Welcome to my channel Cooking with @cheftuan Today we have Filipino Lechon Pork Belly Roll on the menu. I am super stoked for this. I absolutely LOVE crispy pork. There aren't many things that are better than succulent pork with an Earth shattering skin.

Also go check out my blog: https://www.cookingwithcheftuan.com

Let's get into this.

Here is what you will need.
* Boneless skin on pork belly, approximately 3 lbs. You want a piece big enough to roll.
* 1 Head of garlic, peeled and chopped
* 1.5 Bunches of scallions, washed and trimmed
* 2 shallots, sliced
* 46 stalks of lemongrass. Tough outer leaves removed and use the white part only. I cut the thicker stalks into quarters and the thinner ones in half. (exposes more of the inside and releases more of the essential oils)
* salt and pepper
* 56 Tbsp soy sauce
* 1/4 C whole milk
* neutral flavored oil for basting
* kitchen twine for trussing the pork belly roll
* wire rack and sheet tray or a roasting pan with a rack
* brush for basting

First, wash and pat dry the pork belly. Next you will want to score the flesh side about halfway down to the skin. This will help the pork belly roll up easier and will also allow the seasonings to get down deeper into the meat.

Next you want to liberally season the meat with salt and pepper. Then add your chopped garlic. Season with about 56 Tbsp soy sauce. Rub this into the meat and the crevices. Now lay down your shallots, lemongrass and scallions lengthwise along the meat side. Season the scallions with more salt, pepper and soy sauce.

You are now ready to roll up the pork belly. Once rolled up, the belly should not overlap but have the ends touching or as close to touching as you can get it. If there is too much of a gap, you have overstuffed it. Remove some of the stuffing so the ends can touch.

Now you want to take some kitchen twine and use it to tie and secure the pork belly so it doesn't burst open when roasting in the oven. You want to space out your twine about an inch and a half away from each other. Each section will be a serving size and you will slice the lechon where the twine is.

Once you have trussed your pork belly, lay it on your rack on your roasting pan and brush the entire pork belly roll with soy sauce. Save the remaining soy sauce because we will be adding some milk to it.

Make sure you also get the end caps. They also need to be seasoned. Do not forget this step. The end caps also need some tender loving care.

Preheat your oven to 325 F. You will be roasting this for three hours at this temperature. Then you will turn up the heat to 350 F for an additional 30 minutes for a total cook time of 3 hours and 30 mins. This is the easy part now.
Place your soy brushed lechon into the oven. Pour about 1 cup of water at the bottom of
your roasting tray.

After the first hour, mix your milk with the remaining soy sauce and brush the entire lechon. Make sure you rotate it so you can get all the surface area basted. Rotate and place your lechon back into the oven for hour number two.

At the end of the second hour of roasting you will baste again with your milk and soy sauce mixture. This is where the magic starts to happen to transform the skin into crispy pork glass.

Now we are at the beginning of hour 3. You want to brush your lechon with your neutral flavored oil all over the skin and the end caps. You should notice out much richer the color of the lechon skin is and how smooth and crispy it is getting. Place this back in the oven for the final hour of roasting.
Once hour 3 is up, increase the oven temp to 350 F. Pull out the lechon and you should see an accumulation of fat drippings at the bottom of your roasting pan. Brush the drippings all over your lechon including the end caps. Place back into the oven for an additional 30 mins. Halfway through, you want to brush the lechon and rotate it for the final 15 minutes.

Once the 30 minutes is up, remove your lechon from the oven and let rest for at least 15 minutes before you remove the kitchen twine and slice. Once rested, remove the twine and slice. You will be amazed at how smooth and shiny the skin is. Wait until you experience the crunch of the crispy skin. I am so excited for you at this point!

I will leave the choice of side dishes to you. Personally, I love eating this with some hot fresh rice, soy sauce and chilies. If this were become my Sunday dinner for the rest of my life, I would be not be mad at it. Filipino Lechon Pork Belly is nothing short of spectacular.

#lechon #filipino #filipinofood #lechonporkbelly
#porkbelly #roastpork #crispypork