Looking at the two recipes I have shared so far in this blog, I realized there are different ways of preparing the popular lechon belly or roasted pork belly we see being sold in stores.I guess cooks or chefs just have different methods or techniques of doing it. They vary in terms of the stuffing used and some even resort to a brining solution to tenderize the meat.
Anyway, I announced here the cooking class conducted recently by chef Michael Giovan Sarthou III at the Maya Kitchen. In the class, Chef Tatung shared his recipe for roasted pork belly or lechon liempo that originated in Cebu.
This recipe generously serves 12 persons which is all you need to have a fiesta at home 🙂
Ingredients:
3 kilos whole pork belly, deboned, preferably a wide slab that can be rolled
annatto oil, for brushing
Marinade:
2 cups pineapple juice
3 tablespoons sea salt
6 cloves garlic, crushed
Stuffing:
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 cups onion leeks, white and green parts, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
Procedure:
1. Marinate pork belly in pineapple, salt and garlic for at least 3 hours or overnight. You may want to poke holes in the inside of the pork belly to allow marinade to seep into the meat.
2. To roll pork belly, first discard marinating liquid. Lay the pork on a board, skin-side down. Rub with salt and pepper. Then arrange garlic and leeks on top of the pork. Neatly roll the meat along the grain of the pork until the ends meet. Tie the joint tightly with butcher’s string at regular intervals to hold the roll
together.
3. Preheat the oven to 250°C/475°F, or as high as it will go.
4. Place rolled belly on an oiled roasting tray. Roast for 30 minutes to brown and crisp the skin. Then bring down oven temperature to 177°C/350°F and roast for another 2 hours. Brush with annatto oil every now and then.
5. When pork is cooked, carve into slices. Serve with vinegar on the side.
This is how the rolled stuffed pork belly should look like:
When artistically plated –
Looks so good, doesn’t it?
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