Roasted Pork Belly Roll (Lechon)

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Prepare Lechon Pork Belly Roll Filipino style with simple ingredients, slow roasted and finish off with a crispy chicharron skin.

This recipe uses simple ingredients that includes a few stalks of, the Asian prized herb, lemongrass, a shallot, cane vinegar, fresh garlic cloves, green onions, coarse sea salt, freshly ground pepper and of course a 4 to 7 pound cut of boneless pork belly with skin intact.

What is Lechon?

Lechon is a well known cuisine that is an ultimate pork feast. It is usually a dish from within the Philippine culture. Lechon consists of cooking a whole pig roasted over a charcoal pit and served at celebrations like special holidays, weddings or other important events for a large crowd of people. When feeding less than a crowd then the alternate choice of pork is a boneless pork belly with skin intact, well seasoned, roasted to perfection and then finishing off with a blast of high heat to achieve a crispy skin.

Something About Jett’s Kitchen

If there is one thing about Jett’s Kitchen it defiantly isn’t boring! Researching new recipes across different cultures can be rather fascinating. Since using pork belly to make my Southern Style Pork Crackins I wanted to see what else I could make with pork belly. That is when I came across this authentic Filipino recipe for Lechon that sounded so simple I just knew I had to make it! With this recipe I learned about the Asian herb that I have never used before and that is lemongrass.

What is Lemongrass?

As a frequent shopper at our local Farmers Market I often came across lemongrass but just kept walking by mainly because I knew nothing about how to use it. Lemongrass is a tall perennial grass that has slender woodsy leaves that somewhat resembles green onions. It is considered an Asian herb generally used in cooking for it’s potent citrusy lemon fragrant scent that is used when preparing Asian or Thai soups, tea beverages and for seasoning meats. Lemongrass can also be found at your local grocery store in the fresh herbs section along with where you would find thyme, rosemary and sage. Or, you can get lemongrass here.

What do you serve with lechon roasted pork belly?

• Rice (Jasmine Rice, Long Grain Rice, or Basmati Rice)
• Garlic Rice with Peas
• Lechon Sauce
• Sawsawan Sauce
• Fondant Potatoes

Roasted Pork Belly Roll (Lechon) Recipe

Making a lechon roasted pork belly roll is super simple and the flavor is phenomenal. My husband gave this recipe a “10”!

Ingredients:

• 4 to 7 pounds pork belly with skin (boneless)
• 1 shallot sliced
• 10 garlic cloves peeled (crush 5 and mince 5)
• 1/2 Tablespoon cane vinegar (or white vinegar)
• 4 stocks of lemongrass (outer leaves removed and sliced in half)
• 6 green onions
• 2 Tablespoons coarse sea salt (divided)
• Freshly grated pepper
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil

Instructions:

Prepare Pork Belly

Lay out the pork belly. Make sure it is uniform in size and evenly flat. Using a sharp knife trim any edges or remove lumps as needed. Next, make a “test roll” with the pork to see if any of the skin will be tucked in the rolled section. If it is identified that skin is inside the roll then make a mark on the skin. Then unroll the pork and place it pork skin side up and remove any overlapping skin using a sharp knife. The goal is to not have any pork skin within the middle of the roll. Then flip the pork belly over to expose the meat. If excess skin was removed place that section of the pork belly closest to you. Then score the meat side diagonally and then crisscross.

Season Pork Belly

Rub cane vinegar over meat. Then sprinkle 1 Tablespoon Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground pepper over entire scored pork belly. I highly recommend using this turn-key pepper mill for grinding pepper. Then add sliced shallots, mashed and minced garlic and spread evenly over entire pork belly. Then place sliced lemongrass and green onions on the meat closest to you.

Roll and Tie

Prepare butchers twine by cutting 6 to 10 individual strings long enough to tie up the meat in 2-inch sections and set aside. Next begin rolling the pork tight starting at the end closest to you and roll away from you. Secure roll with butchers twine. Place pork belly roll on a baking rack with baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 8-hours uncovered.

Score and Prepare Skin

Remove pork belly roll from refrigerator and allow to rest on countertop for at least 1-hour prior to roasting. Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a sharp knife score the pork skin between the butchers twine being careful to not penetrate the meat. Scoring the skin helps with creating a crispy chicharron type skin. Rub olive oil all over the skin and then sprinkle the remaining sea salt on top.

Bake

Place pork belly roll in preheated oven on a baking rack with baking pan to catch any drippings and bake until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. This is where an instant read digital kitchen thermometer comes in handy.

Crisp the Skin

Now crank the oven up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit and continue baking for about 20 more minutes or until the skin crisps up. Carefully remove pan from oven and allow to rest for 15-minutes prior to slicing. I find it best to use a bread knife for slicing.

I AM EXCITED YOU ARE VIEWING JETT’S RECIPE FOR FILIPINO ROASTED PORK BELLY (LECHON) AND WOULD LOVE TO HEAR HOW YOURS TURNS OUT SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO MAKE IT!

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