Lechon Paksiw

Lechon Paksiw

In Philippines every big occasion or major events like weddings, birthdays, fiestas and even family gatherings a whole spit roasted pig at the centre of the dining table is a must.  These roasted pigs are always the centre of attention, a masterpiece in a buffet table and everybody will queue up for its crispy skin.  Having said that after the party, the only thing consumed from a big pigs carcass is the skin leaving the meat and bones intact, these then becomes the left overs.  Since there is a big amount of leftovers the remains are divided into the families that partake in the celebration as a takeaway, these families then create a dish out of it as consuming the meat from lechon is not as enjoyable without the skin and usually it does not have taste (you can?t marinate a whole pig, unless you fill up a small swimming pool with soy sauce) so it is then recycled into a new flavourful dish called Lechon Paksiw, which means “Lechon” spit roasted pig and “Paksiw” to stew in vinegar.  Now from the name alone it already suggests how this dish is made, leftover meat and the lechon sauce sweet and spicy liver gravy) is mixed together then stewed in vinegar.

Now sometimes Filipinos crave for this dish but we don’t want to wait for a big occasion to have left over roasted pig and its sauce so we sometimes improvise by roasting pork in the oven or even deep frying it to attain that crackling pork skin texture and use Mang Tomas Sauce instead of the leftover lechon sauce.  A truly authentic Filipino dish that is a must try for those who loves sweet and sour recipes.

Ingredients

1kg pork belly (fat content should be around 20-25% to make a better pork crackling)

1 bottle Mang Tomas Sauce

1/2 cup vinegar

1/3 cup red sugar

1 tbsp peppercorns

4 pcs dried bay leaves

2 cups beef stock

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 large red onion, chopped

fish sauce

salt

oil

Method

1. Pat dry using paper towels 1kg of unsliced pork belly, rub salt all over and place on a roasting pan skin side up.  Bake the pork in a preheated oven at 180C for 1.5 hrs.

2. Remove from oven, cool it down in a wire rack then cut into bite sized cubes.

3. In a pot add oil then sauté garlic and onion for a minute.

4. Add the roasted pig, beef stock, vinegar, Mang Tomas sauce, sugar, peppercorn and bay leaves, bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes.

4. Flavour with fish sauce and season with lots of freshly ground black pepper.