When I was teaching cooking years ago, I made up this tale about lechon, how it started. It seemed logical. Anyway, if you believe this, pigs will probably fly:
This happened during the ancient times when man had no pots and pans nor spoons and forks. He used his hands in eating.
There was a group of peasants who were trapped in a forest fire. When the fire was contained, they saw a couple of roasted wild pigs. The peasants noticed the delicious aroma of the burned pigs, the skins of which were glowing red. A peasant took a piece of the crispy skin and tasted it. It was so delicious that they decided to have a feast of the roasted pigs. Since then we have called this mouth-watering roasted pig LECHON.
Now, no Filipino party or town fiesta is complete without this lechon. It always takes center stage.
Several ways of cooking lechon have been tried, but I find oven-roasting the most efficient and easiest way of all.
OVEN-ROASTED PORK – LITSON SA HURNO
Ingredients:
1 15 to 20-lb pork leg with skin (you can order this from your butcher)
2 medium-size onions, chopped
1 whole garlic,skinned and chopped or 1/4 cup bottled minced garlic
4 to 5 pieces bay leaves
1 tablespoon pepper, crushed
Half a handful of sea salt or Kosher salt
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
Procedure:
Using a sharp knife, pierce the pork all over. Dry the pork and generously rub salt over the entire pork leg. Combine the rest of the ingredients for the marinade. Place the pork leg in a large garbage bag and add the marinade. Refrigerate overnight, making sure to turn the bag at least twice so that all sides of the meat will be coated with the marinade.
Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Dry the pork with paper towels. Discard the marinade. After drying the pork leg, (the skin must be dried thoroughly), place it on a rack in a roasting pan. Insert a meat thermometer. Roast for 3 hours or until the temperature reaches 155 F. Wait for about 20 minutes before cutting the pork. Cutting can be in cubes. The most tender part can be sliced for sandwiches.
Garlic and Calamansi Dip (if Mang Tomas Liver Sauce is unavailable)
Ingredients:
2 to 3 cloves of garlic, minced1/2 cup soy sauce1/4 cup calamansi or lemon juice1/4 cup siling labuyo or Jalapeno pepper, chopped
When I was teaching cooking years ago, I made up this tale about lechon, how it started. It seemed logical. Anyway, if you believe this, pigs will probably fly: