Place the pork belly on a clean chopping board. Carefully separate the ribs and bones from the meat, then set ribs aside to cook on the barbecue later.

Remove the skin from the remaining pork belly. Cut the meat into very small pieces, then continue chopping it by hand until coarsely minced. The mixture should retain some texture rather than becoming completely smooth.

Spread the minced pork evenly across a thoroughly cleaned work surface. Sprinkle over the salt, black pepper, and fennel seeds. Mix everything thoroughly with clean hands until the seasonings are evenly distributed throughout the meat.

Place the natural sausage casing in a bowl of lukewarm water to soften it and make it easier to handle. Once pliable, cut off a piece approximately 1 metre (3.3 feet) long.

With clean hands, place some of the minced pork into the sausage funnel and press it down firmly with your thumb. Continue until a small amount of meat appears at the tip, as this removes trapped air from the funnel. Rub a little EVOO around the tip, then carefully slide the casing onto it. Gather almost the entire length of casing over the funnel, leaving a short section hanging from the end, and tie this securely in a knot.

Slowly press the pork through the funnel while gently guiding the filled casing with your other hand. Fill it evenly, but do not pack it too tightly because the casing may split when the sausages are shaped. Continue adding meat until the casing is filled, leaving enough empty casing at the end to tie another secure knot. Repeat with the remaining pork mixtures until all the meat has been used.

Cut a piece of butcher’s twine approximately one and a half times the length of the filled casing. Decide how long you would like each sausage to be, then tie the twine securely around the casing at regular intervals to separate the long coil into individual sausage links. Continue along the entire length until all the sausages have been shaped.