Kung hei fat choy! Celebrate Year of the Pig with with Ontario pork and this tasty, traditional dish.

2019 is Year of the Pig and what better way to celebrate Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) than by picking up some local Ontario pork and trying out a new cut of meat – like pork belly.

This delicious savoury pie is adapted from Martin Picard’s excellent Tourtière du Shack. Because I’m not much of a fan of cool or even room-temperature ground meat, my recipe leaves it out altogether. That makes it a superb make-ahead dish, as it’s just as good fully cooled as it is hot from the oven. If you want it warm, bake just before your departure. There is ample dough to make a decorative top of overlapping cut-outs—if you opt not to do this, roll out your top to the same thickness as the bottom. And  be sure to bring ketchup to serve alongside! The spice profile here is similar to ketchup’s so it’s  a real winner with a squeeze on the side.

There’s something so comforting about a warm and crisp piece of pork, slathered in spicy mustard and covered in sauerkraut. Whether it’s on a plate or on a bun, it’s one of my all-time favourite German treats!

This warm entrée salad made with frisée lettuce, pork lardons and a poached egg, served throughout bistros in France. The salad gets an extra layer of pork flavour because the fat from the lardons is emulsified into the vinaigrette.