Lechon Kawali (Filipino Crispy Fried Pork Belly) Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my lechon kawali not crispy? ›

The secret to a super crispy pork belly has something to do with both the boiling and frying part. Boil the skin until it gets really tender. If not, the skin will remain tough no matter how long you fry it. On the frying side, I find that double frying works well.

Crispen Skin

Increase oven temperature to 425°F, and add a little liquid to the drip pan on the bottom rack so any dripping fat does not smoke up the house. Poke a bunch more holes in the skin. It will be easier when hot. Return pork belly to oven and cook approximately 1 hour, but keep a very close eye.

If the skin hasn't completely transformed to crisp crackling, turn on the broiler and blast it for a further 10 minutes, keeping a close eye to make sure it doesn't burn. Remove cooked belly from oven, place on a board. Use a cleaver or roast slicer to cut into chunks and serve immediately.

Once you have the belly, the next thing you'll need to do is boil it, which helps render out some of the fat before frying. Based on other recipes I've seen, there's a split between boiling the belly in plain salted water and water that has additional seasonings like garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, and soy sauce.

The perfect temperature for frying foods is 375°F (190°C). This temperature provides the ideal combination of heat and oil saturation to achieve a crispy, golden-brown texture. However, some recipes may require higher or lower temperatures depending on the type of food being fried.

Preheat oven to 230°C, 210°C fan or Gas Mark 8. Put the joint in a roasting tin on the top shelf for 20 minutes. This sudden blast of heat is the key to crispy crackling. Reduce the temperature to 180-190°C, 160-170°C fan or Gas Mark 4-5 and follow the cooking times below to ensure the joint is cooked through.

How do I reheat pork belly to keep it crispy? Place the pork belly in a baking dish with a little bit of liquid and cover the dish with foil. Warm it through in a 400° oven; after about 15 minutes, remove the foil and switch the oven to broil.

Whole pork shoulders or pork belly roasts can be magical when treated right. Poke the skin with a needle or knife without breaking through the meat too far. Then dust with salt and baking powder and allow to dry overnight. The next day, when you cook, the skin will puff and crisp up in ways you only imagined before.

The secret to cooking pork belly is the combination of a gentle heat to tenderise the meat and short, high temperature blasts to crisp up the skin on the outside. Typically, recipes call for around 2 hrs at 180C/160C fan/gas 4, then a further 30 mins or so at 200C/180C fan/gas 6.

Heat about 4 inches of oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Fry pork belly squares in batches until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

How do you make lechon crispy again? ›

For the skin that's most likely already makunat, “All you need to do is put it in an air fryer, turbo broiler, toaster oven, or in your oven for approximately 10 minutes at 375 degrees F,” he says, taking a bite of a crunchy lechon skin he had finished heating. “It tastes as good as new,” he says.

If you want crispy food, you need to dry it out. So when you deep-fry, and because water and oil don't mix, you're pushing out all the surface water with very hot oil. When hot oil comes in contact with water, tiny surface explosions (the bubbles you see) create craggy, crispy food.

If the oil gets too cold, anything below 355°, then the food ends up absorbing all of the oil resulting in a greasy, soggy mess. If the oil gets too hot, anything above 400°, then the outside will brown too quickly before the inside can properly cook.