Going to attempt lechon pork belly tomorrow - pointers?

[jhwhite]

I spent a week in Puerto Rico and ate all the lechon I could. LOVED IT. I don't have space for a whole pig, so I was thinking of getting a pork belly, rolling and tying it, and putting it on the MB560 rotisserie.

What's the best way to get the crispy skin? Can I set it at 250 until done and it'll crisp up? Or do I need to raise the heat for the last bit to render the fat.

What's the best approach here?

 

[LYU370]

Never did it with a pork belly. Did a Lechon Asado with a picnic ham a few years back. After smoking it at 250, I threw it on the grill to crisp up the skin, but got side tracked and ended up burning the skin to a crisp. :noidea:

 

[jhwhite]

Never did it with a pork belly. Did a Lechon Asado with a picnic ham a few years back. After smoking it at 250, I threw it on the grill to crisp up the skin, but got side tracked and ended up burning the skin to a crisp. :noidea:

I saw your post! I did a search for lechon and your post was the top result. It looked great! I think it was your post, I didn't actually check the username.

 

[AussieMatt]

Lechon is basically the Filipino version of porchetta. So, you can use a porchetta recipe or I found this one: https://www.kawalingpinoy.com/pork-belly-lechon-roll/

 

[LordRiffenstein]

It´s not lechon but I made pork belly with crispy skin following directions from a video from Chud´s BBQ. Here´s the thread with some videos.

 

[Shiv]

I spent a week in Puerto Rico and ate all the lechon I could. LOVED IT. I don't have space for a whole pig, so I was thinking of getting a pork belly, rolling and tying it, and putting it on the MB560 rotisserie.

What's the best way to get the crispy skin? Can I set it at 250 until done and it'll crisp up? Or do I need to raise the heat for the last bit to render the fat.

What's the best approach here?

Here in Spain we have a region known by his "chochinillos" (aka "lechón", aka milking pigs)

It can be done in the oven, but the speciality is make it on wood oven.

https://www.recetasderechupete.com/receta-de-cochinillo-segoviano-al-horno/2621/

Is so soft and crispy that there, cut it with a dish:

I think you can do the whole pig on 22´kettle

 

[JAKs Q & brew]

If you are doing a pork belly that is rolled up, a few things to keep in mind.

1. Try to trim and skin that will not be exposed on the outside of the roll. I didn't do this the first time I made one and ended up with crispy skin on the outside and lots of rubber texture skin inside the roll.

2. Cooking at 2 temps is key for me. You could do hot first then low to finish, but I find smoking at 225-275 till probe, resting 30-45 minutes then finishing hot to crisp the skin works best. For an all pork belly roll rendering the fat all the way in the middle is very important.

3. Making a roll by wrapping a loin in a pork belly is different than all pork belly. For the roll with a loin it needs to be timed that the outside belly is rendered and done at the same time as the loin get it 135-145. That take a lot more precision and skills than I am willing to work towards.

4. Whole roasted baby pigs are yummy.