About this recipe
Lechon in its full form is a whole pig, stuffed and spit-roasted over charcoal for hours until the skin is glass-brittle and the meat beneath is still moist. The Cebu style is distinguished by what goes inside — lemongrass, garlic, scallions, black pepper and bay stuffed into the cavity, so the meat is seasoned from within and is eaten without any sauce, unlike the liver-based sauce common elsewhere. A whole pig is beyond a home kitchen, so this recipe teaches the same seasoning and the same skin on a rolled belly — lechon liempo — which is how it is most often cooked at home. It is not lechon kawali, which is boiled pork belly cut into cubes and deep-fried.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Prep
- 40 minutes (plus overnight uncovered chilling)
- Cook
- 2 hours 30 minutes
- Total
- 190 minutes
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Spice
- Mild
Allergens Contains no common allergens. Not suitable for pork-free diets.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The pork
- 1 whole boneless pork belly, skin on, about 4 lb (1.8 kg), in one rectangular piece
- 2 tbsp (36 g) fine salt, for the meat side
- 1 tbsp (18 g) coarse salt, for the skin
- 1 tsp (2 g) ground black pepper
The Cebu-style stuffing
- 4 stalks lemongrass, tough tops removed, bruised and cut into 4 in (10 cm) lengths
- 1 whole head garlic (about 12 cloves), peeled and crushed
- 6 scallions, halved lengthways
- 4 dried bay leaves
- 2 tbsp (14 g) whole black peppercorns, cracked
- 1 in (2.5 cm) fresh ginger, sliced thin (optional)
To serve
- Steamed rice
- Spiced palm vinegar for dipping (see the condiment cross-reference)
Equipment
- Roasting tin with a rack
- Butcher's twine
- Very sharp knife or clean box cutter for scoring the skin
- Instant-read thermometer
Method
- Lay the belly skin-side down. Rub the meat side with the fine salt and the ground black pepper, working into every crease.
- Arrange the lemongrass, crushed garlic, scallions, bay leaves, cracked peppercorns and the ginger if using in a line along the long edge of the meat.
- Roll the belly up tightly around the stuffing along its long side, so the skin ends up on the outside, and tie firmly with butcher's twine at 1 1/2 in (4 cm) intervals.
- Pat the skin completely dry. Prick it all over with the point of a very sharp knife, going through the skin but not into the meat. Rub the coarse salt over the skin.
- Set the roll on the rack in the roasting tin and refrigerate uncovered at least 12 hours, or up to 24. The skin should feel dry and papery to the touch.
- Heat the oven to 320°F (160°C). Wipe any moisture from the skin and roast 2 hours. The meat cooks through gently at this stage and the skin dries further.
- Raise the oven to 465°F (240°C) and roast 20-30 minutes more, watching closely, until the skin has blistered and gone hard and golden all over. It will crack and pop audibly.
- Check the internal temperature at the thickest point: it should read at least 160°F (71°C). Rest the roll 20 minutes before cutting — do not cover it, or the skin will soften.
- Cut into thick slices with a serrated knife, cutting through the crackling first. Discard the twine and the spent lemongrass. Serve with rice and a sharp dipping vinegar.
From the foundations
The book pairs this recipe with the following, from the sauces, sambals and pastes that open the collection.
The Complete Edition
Lechon sits in the Philippines chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Philippines chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.