Comments on: Lunch Experiment Tomorrow… Zubuleche

By: June

June — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:17:26 +0000

Hi, is there a place in Manila that sells piglets? I’ve been wanting to try to make Chinese roast suckling pig, but I can’t seem to find any that sell fresh piglets. Thinking Aranque Market, but not sure.

By: hungrycurious

hungrycurious — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:51:14 +0000

Footloose, amen :)

By: kayenne

kayenne — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:58:25 +0000

re: Romwel (post# 21)

i sympathize with your cousins. i had a pet chicken that i raised with my dad from when it was still a chick that i bought from the school fair when i was in first grade. one summer day, it was just gone! to my horror, for lunch, my aunt brought out a steaming plate of chicken adobo! needless to say, i ate mangoes and clover chips as ulam with the rice that day. not that it turned me off chicken adobo after though. =^_^= for me, a pet is a pet! i feel that there is just something wrong with eating one!

By: nadia

nadia — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 04:01:28 +0000

i hope he didn’t suffer too much at his time of death. :( poor little piggy.

By: EbbaBlue

EbbaBlue — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 22:59:45 +0000

MM, thanks for the info. Well, I will then call my folks back home and tell them to buy the piglets around April instead. Then they would be about 4-5 weeks old. And I would remind them that they should not get attached to it but rather get excited and antipate the end product – a great tasting lechon.

By: Footloose

Footloose — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:27:35 +0000

We treat them well and we dispatch them quickly. No need to be squeamish about it. They are a much maligned species by the two major world religions only because they are delicious and moral guardians are jealous and afraid we might grow too fond of them without any counter-vailing propaganda. They do that with everything that gives delight and pleasure.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:42:08 +0000

True suckling pigs are about 4-7 kilos live weight, and about 5-6 weeks old maximum, I think. Footloose, by “wean” I meant “taken” from mother at this tender age (sounds horrible no matter how you phrase that), but yes, I suspect this piglet had a few days of feed and was no longer fully on milk. But the lechon was incredibly tender and still quite gelatinous, a sign it was quite young. Ebbablue, you can buy lots of live pigs at 15 kilos and upwards, the main reason for not selling the small ones is economic, they don’t make as much money when the piglets are still small, and want to fatten them up a bit to command a higher price. In the Visayas, for private backyard lechons, many folks cook at 15 kilo live weight or so lechon…

By: EbbaBlue

EbbaBlue — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:54:49 +0000

In my annual mission/vacation trip to Quezon Province, Pinas, I always have lechon as part of the celebration meal (after a yearlong bible class). Last May I instructed my nephew to purchase a piglet for the purpose, and after a whole day of canvassing the village, came out empty. He said all the pigs are more than 50 kilos; and his mom said that I will have a hard time finding one lighter. I insisted that I wanted one that is probably 3-4 months old, and she said “no way – those are still suckling piglet!, its a “sin” to eat them. Sure enough, my neighbor won’t sell me her 20 kilos piglet, for her daughter would cry. Well, I waited till it was “tiangge”time, and I bought the smallest they have . . . 30 kilos! It was still huge. Next year, I will have my cousins, buy a piglet from the market and raise them for me, around March before I come in May. Oh, they all laugh at me when I told them I wanted to prick the skin of the piglet prior to roasting, and also to feed it vegetables and coconuts (no commercial feed). They have not heard of these “absurb” way of prepping the pig . . . all just fora great lechon. Oh well, I shell out the money.. so I will have my say.. and I can eat them all if they don’t want to, hi, hi, hi. My staff from Manila said, they don’t care, they’ll eat it, big or small. I think Lapid Lechon does sell LechondeLeche.

By: Footloose

Footloose — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 13:40:35 +0000

Actually a piglet that has been weaned from its mother is no longer a suckling. Same thing with veal, thatâ€™s why they still feed them milk (along with lots of antibiotics) long after they have been weaned from their mother. I guess what weâ€™re really after is the young and tender. Thatâ€™s why we go all out for baby corn, baby bokchoi, baby carrots, baby octopus, and the fragile crunch of a roasted suckling pigskin.

By: Zita

Zita — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:40:40 +0000

And this little piggy went… Wee wee wee all the way to the oven :)
I’m sure it’ll be a great lechon MM.