesan into the sauce until it melts. Add 3 or 4 tablespoons of cream if you like, a grating of nutmeg and season. Pour over the cauliflower.
Top with the remaining grated parmesan, followed by the breadcrumbs dotted with butter if using, and grill until golden and bubbling with a few brown spots.

Simmer the green beans for 5-10 minutes until they are cooked through, drain and immediately plunge into cold water. Drain again and reserve.
Halve the onion and slice thinly.
Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a saucepan and gently fry the onion until thoroughly and evenly caramelised. This can easily take 30 minutes.
Stir in the tomato purée and fry until the oil starts to separate. Loosen with a splash of sherry or white wine, if you like.
Quarter the cherry tomatoes and add them to the pan. Cook until they begin to collapse, add the beans, heat through stirring.
Season and serve.

Place the joint into a large lidded saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil over a high heat. Drain. Discard the water. Add fresh cold water to cover the meat, add the onions, carrots, celery, and bring to the boil once more. Skim away any scum, then add the bay leaves, a dozen peppercorns and a few cloves.
Reduce the heat, put on a lid and simmer the meat and vegetables gently for 15 minutes per 1lb/500g.
Lift out the meat and set aside to cool for fifteen minutes. You can strain out the stock and use as a base for soup, though be cautious since it may be too salty. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 and line a large roasting tin with aluminium foil.
Remove any rind from the joint, leaving as much of the fat intact as possible. Score the fat in a diamond pattern, and push a clove into the centre of each 'X'. Place the joint into the foil-lined roasting tray, ensuring that the sides of the foil come half way up the joint to contain any roasting juices. Add a tablespoon or two of water to prevent initial burning before the roasting meat begins to ooze juices.
For the glaze, mix the honey and mustard together and brush half of it evenly over the pork, including one side of the joint. Roast in the centre of the oven for 10-15 minutes, then take the joint out and brush the top and remaining side with the rest of the glaze. Return the joint to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes, rotating the roasting tin so that the opposite side of the joint faces the back of the oven. The joint is ready when the fat on top is glossy and golden brown. Cover loosely with foil if the top begins to look too brown. Remove the joint from the oven and set aside to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

Pour any juices that have collected in the aluminium foil into a small pan, and warm through gently.

Carve the joint, serve on a large platter and spoon over the warmed juices .