andrejthechef
ColombiaRoastDinner

Lechona

The celebration dish of Tolima: pork and a rice, pea and onion filling roasted under crackling-crisp skin. This is the home oven version.

prep
45 min
cook
4 h
total
4 h 45 min
serves
10
level
hard
Colombian lechona with crispy pork skin over a rice and pea filling

Real lechona is a whole pig, stuffed and roasted for ten hours, and it feeds a village. This is the home version, lechona casera: pork belly wrapped around the traditional filling of seasoned pork, rice and yellow peas, roasted slow and finished hot so the skin turns to crackling.

It is a project, but almost all of the time is the oven working while you do not. Start the day before so the meat marinates and the skin dries.

Lechona is number 6 on our list of the top 20 famous Colombian foods.

method

  1. The day before: season the diced pork shoulder with the garlic, cumin, half the sazón, salt and pepper. Refrigerate overnight. Score the belly skin in a tight diamond pattern, salt it well, and leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight to dry.

  2. Simmer the soaked peas in salted water until just tender, about 25 minutes, and drain.

  3. Cook the spring onions in the lard over medium heat until soft. Mix them with the marinated pork, peas, parcooked rice and the rest of the sazón. Taste the mixture and season it confidently; the filling carries the dish.

  4. Lay the belly skin side down in a deep roasting pan. Pack the filling over it, then fold the sides up around the filling so the skin faces up like a lid. Tie or skewer it closed.

  5. Roast covered at 160°C (320°F) for about 3 hours, until the filling reaches 75°C in the center and the pork is tender.

  6. Uncover, raise the oven to 220°C (430°F) and roast for 30 to 40 minutes more, until the skin is blistered and crackling. Rest for 20 minutes.

  7. Serve squares of lechona with a piece of crackling on every portion, plus arepas blancas and lime.

chef's tips

  • Dry skin is the whole secret to crackling. Overnight uncovered in the fridge, then patted dry again before roasting.
  • Do not skip the final high-heat blast, and watch it closely; it goes from blistered to burnt quickly.
  • Leftovers reheat best in a hot dry pan, skin side down, so the crackling crisps again.