CNT Lechon – Filipino’s Main Dish

Most often than not, lechon is the main star in Filipino’s party and in Cebu, best lechon is synonymous with the name CNT.

For this holiday, we thought of ordering one whole pig which cost for as low as 3000 pesos depending on the size of the pig but CNT unfortunately had to cancel our order because due to the typhoon we had recently, pigs got stranded in Negros island. Good news for the pigs, bad news for the lechon-starved people.

Since festivity for us is not complete without a lechon, we have no choice but to wait for hours at CNT restaurant located near SM City Cebu Mall and buy it in kilo which cost about 390 pesos per kilo (7 euro per kilo). We were feeling a bit deprived and can’t wait to reach our house so we bought a few puso (rice wrapped in coconut leaves) that cost 6 pesos (0.1 Euro) and decided to dine-in instead.

Lechon is best eaten the Filipino way which is cutlery-free and in less than 5 minutes, the plates are empty. No such thing as talking socially when we eat other than to say, “order more puso”.

P.S. CNT sells pig’s head at 270 pesos per head (4.7 Euro) and they could have it deboned for you free of charge.

Lechon Day – Lucky Winners of Pig’s Head

It’s a tradition at work that a lechon day follows after successfully passing ISO/TS16949:2009 Audit.  For this year, as much as 10 lechons (whole pig skewered with a bamboo and roasted over charcoal) were being cut, diced and distributed to everyone at lunch.

Late in the afternoon, everyone got a surprise when it was announced that 10 lechon pig heads were being raffled. Because every part of lechon is a priced commodity (yes, that includes the tails, heads, internals, and even feet) in the country, I heard several people asking the lucky winners if they wanted to sell their pig’s head to them.

The announcement of dinuguan (a cooked pig’s blood plus internals) being available for dinner made everyone ecstatic too that you would think it’s some kind of consolation price for the rest who didn’t get lucky.

People started lining up as early as 4:30 in the afternoon to have their early dinner because nobody wants to ran out of pig’s blood. Haha.

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From: CI / QMS
Subject: Lechon Day!

We are pleased to announce the completion of the 2nd Surveillance Audit for ISO/TS16949:2009 (Remote Location).

Thank you very much for the preparations done that made this audit a success.

Lechon will be served during lunch today…
Please disseminate.

Thanks.
CI/QMS Team

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From: CI/QMS

Congratulations to the winners of the Lechon Heads!

Please claim at the canteen c/o Maricel.

QMS Team

Lechong Baboy

Lechon is one of my favorite foods in the whole world.  The vegans and animal lovers might find this blog repulsive but unfortunately, I’m a sucker for lechon although I don’t want to witness the actual killing of the pigs and other animals and hear them screaming for help.

Lechon (Tagalog: Litson; Cebuano: Inasal) is a Spanish word for suckling pig but in the Philippines, this means sticking the whole pig with a bamboo and then roasting it slowly using charcoals while wiping the skin with a brush mostly made of banana leaves drenched in water and the pig’s own fat. This makes the skin crunchy. Chicken, Beef and even goat variety is also famous and we call it Lechon Manok (for chicken), Lechon Baka (for beef) and Lechon Kanding (for goat).

Lechon is the highlight during fiesta and other special occasions such as weddings, anniversaries and birthdays. It is usually eaten with a sauce made of soy sauce, vinegar and some spices.

Dinuguan (pork blood stew) is usually served along with Lechon. It is a Filipino dish where blood and meat are simmered in spicy gravy of pig’s blood, garlic, chili and vinegar. Dinuguan comes from the word dugo which means blood. I used to love dinuguan until I learned of its ingredients.

Leftover lechon are often recycled in the Philippines by boiling it in vinegar and garlic. This new dish is called Paksiw na Lechon.

Writing about lechon makes me hungry. Good thing weekend is coming soon so I can go to the nearest CnT (one of the famous name that sells lechon in Cebu) and buy ¼ lechon and puso for a total cost of about 100 pesos only (1.5 Euro).

Puso means heart in Tagalog but for us Cebuanos, it means hanging rice and it originated from my very own island, Cebu. What is it? Fistful of rice is placed inside coconut leaves that were formed into a ball which is then put in a pot filled with water and boiled. Puso is served by slicing the coconut leaves to expose the rice inside it.