i-bottle mo tapos benta mo sa salcedo market. nakakasuka yung lechon sauce nila dun. at hindi ako ang nag-approve kaya huwag mo akong sisihin (joke!).

considered “favorite streets foods” ba yung mga tinitinda sa salcedo market? wala lang…just asking…

m.

try mo nga itong standard family recipe namin sa arayat…di ko pa alam kung OK. i submitted this to memories of philippine kitchens pero di ginamit.

let me know kung swak na swak. wala kasing recipe yung mga nagluluto sa arayat eh. ayan, nang-imbento tuloy ako…

m.

SALSA LECHÓN
(SWEET-SOUR PORK LIVER SAUCE FOR LECHON OR ROAST PIG)

This salsa lechón was the specialty of Ate Conching, one of my grandmother’s cooks and one of her goddaughters. She never took over the kitchen herself, but was always called on to make the salsa lechón, tidtad bigac (loin from a very young pig stewed in its own blood) and rellenong manok (a braised galantine of native chicken). My father’s cook says that the recipe we use today began with her, but no one really knows who taught her, or how it became her specialty. One story – from the former family handyman, our cook’s older brother – says she learned it from my grandfather’s driver.

Many families in Arayat prefer a salsa lechón that is a sweet, light brown and smothered in soft onions. Ate Conching preferred a bolder version, where sweetness from sugar, and sourness from vinegar clash over the roasted pork, with the crumbs of toasted garlic and crushed black peppers providing texture. The sauce is also good for lechón kawali, for which most cooks substitute liver spread for fresh pork liver. It also makes for the base of a sumptuous paksiw lechón from the head and ribs of the leftover lechón.

Again, it is always cooked over wood fire in the old house in Arayat, but can easily be done in an urban home. The pork livers can be toasted in the oven, or grilled on top of a stove like a steak. The meat can be ground with a food processor, instead of the manual food mill used in Arayat. Cooking the sauce is fairly simple, but there are tricks to remember to achieve the deep brown color and bold flavor.

One: squeeze the meat in the vinegar well, extracting as much flavor from the liver as you can. Use your hands. Two: toast generous amounts of garlic first until brown, and remove from the pan. Use the garlic-flavored oil to sauteé the onions, which will make the base of the sauce. Three: never, ever stir the vinegar until it boils, otherwise you end up with the raw taste of vinegar. If you want to add more vinegar while the sauce is cooking, boil the vinegar separately and then add to the sauce. Four: when choosing the biscocho, get the lightest ones and use them (or breadcrumbs) sparingly. You don’t want a thick glob that looks like porridge. Five: the rule of thumb is 1:1:2; that is, one cup of vinegar, one kilo of liver, two cups water. Add the sugar to taste.

My mother once asked Ate Conching when one knows if the sauce is ready. “When sweet and sour begin to clash,” Ate Conching replied. “That’s when you stop.”

Ingredients:
1 kilo pork liver, grilled over wood or charcoal, ground to a paste
100-200 grams Biscocho or bread crumbs, crushed
6 heads of garlic, crushed and toasted brown
5 large onions, diced
1 cup vinegar
1 cup white sugar, added slowly
2 cups water
Oil or lard

Procedure:
1. Grill the pork liver, cool, and grind to a paste.
2. Soak the liver in vinegar-water mixture. Squeeze as much juice as you can from the liver – pressing constantly – and discard the meat. Allow to sit.
3. Cover pan in oil or lard. Toast garlic, remove once brown and save.
4. Sautee generous amounts of diced onions in the garlic-flavored oil.
5. Pour liver juice mixture into the oil, and boil over medium heat. Do not stir and sauce until it has boiled for a minute or two.
6. Add breadcrumbs for thickness and stir. The sauce at this point should start turning dark brown. The sauce will thicken with the addition of white sugar, so use breadcrumbs sparingly.
7. Add black pepper and sugar to taste.
8. When sauce is a deep brown, transfer to serving bowl and top with the toasted garlic.

* If the sauce is too sweet, you can add vinegar by boiling a small amount in a separate pan– say, ¼ cup – and adding it to the sauce. Be sure to cook the vinegar first by boiling it for a minute or two, otherwise you get the raw taste of vinegar.