Don't they have freshly cooked lechon? Well the pritchon says it all. That is what we do too with left over lechon especially the one with the skin and then with patis and tomatoes for sawsawan and some garlic rice.
- its delicious, but its not the best Cebu lechon I've tasted...
I've eaten Cebu lechon since I was aware there was a thing as lechon - in fiestas, birthdays, baptisms, Christmas parties, office celebrations, town events or even just a day the beach where getting delicious lechon was as easy as pie (or maski anong reason even if for lunch feel mo lang mag-lechon)
Carcar lechon is juicy...but my childhood memories of lechon in Talisay seemed to make it more superior to me than other lechons these days...and even Colina's (God bless her soul) who used to supply lechons around March and November to us (coz of my birthday, then mom and dad) were also nothing to sneeze at...
Nowadays there's the CNT lechon and Alejo's (panahon ko sa college) which are still around...and the other brands that maybe due to marketing and sobrang competition when it comes to lechon here, e di na mamalayan..
- in some ways, even though the prit-chon meat is tender and seasoned, I still am reminded of Manila lechon (generally speaking)... because Cebu lechon has always been characterized by not needing any sauce - you can eat Cebu lechon and rice and be quite happy with them on your plate...
This time, I noticed the taste of the pritchon (or pritong/fried lechon) only came out better when I dipped it into the vinegar.
My mom used to prepare pritchon for us a day or two after a party at home which had lechon - because the lechon leftovers always either went the paksiw or prito way :-) ....and her version is better - everything is crispy and the taste is more sunk into the meat itself...than on the outer skin...
Oh well, but to be fair, Zubuchon has found ways of serving lechon not just doling it out by the kilo...so its a niche din :-)
think dinuguan na lechong, kilawin na lechon, lechon na liempo atbp.
So Cebu lechon is not one distinct taste? It varies according to who or where it's made - Carcar, Talisay, Colina's, etc. I cannot imagine eating lechon without sarsa. It's like eating turkey without the gravy. The Mang Tomas sarsa commercially available is no match to homemade sarsa I've tasted during fiestas in my hometown of Tarlac.
well, that is probably because IMHO, turkey is a bland-tasting bird (coz its big?)...you really have to eat it with gravy...
whereas pigs, if seasoned right, is heavenly...
....its like eating good-tasting pork chop with a little bit of fat on the side...ang sarap - grilled or fried... ...and served with rice and achara, payts na...
so the same way sa lechon..di ko nga gets eh bakit ganon ang lechon sa Luzon...it seems logical to season a whole pig well para masarp sya instead of relying on sauces...
I think Mommy Loy explained it better than I did in one post of mine before when I mentioned about lechons in towns of Cebu :-) (hmm..prollyl when we did the Lilo-an market stopover when we made the trip to Tabuelan).
basta for me, all lechons done in Cebu I've tasted so far does not rely on sauce/Mang Tomas/ketchup/vinegar/toyo whatevah! as a crutch when its served....its completely delicious by itself and probably is nicely paired with papaya salad (achara) so you can enjoy its flavor for a longer time...
I can't say for example that kare-kare has one distinct taste when I eat it in Luzon...some have some "secret ingredient" added to it..but you know its kare-kare...same as lechon sa Cebu - when you chew on it versus chewing on meat sa lechon ng Manila or Luzon, you know that one needs sarsa otherwise para syang kulang.
if the taste of Zubuchon lechon for him was already the best, I would wonder what he would say if he had tried the others :-)
Alejo's for one is a suki (and I think Mommy Loy orders from them).
There's one whose name escapes me at the moment, which is also really good, na suki yung mga ex-presidents natin na mahilig sa lechon (ehem, ehem)...)
CNT is aso popular, but my impression of it is that its pang-masa na masarap na lechon :-)
and I used to enjoy very much the lechon de leche served in various Pilipino restaurants here which catered to the tourist market...(don kc babagsak ang mga tour groups hehehe)
I love pork chop! Ang problema lang sa pork chop served in restaurants here, the FAT is trimmed (health reasons kuno) but for me, that's the best part of pork chop. As New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse says, 'pork fat rules, bam!" When I went home in 2000, we ate at a restaurant in Makati and I ordered pork chop. When it was served, kalahati ng pork chop TABA. Seeing it, I forgot all about calories, weight gain, cholesterol, and inubos ko lahat yung fat ng pork chop, including yung fat na nasa plate.
Kakainggit kayo, daming choices sa lechon. Dito sa Vancouver, iilan lang ang gumagawa ng lechon, hindi pa Pinoy. Yung isang outlet Chinese, yun isa East Indian, kaya yung lasa di ganong masarap kumpara sa lechon sa Pilipinas. The best lechon I've tasted here was the lechon made by my friend right in his own backyard, Pinoy style talaga. Commercial lechon here is a big disappointment.
... Just sitting here, imagining the great flavor of lechon from Cebu which I have no clue since I haven't tasted it before... + So what is "Pritchon"? Pritong lechon?!
Never had pritchon. Too expensive. I'll have to take peoples word for it. (naiingit at naglalaway)
ReplyDeleteDiosme e pritong lechon pala hahaha! Reminds me of how my mom used to serve leftover lechon days after a party.
ReplyDeleteDon't they have freshly cooked lechon? Well the pritchon says it all. That is what we do too with left over lechon especially the one with the skin and then with patis and tomatoes for sawsawan and some garlic rice.
ReplyDeleteThey have whole lechons, pritchons and all other kinds of serving it like kilawin na lechon, etc.
ReplyDeleteif am to review their "pritchon" though...
ReplyDelete- a lot of bits were not crispy :-(
- its delicious, but its not the best Cebu lechon I've tasted...
