Lechon Belly recipe is one of the most famous Filipino recipes that a lot of people use to cook and eat, especially in southeast Asia and Western restaurants. But, availability in restaurants does not mean that a person cannot make it home.
In this guide, we will be discussing the tips of this recipe that a person can easily make at home and doesn’t need to wait until the weekends to visit restaurants or for another party.
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What is Cebuchon?
There are two words that if we combine, become Cebuchon. One is “Cebu” and the other is “Lechon”. What it means is, it is a name of a pork-belly role version that is a bone-less meal. Furthermore, the name of this dish is based on a region which is very famous for its lifestyle. Some specific things that are very famous in this region are lemongrass, scallions, and basil.
At first, this dish has been introduced in Spain and then spread into the whole world. It was a period of Colonialism. Actually, colonialism has played a significant role in spreading the recipe of Lechon Belly or in simple words we use to say Roasted Pig.
There are a lot of people who like this Filipino dish, even some of the parties are assumed to be incomplete if there is no Lechon Belly present on the menu. Just like the Chinese treat Char Siu, this dish consists of an extra crunchy taste with a crispy feel, according to Hungry Huy.
This roasted meal comes up with amazing aromatics like scallion, garlic, and lemongrass. There are a lot of restaurants that provide deals in terms of food and drink coupons with this dish as well as we get from Wadav coupons.
A lot of people assumed it is such a treat to get to eat this roasted belly of a pig. One of the main reasons is that it is better to order a whole pig to be shared with other people. With a round table of happy people who can enjoy a piece of the Lechon belly before completing their meal with a sweet Filipino dessert-like Ube Pudding.
However, if you learn how to cook this dish, this could perhaps be a routine every weekday!
How to choose the belly?
Here is an important thing that you need to keep in your mind that the belly size should be enough to get rolled. Moreover, the size should be enough so that when you put the fillings in this belly and rolled it, not filing should become out.
Here the fillings mean the material that people use to put inside like vegetables, rice, and other side tastes to bring the juicy taste inside the dish.
Furthermore, the diameter of this Lechon should be large enough so that claws can fit most of its prongs in the space which is available there.
They provide a belly of appropriate size at the dish counter. 4-5 lbs of belly mass are enough to make a Lechon belly roasted pork. Another thing that you need to focus on is when you buy a belly try not to select a piece that comes with ribs.
One of the main reasons is that the ribs are very difficult to cut off in the home. Also, make sure that the skin of the belly has been cut. This is because when you cook the belly it becomes crispy due to these cuts that absorb the oil and smoke.
There are some people who do mistakes like this and that is the reason some people don’t get a crispy flavour in their Lechon.
Putting ingredients and methods
To start cooking the dish, first of all, you need to make a brine that needs to be infused in the belly for at least 10 minutes. For this purpose, you need to boil the brine.
There you will be putting sugar, salt, peppercorn, garlic, and onion. Furthermore, the ingredients included lemongrass, bay leaf, water, and star anise. It needs to be chilled down after it has been put in the brine.
Some people like to put vinegar to add flavour so that the taste could be juicier. The addition of vinegar to the lemongrass and bay leaf combination gives this dish its distinct Filipino taste that is different from the recently popular Korean BBQ marinade. Furthermore, the vinegar also gives a tenderizer meal for the meat.
Seasoning and Stuff Ingredients
For seasoning and stuff ingredients for this Lechon belly recipe, you can add salt, pepper, garlic, sliced onions, and bay leaves. Furthermore, you can add scallion and lemongrass to make the layers of the belly more crispy.
Then, in the next step, you need to dry the belly with a pepper towel. After, that when it gets dried, you need to season it with salt generously.
Rolling and tying the belly
For tying up the Lechon belly, a lot of people use 4 to 5 pieces of twine wrapped. The purpose to do that is to keep the role in shape during cooking.
People like to use separate strings of twine to wrap the Lechon belly rather than using a single long string and secures it with loops. People could tie these tighter knots and hold the belly together better.
Tips to cook on the rotisserie
Here are the tips for making the Lechon:
- Use a drip tray. Except this a lot of fat can drip and cause a lot of fire and smoke, blackening your belly.
- Try to keep your eye on the grill temperature. Grill burners will vary so use the thermometer on your grill, or a third-party one to watch the internal temperature of the grill. This is the easy way to make sure you’re cooking at the right temperatures.
- Follow the safety guidelines. Prefer to use your grill manual for secure placement of your grill away from other equipment, and distances of how high the roof above should be. This is especially since we’re hooking up an electric rotating rotisserie. Also, keep a fire extinguisher nearby just in case.
Verdicts
The verdicts are that the Lechon Belly recipe is one of the most famous Filipino recipes that a lot of people use to cook and eat, especially in southeast Asia and Western restaurants. But, availability in restaurants does not mean that a person cannot make it home.
In this guide, we have discussed the tips of this recipe that a person can easily make at home and doesn’t need to wait until the weekends to visit restaurants or for another party.
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