Hello fellow foodies! In the Philippines (and other Catholic regions of the world), Lenten Season began last Wednesday, March 2, 2022 as we celebrated Ash Wednesday. Yesterday was the first Friday of Lenten and traditionally, every Friday we abstain from eating pork. Other regions may have different practices but in the place where I grew up, we give up pork for a day. This may even extend to not eating any kinds of meat (pork, beef, chicken, etc.)
This year, I am committing to abstain from eating pork for the entire duration of Lent. That's from Ash Wednesday until Black Saturday, I'll eat pork again by Easter Sunday. I just love any dish with pork, especially main dishes (lechon, humba (braised pork), grilled pork belly to name a few) and Lent for me has been about giving up something I love. Before I've tried putting on hold all of my travels both in and out of Cebu for the same reason.
It has been my forth day without pork and I'm already craving for one. (My father's currently grilling some for dinner! 🤣 That's why today I'm going to torture myself more (and maybe others who are also abstaining from pork this Lent. I hope you can still forgive me!) by sharing this recipe everyone could try this weekend.
And if you didn't miss the title, that's correct we are cooking the ever famous and mouth-watering Lechon Kawali or as what Panlasang Pinoy coined as Filipino crispy deep fried pork belly dish. I cooked this during my mother's 67th birthday. I cooked almost all the dishes for her birthday celebration with my boyfriend's help. I just love spending time in the kitchen and ensuring everyone gets to eat delicious food!
Without further ado, let's start cooking!
What you'll need: Going the extra mile
If you'll Google Lechon Kawali recipes, you'd probably find a lot of recipes to the point of confusion. I jumped from one recipe to the other and had to combine two or three. There were recipes that need the boiled meat to be air-dried for at least 8 hours; there were recipes needing an air fryer.
If you have pork belly (preferably), salt, whole peppercorn, cooking oil, and water, you're good to go. Those are the basic ingredients, but if you want to bring your Lechon Kawali to the next level, you'll also need the following:
- Star Annis
- Garlic
- Scallions
- Chili finger
- Siling Labuyo (small chili pepper)
- Dried bay leaves (not in photos)
If you'd ask me, how much of each ingredient you'll need to add to end up with the perfect taste, my answer is it's all up to what taste you're trying to achieve. This is why it's important to at least be familiar with the kind of flavor or aroma you'll get from each of the mentioned spices/herbs. In my case, I am drawn to the flavors that Star Annis and Peppercorn produce. That's why I usually add more of the two (more than what's shown below). For the meat, I'm personally very picky. In my town, it's difficult to find perfect slabs of pork belly.
Again, you can always add whatever spices you want to add. If you want to find another flavor in the finished product tha you can't get from the spices I've used, by all means go ahead and add them.
Follow these steps for the best Lechon Kawali
Now here are easy major steps you need to follow to get the best Lechon Kawali.
(1) Meat and spices/herbs preparation
Make sure you clean well the meat and spices before cooking them. I cut the slabs of meat into half because it won't fit in my pot. If you have a big pot, you can just skip this.
Fill the pot with water add the meat and all the spices/herbs in and you're good to go! You may find other recipe that will only require to put the meat and the spices when the water boils, but I felt it'd be more flavorful to add everything right from the start.
(2) Boling the meat
For this recipe, boiling the meat is where you'd probably spend most of the cooking time. If you want to get the best result, you might want to consider boiling it in slow heat. Yes, it will take more time than usual but the results will absolutely please you. Make sure the bones fall off when you remove the meat from the heat. You can also use a fork to test if the meat is soft enough.
(3) Baking the boiled meat
The premise of this recipe is that you have an oven; it doesn't matter if you have a big or just a small one. Although it might take you more time to finish if you'd cook more than 2 kgs using a small oven. As I mentioned earlier, you can substitute this step by air drying the boiled meat for at least 4 hours. The longer you air-dry them, the better. What this process does is it takes out the excess water from the boiled meat which leads to the texture we're aiming - crispy on the outside and juicy in the inside.
Before baking, make sure to never skip this process. Take out the boiled meat and use a fork to stab the fatty portion of the meat. It's almost like making pinholes. Rub some vinegar and salt in the meat and you're good to start baking!
You can initially start off with 15 minutes and just check if they're dry and golden in color and adjust from there. Don't overbake!
(4) Deep frying the meat
We've come to the last part and the most dangerous one, I suppose! haha After baking the slabs, you need to bring to boil a lot of oil in a deep pan. Make sure the oil is boiling before you put the meat one at a time.
Deep frying leaves us with crispy skin of the meat. Through the photos, you'll see how the meat transforms. Please pay attention while doing this step as this can be a bit tricky. You might find yourself fighting the oil at it explodes in your face, your arms. You'd know your meat dried very well when you won't experience this.
The result of the experiment
This was my first time cooking Lechon Kawali but I got it right and I was just happy as I had no room for any mistakes. It was my Mama's birthday and I was more than happy to serve these to her and our family and friends.
I did the same but with more herbs and spices for another gathering with my college friends. My boyfriend, who have tried both the 1st and 2nd time I've cooked this, could attest that the 2nd one tasted way better. You can taste the herbs and spices in each bite of the pork! Perfect with Mang Tomas sarsa. 😋
Are you hungry just by reading this post? Grab your wallet and run to the supermarket and grab all the ingredients and try this one at home! It's easy (except the frying part haha) 😅 Thanks you cooking with me, until next time!
If you have questions, drop them in the comment section! I'm not an expert nor a professional cook but I'll try my best to help you. 😁
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