Food fads notwithstanding, my family is proudly carnivorous. We don’t shy away from traditional meat dishes that, by today’s standards, would make the health-conscious cringe in horror. In other words, we love our lechon kawali and crispy pata. But because of my aversion to frying (I hate the oil spatter and the clean-up it entails), for the past so many years, we have been cooking our lechon kawali and crispy pata in the convection oven. We get the same puffed and crunchy pork rind and meat that is nicely browned outside and moist and juicy inside.
The purists and food snobs can howl and criticize all they want — I don’t care. Neither should you if you want to cook smart.
Now, about the lechon kawali which wasn’t cooked in a kawali (frying pan) at all. Since I already have an oven-cooked lechon kawali in the archive, is this simply an updated version? Sort of, and more. In the archived entry, I used a slab of pork. In this entry, I used sliced pork belly. See, I wanted to find out if the pork slices won’t turn dry inside. Result of the experiment? A resounding success.
I used a turbo broiler (which is really a small convection oven). The pork belly slices, salted and kept in the fridge for a couple of hours, were about an inch and a half thick. I hope you can see the beautifully puffed rinds.
Now, here’s the trick to puff those rinds and brown the meat without drying it up. First, use good quality meat — the meat from a young hog. Why? Because the rinds are thinner. They’ll puff up and turn crisp instead of becoming chewy.
Second, use high heat. Very, very high heat. I set the turbo broiler at 475F and it took about 40 minutes to get the pork to cook to that stage of perfection.
Third, let the cooked pork rest for a few minutes before chopping into bite-sized pieces. That should give the juices sufficient time to settle down instead of dripping once the chopping begins.
And there’s the lechon kawali served with Speedy’s kani salad.
I love this quick version! Any method that can get the pork cooked well with perfect crunchy skin gets my vote
My sentiments, exactly!
Ms Connie, since you only used pork belly, I figured you didn’t boil it anymore. What if I use pata? Should I boil it first until tender before broiling? And you only used salt for seasoning, that’s it? Thanks much!
You mean whole pata (as in for crispy pata) or sliced pata?
yup i was thinking whole pata for crispy pata.. i guess you can broil them also like what you did right?
Check the crispy pata link in the entry.
eating healthy is not a fad, i hope. it is about our health, after all. don’t you think?
The definition of what is “healthy” changes from one generation to the next depending on the most recent scientific “findings” and state of food politics. Ergo, we have health fads.
oh wow – I need to try this – thank you! Both my ovens are conventional/convection ovens. Except for cookies, I use conventional for baking because things just seem to turn out better. Nothing beats convection for cookies though – the time saved in baking on 6 shelves all at once can’t be beat!
But for meats, convection also beats conventional hands down. Especially for roast turkey – the skin is golden crispy and the meat moist and juicy. And prime rib roast – no contest!
I even use it for thick rib steaks (1.5″ – 325° for 45 min – 1 hr. ) rather than broiling and the steak comes out perfect every single time – both sides beautifully browned and the inside moist cooked to medium perfection – YUM! No turning required either. Couldn’t get any better than this, yeah?
I agree: convection oven browns food beautifully. Meat roasts instead of bakes or steam. Cakes and cookies are browned colored too.
My husband would love this. He always gets burned when he makes this.
Hi Miss Connie,
I was using the turbo convection for along time and it true cooking lechon kawali was really easy about the crispy pata I put water in the convection while cooking the pata and it works well with that the meat is tender and juicy, the skin is crunchy oh try the chiken legs too in the convection its crispy too.
Hi! I’m wondering, when doing this in the turbo broiler, do you flip over the slices halfway through the cooking time?
No need. Turbo broiler is a mini convection oven and the fan-assisted heat circulates all around including under the meat . Just make sure that the meat is on a RACK.
Thanks Connie!! My attempt to cook Lechon Kawali was successful. Can’t believe the amount of oil came out of only 4 slabs of pork belly.
no other marinade for the pork, just salt and refrigerated for 2 hours? i have to try this… thanks!
I just bought this cooker. How can I steam vegetables in this cooker and without using aluminium foil as I was told it is not good for health.
It’s a mini convection oven and not designed for steaming.
Thank you for posting this recipe and helping Moms like me to cook the lechon kawali minus oil spatter burns… I’ve been trying to cook lechon kawali in the turbo for a while now but was not able to get a good result…bec I was doing it in a wrong way(I was starting to cook it first in low heat and increasing the heat gradually)… but once I saw that you shld start it in a high heat and boy oh boy I was so proud of myself of finally getting the good crispy lechon kawali… My husband enjoyed it a lot as well as the kidz t00… thanks Connie for being a lifesaver! (“,)
How did you marinate the pork belly? Salt lang ba?
Please check the fourth paragraph of the post.
Hi, Connie! I just did this! I followed your temperature guide and cooking time for a nice slab of pork belly (just 400-500 grams) and you know what, it turned out very good! The insides were cooked fine, and the meat is juicy, yet the outside browned so nicely, and the rinds are super crunchy!
I didn’t boil the meat anymore. Just seasoned it with salt and pepper and let it cool in the fridge for a couple of hours or so.
Hi Ms Connie! I just checked my liempo slices in the freezer and they are just 1/2″ thick. Will this still work for this recipe? Should I lower the temperature? Should I also shorten the cooking time say, 20 minutes (or even less)? Thanks!
1/2 inch thick is good for grilling. That’s too thin to make the skin puff and crispy (i.e., the meat will be dry by the time the skin turns crispy).
Thanks for your suggestion.
Hi ms connie! Thanks for this technique. Mine turned out so crispy and my husband loved it. And hindi siya nkakaumay since most of the fat dripped during cooking.