LECHON BELLY

This lechon belly is an oven roasted pork belly rolled and stuffed with herbs and spices. Unlike the tradition cooking of lechon using a bed of charcoal, roasting it in an oven would make the cooking easier and simpler.

But, if you want it to taste like the original boneless lechon cebu, I would prefer roasting is on a rotating charcoal spit rotisserie if you have one. Another technique on cooking this pork belly is brining the meat.

Brine is a salt solution that is use to brine meat by skilled chef to enhance the flavor and moisture of the meat. Although brine is only composed of water and salt, which is enough to make the meat more savory and moist, adding herbs and spices to the brine will make it even more savory and delicious! Try it I’m sure you will love it.

Ingredients:

2 kilograms of Pork belly slab

For the brine/marinade:
1 stalk of lemon grass (tanglad)
1 stalk on onion leeks (scallion)
2 pieces of laurel (bay leaves)
1 table spoon of ground black peppercorn
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup rock salt
5 cups of water

For the fillings:
1 stalk of lemon grass (tanglad)
1 stalk on onion leeks (scallion)
2 cloves garlic, crushed

For the glaze:
3 part of evaporated milk + 1 part of water
Recipe Cooking Procedure:

Wash the pork slab with running water and make sure that hairs on the skin are shaved.
In a pot, put 5 cups of water then add lemon grass, bay leaves, onion, black peppercorn, garlic, and salt.
Make the brine/marinade: Bring water to boil then lower heat and simmer for at least 10 minutes. This will allow the herbs and spices to release its flavor and aroma.


Turn off heat. Set aside brine solution until it cools.
Pour the brine on the pork slab and marinate overnight


After marinating, remove the pork from the brine. The surface of the pork is quite salty so we have to rinse with fresh water then pat dry with towel.


Lay the pork slab on flat surface and place the rolled lemon grass, leek, and garlic.


Now roll up the pork slab, form a roulade with the garlic, leeks, and lemon grass on the center. Tie pork with twine (string) to keep its roulade in shape.


Brush the surface with mixture of milk and water. Set aside for at least half to an hour to allow milk to set in the skin. Milk makes the skin color reddish brown when roasted.


Cook Lechon Using Turbo Broiler

Set and preheat your turbo broiler at 375 deg F (190 deg C). Maintain this temperature up to end of cooking.
Put the pork roulade on the turbo broiler but cover with aluminum foil.
Note: I put aluminum foil to cover the meat temporarily for the first 2 hours of cooking to keep the belly moist inside and to shield from direct hot air from the broiler fan otherwise the outer part of the pork will be cooked quickly yet the inner part is still half cooked.


After 2 hours remove the aluminum foil cover. Continue cooking but rotate the roulade, at least every 10 minutes to evenly cook the skin.
Check if the skin is already crackling crispy then it is done.


Cook Lechon Using an Oven

Set and preheat your oven at 375 deg F (190 deg C). Maintain this temperature up to end of cooking.
Place your pork roulade over a grill pan with wire mesh. Cover with aluminum foil.
Note: Cover the belly for the first 2 hours of cooking to keep the belly moist inside and to shield from direct heat from the oven otherwise the outer part of the pork will be cooked quickly yet the inner part is still half cooked.
Place pork belly inside the oven. Remove the aluminum wrap after 2 hours. Rotate the pork once in a while to cook the skin evenly.


Check if the skin is already crackling crispy then it is done.


Recipe Cooking Tips:

Cooking time may vary from 2 hours up to 3 hours depending on the pork slab if it came from young or matured pig.
If your oven has rotisserie then you can use it. Just wrap it with aluminum foil for the first 2 hours of cooking.
To make the skin bubbling crispy, pierce the pork skin with fork before cooking. Make sure that the pierce is not too deep to reach the fat section of the pork.
Left over lechon belly can be recycled to as LECHON PAKSIW rather reheating the same dish again.

Enjoy Eating!

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