Lechon is a popular pork dish in Spanish-speaking countries, made from a suckling pig roasted on a spit. It is especially popular in the Philippines, where it is called lechon boboy or litsong baboy and is served during the Parada ng Lechon festival. Leftover pork can be made into other dishes, such as paksiw na litson in the Philippines.
Lechon is a pork dish that is especially popular in the Spanish-speaking world, which includes Spain and its former colonies. The word lechon refers to leche, which is Spanish for milk. Indicate the age range of the suckling pig used to prepare this delicacy; the piglet is still young enough to feed on its mother’s milk when slaughtered at between two and six weeks of age.
Making lechon begins with butchering, disemboweling, and prodding the animal with a spit, which could be a stick or rod. The suckling pig is then roasted over a charcoal or wooden pit. The spit is slowly turned so that the entire animal is thoroughly roasted, making this style of cooking resemble a rotisserie. This process takes several hours to complete, resulting in a fairly tender meat and crispy, crunchy skin. The meal is usually prepared and served on special occasions, especially holidays and festivals.
Lechon is very popular in the Philippines, a republic in Southeast Asia that was a Spanish territory for about three centuries. There, the pork dish is called lechon boboy or litsong baboy, and people use banana leaf brushes to coat the pork in oil. The dish is especially popular during an annual festival called Parada ng Lechon, or Parade of Lechon. During this event, held every June 24 to commemorate the country’s patron saint, St. John, people from all over the Philippines converge on the municipality of Balayan in Batangas province, bringing with them distinctly decorated red-gold or brown-gold pigs. who parade with a mouth full of apples.
This dish is also popular in Cuba. In this Caribbean country, roast pork is usually eaten with black beans and rice. Here, Lechon is often referred to as Lechon Asado. Other countries where this dish enjoys considerable popularity include Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
Perhaps the main reason the dish is so common in so many different places around the world is its adaptability. Like the turkey from a US Thanksgiving dinner, leftover suckling pig can be made into other dishes. For example, in the Philippines, people usually make leftover pork into paksiw na litson or paksiw na lechon, which is a stew made of meat boiled in vinegar.
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