Food & Drink: And this little piggy was given a saucy marinade: Recipe

QUITE why Adam Alexander, of St Briavels, Gloucestershire, submitted a photograph of his baby llama for the cooking with pork category shall remain between the llama and Mr Alexander. More to the point was his excellent recipe for pork ribs, which he credits to his grandmother.

Judging from the marinade, she had an Oriental touch. He, along with our other winner named below, will receive a bottle of Hugel Gewurztraminer Jubilee Reserve Personnelle 1986 from Reid Wines in Bristol.

If you buy a rack of ribs, a butcher should be willing to cut them up for you.

Oriental Spare Ribs

Serves 4

Ingredients: 4lb/1.8kg ribs

For the marinade: 8oz/225g plum jam

8oz/225g honey

4tbs dark soy sauce

4tbs dry sherry

2tbs olive or sesame oil

2tbs wine vinegar

1 hot red chilli, crushed or to taste (de-seed if you wish to temper the heat)

salt, pepper

Preparation: Heat the marinade ingredients. Adjust seasoning. Marinate ribs for 8-24 hours, turning occasionally. Preheat oven to 400F/200C/gas 6. Take a large roasting tin, add an inch or so of water and place a rack over it. Cook on an upper shelf for 15 minutes. Remove and turn over. Cook another 15 minutes, or until crispy. While the ribs cook, pour the marinade into a saucepan, bring to the boil and reduce by a quarter. Serve as sauce for the ribs.

OUR second winning recipe, for pork in orange sauce, comes from Barbara Glassburow of Kernascleden in central Brittany, France. She adapted it from a beef recipe by the Chinese-American cookery writer, Ken Hom.

Pork in Orange Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients: 1 1/2 lb pork fillet or boned leg

1tbs corn oil

1oz/28g butter

1 clove garlic

2 tbs seasoned flour

2tsp chilli powder

3tbs creme fraiche

1 orange

Preparation: Cube pork. Add chilli powder to seasoned flour and roll meat in it. Melt oil, followed by butter, followed by minced garlic, in frying pan. Cook pork over low heat. Meanwhile, peel orange zest with potato peeler and cut into fine strips. Squeeze juice from orange and retain. When pork is cooked (about 5-10 minutes), remove and reserve in warm place. Add peel, juice, creme fraiche to pan. Cook for a minute until you have a cream sauce. Adjust seasoning and serve over meat, garnished with chopped parsley.

Next week will be the last for pork, before we move on to asparagus. I will be away. Testing and writing the recipes will be Jenny Gilbert. She is a regular contributor to the arts pages of the Independent on Sunday and, appropriately, wrote an excellent piece on these pages two years ago on the ritual of a village pig killing in the Lot, France. Please address your entries to: Jenny Gilbert, Weekend Features, The Independent, 40 City Road, London EC1Y 2DB. Winning asparagus recipes will receive a bottle of Tokay Pinot Gris Reserve Rolly Gassman 1988 from Bibendum Wines in north London.