Lechon is a pork dish in several regions of the world. It is particularly popular in the parts of Spain, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic and in the Spanish-speaking areas in Latin America.

Filipinos love festivities and a part of that celebration is serving Lechon on the table. It would not be called a fest if Lechon is not served. And because Filipinos love both festivities and lechon, it has been celebrated in Batangas. Parada ng Lechon is a parade of golden red and crispy roasted pigs in the long streets in Batangas. Lechon could be dressed up with costumes or you could do almost anything with it to make it more festive and entertaining. A true pinoy tradition starts at celebrating a mass before the program proper.

Mila’s Lechon and Aling Lydia’s are the most famous seller of Lechon in the Philippines. They have been there for a long time, roasting and perfecting the Lechon to give great service continuously to the Filipino people.

Today, I have found pork belly in my freezer and thought of a recipe that I could do with it. I don’t feel like eating adobo, asado or menudo today so I searched the net. While searching, I came across OverseasPinoyCooking website, one of my favorite pinoy recipe website and found Lechon sa Oven recipe. Thank you for posting this great, yummy recipe. Now, I would like to share with you the recipe for this crispy and delicious lechon.

Ingredients:

1 kg pork belly
1 bundle spring onions, chopped
3 stalks lemongrass, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 pcs bay leaf
5-6 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
1 small packet of sampaloc sinigang mix
1/4 cup butter, melted
soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 300F to 350F.
2. In a roasting pan, make a bed of spring onion, lemon grass, onion and garlic. Make sure that the roasting pan is the same size of the pork belly.
3. Pat dry the pork belly and rub it with sinigang mix, salt and pepper.
4.  Place the pork belly to the roasting pan.
5. Drizzle the pork belly with soy sauce and rub to coat evenly.
6. Place the pork belly to the roasting pan, skin facing upward.
7. Put the roasting pan in the pre-heated oven and roast for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours.
8. Brush the pork belly with butter occasionally to prevent it from getting dry.
9. Lower the temperature of the oven if it’s drying or cooking quickly.
10.Turn the temperature to 400F to 450F for the last 10 to 15 minutes of cooking or until golden red in color. At this stage, the skin should be crispy.
11.Remove from the oven and cover with aluminum foil. Let it cool for 10 minutes for carving.
12.Serve with your favorite sauce. Filipinos love Mang Tomas all purpose sauce.

Serve and enjoy with family and friends!!!
Source: OverseasPinoyCooking