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Lechona
Lechona: a home-oven Tolima-style roast of pork shoulder and crackling pork belly over rice and yellow peas
Christmas, birthdays and town fiestas across Tolima and Bogotá call for lechona: a whole pig, boned, stuffed with its own meat, yellow peas and, in the Bogotá style, rice, then roasted for hours in a wood or brick oven until the skin turns to a glassy crackling. Purists in Ibagué leave the rice out. Few home kitchens fit a pig, so this oven version builds the same thing in a deep roasting tin: cubes of pork shoulder seasoned with spring onion, garlic and cumin, mixed with peas and part-cooked rice, under a blanket of skin-on pork belly. The filling soaks up the dripping pork fat; the top crackles. Serve with insulsos (plain sweet corn tamales) or arepas and lime. Start a day ahead to marinate the meat and dry the skin, plus overnight soaking for the peas. Most failed crackling comes from wet skin, so dry it uncovered in the fridge and salt it well. Chef's tip: score the belly skin closely with a very sharp blade but don't cut into the meat, or the juices bubble up and soften the crust.
- Total time
- 330 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 10
Ingredients
For the filling
For the crackling top
To serve
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What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (4)
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Method
0/10 doneStep 1: The day before, mix 10 spring onions, 8 garlic cloves, 1 tbsp ground cumin, 4 tsp salt and 1 tsp ground black pepper. Toss with 4 ⅜ lb boneless pork shoulder, cover and marinate in the fridge overnight.
15 minStep 2: Score 3 ⅓ lb pork belly, skin on, in one sheet skin in a tight criss-cross every 1 cm with a very sharp knife, cutting only through the skin. Rub 1 tbsp coarse salt into the cuts, lay the belly skin side up on a tray and leave uncovered in the fridge overnight so the skin dries.
10 minStep 3: Next day, drain 10 ½ oz dried yellow peas and simmer in fresh water for 30–35 minutes, until tender. Drain.
35 minStep 4: Boil 10 ½ oz long-grain rice in salted water for 7 minutes, until about half cooked with a hard centre. Drain and spread out to cool.
10 minStep 5: Heat the oven to 325°F (fan 275°F). Mix the marinated pork, its juices, the peas and the rice in a large bowl, then pack it into a deep roasting tin about 30 x 25 cm.
10 minStep 6: Pat the belly skin dry with kitchen paper, brushing off excess salt, and lay it skin side up over the filling, tucking the edges in. Cover the tin tightly with foil.
5 minStep 7: Roast for 3 hours, until the shoulder is tender and the rice has absorbed the fat and juices. Check after 2 hours and add 100 ml hot water at the edges if the bottom looks dry.
180 minStep 8: Take off the foil and turn the oven up to 450°F (fan 400°F). Roast for 30–40 minutes more, turning the tin once, until the skin has puffed into a crisp, golden, crackling crust.
35 minStep 9: Check the temperatures: the filling in the centre of the tin must read at least 160°F and the belly at least 145°F (after 3 hours both will be far higher). Rest the lechona for 15 minutes.
15 minStep 10: Break the crackling into pieces with a heavy knife and serve each portion of filling with a shard on top, with 3 limes and 10 arepas or insulsos.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 820 kcal
- Protein
- 48 g
- Carbs
- 42 g
- Fat
- 50 g
- Fibre
- 4 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does lechona take?
- About 330 minutes in total: 60 minutes to prepare and 270 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 10 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of spring onions?
- Chives, or a little finely sliced onion.
- What can I use instead of garlic cloves?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
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