“December 26 and January 2 are National Paksiw na Lechon Days.” — Anonymous
I’ve been meaning to write this entry for the longest time because I am passionately in love with lechon and get upset when people serve it wrong.
I feel bad for the loss of life (of the pig) if ever the lechon doesn’t taste good or if the skin is makunat (not crispy).
Here’s what you should know about serving lechon:
1) Order your lechon at least two days in advance (obviously, everybody knows that).
2) If your party is at 7 PM, arrange for the lechon to arrive at 6:30 PM. Hopefully the guests aren’t too late to arrive and enjoy piping hot, crispy skin.
3) Lay the lechon on a table covered in paper (at home we have a giant roll of kraft paper for this purpose).
4) If you have heating lamps, all the better. This will prevent the fat from turning into sebo in an airconditioned setting.
5) Uncover the lechon right away as keeping it under wraps will steam the pig and soften its skin (read: kunat).
6) Transfer the lechon sauce to bowls and heat them up if necessary.
7) Do NOT chop the lechon and pile them up on a platter because: a) it is unsightly and peasantly and b) piling it up like kanin baboy (pun intended) will make the skin soft, which is a waste of life!
8. It is better to leave a carving knife, tongs, kitchen scissors or what have you and allow the guests to cut the parts they want. Or have a person cut the lechon as requested. This is assuming you have civilized guest who will not take an A4 size of skin—unless you have invited me or I am the one bringing the lechon.
9) I always scrape off the fat under the skin because otherwise I will get umay/feel nauseated/hate myself for eating too much.
10) The parts with the bubbles are usually the crispiest.
11) The best way to enjoy lechon really is to order it at home where you don’t have to compete with a whole barangay, get your table, plates, utensils ready, plus a pot of rice and ice-cold coke on standby, wait for lechon to arrive and EAT.
Feel free to put leg up on the chair as you eat to your heart’s desire (no pun intended).
12) I really love the strings of meat that get roasted on the skin. This + rice = heaven!!
13) The best lechon in Metro Manila can be had from Abub’s Cebuana Lechon. I purposely didn’t publish this last month because I was afraid many, many pigs will die due to my blog entry but they really have the best prices and the BEST lechon in town. No sauce necessary.
To order call (0917) 828-8080 or click HERE for more details.
Originally published at Chuvaness.com. You can comment here or there.