I've eaten Cebu lechon since I was aware there was a thing as lechon - in fiestas, birthdays, baptisms, Christmas parties, office celebrations, town events or even just a day the beach where getting delicious lechon was as easy as pie (or maski anong reason even if for lunch feel mo lang mag-lechon)
Carcar lechon is juicy...but my childhood memories of lechon in Talisay seemed to make it more superior to me than other lechons these days...and even Colina's (God bless her soul) who used to supply lechons around March and November to us (coz of my birthday, then mom and dad) were also nothing to sneeze at...
Nowadays there's the CNT lechon and Alejo's (panahon ko sa college) which are still around...and the other brands that maybe due to marketing and sobrang competition when it comes to lechon here, e di na mamalayan..
- in some ways, even though the prit-chon meat is tender and seasoned, I still am reminded of Manila lechon (generally speaking)...
because Cebu lechon has always been characterized by not needing any sauce - you can eat Cebu lechon and rice and be quite happy with them on your plate...
This time, I noticed the taste of the pritchon (or pritong/fried lechon) only came out better when I dipped it into the vinegar.
My mom used to prepare pritchon for us a day or two after a party at home which had lechon - because the lechon leftovers always either went the paksiw or prito way :-)
....and her version is better - everything is crispy and the taste is more sunk into the meat itself...than on the outer skin...
Oh well, but to be fair, Zubuchon has found ways of serving lechon not just doling it out by the kilo...so its a niche din :-)
think dinuguan na lechong, kilawin na lechon, lechon na liempo atbp.
So Cebu lechon is not one distinct taste? It varies according to who or where it's made - Carcar, Talisay, Colina's, etc. I cannot imagine eating lechon without sarsa. It's like eating turkey without the gravy. The Mang Tomas sarsa commercially available is no match to homemade sarsa I've tasted during fiestas in my hometown of Tarlac.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your review. Too bad that Anthony Bourdain didn't try other lechons in Cebu.
ReplyDeletewell, that is probably because IMHO, turkey is a bland-tasting bird (coz its big?)...you really have to eat it with gravy...
ReplyDeletewhereas pigs, if seasoned right, is heavenly...
....its like eating good-tasting pork chop with a little bit of fat on the side...ang sarap - grilled or fried...
...and served with rice and achara, payts na...
so the same way sa lechon..di ko nga gets eh bakit ganon ang lechon sa Luzon...it seems logical to season a whole pig well para masarp sya instead of relying on sauces...
I think Mommy Loy explained it better than I did in one post of mine before when I mentioned about lechons in towns of Cebu :-)
ReplyDelete(hmm..prollyl when we did the Lilo-an market stopover when we made the trip to Tabuelan).
basta for me, all lechons done in Cebu I've tasted so far does not rely on sauce/Mang Tomas/ketchup/vinegar/toyo whatevah! as a crutch when its served....its completely delicious by itself and probably is nicely paired with papaya salad (achara) so you can enjoy its flavor for a longer time...
I can't say for example that kare-kare has one distinct taste when I eat it in Luzon...some have some "secret ingredient" added to it..but you know its kare-kare...same as lechon sa Cebu - when you chew on it versus chewing on meat sa lechon ng Manila or Luzon, you know that one needs sarsa otherwise para syang kulang.
well, he may have gone home and been told by his doctor to watch his BP and cholesterol...mwahaha!
ReplyDeleteactually Tita Lou, it got me to thinking...
ReplyDeleteif the taste of Zubuchon lechon for him was already the best, I would wonder what he would say if he had tried the others :-)
Alejo's for one is a suki (and I think Mommy Loy orders from them).
There's one whose name escapes me at the moment, which is also really good, na suki yung mga ex-presidents natin na mahilig sa lechon (ehem, ehem)...)
CNT is aso popular, but my impression of it is that its pang-masa na masarap na lechon :-)
and I used to enjoy very much the lechon de leche served in various Pilipino restaurants here which catered to the tourist market...(don kc babagsak ang mga tour groups hehehe)
I love pork chop! Ang problema lang sa pork chop served in restaurants here, the FAT is trimmed (health reasons kuno) but for me, that's the best part of pork chop. As New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse says, 'pork fat rules, bam!" When I went home in 2000, we ate at a restaurant in Makati and I ordered pork chop. When it was served, kalahati ng pork chop TABA. Seeing it, I forgot all about calories, weight gain, cholesterol, and inubos ko lahat yung fat ng pork chop, including yung fat na nasa plate.
ReplyDeleteKakainggit kayo, daming choices sa lechon. Dito sa Vancouver, iilan lang ang gumagawa ng lechon, hindi pa Pinoy. Yung isang outlet Chinese, yun isa East Indian, kaya yung lasa di ganong masarap kumpara sa lechon sa Pilipinas. The best lechon I've tasted here was the lechon made by my friend right in his own backyard, Pinoy style talaga. Commercial lechon here is a big disappointment.
ReplyDelete... Just sitting here, imagining the great flavor of lechon from Cebu which I have no clue since I haven't tasted it before...
ReplyDelete+
So what is "Pritchon"? Pritong lechon?!
remembered na by going thru my posts before :-)
ReplyDeleteRico's lechon ....
hahaha..yan ang effect yata ng forced abstinence from such fatty goodness...
ReplyDeleteso di ba, as I questioned earlier -
kailangan ba ng sauce ang ayos na pork chop?
wala...entonces, ganon din ang lechon namin dineh...
I was expecting Chinese na outlet sa lechon would serve at least masarap na lechon...
ReplyDelete(hmm..and no MSG siguro kc Canada)
you got it :-)
ReplyDeleteat bakit Zubuchon?
ReplyDeletekc parang 'Zubu' similar sounding almost to 'Sugbu' = which is like
'City of Cebu'..and 'chon' is from lechon of course...