Black Lechon: The New, Trending Lechon in Cebu

The island of Cebu is not only known for pristine beaches lining the hems of its beautiful island. Everybody knows that when in Cebu, it’s always a must to taste the mouthwatering flavors of the best-tasting lechon (whole roasted pig) in the country.

Lechon is a staple Filipino food especially in celebrations and feasts because Filipinos definitely cannot resist the crispy golden-brown skin and rich, aromatic flavors from the various herbs and spices mixed with the lechon. Even with Cebu already having the best lechon in the country, a new lechon craze has started to gain attention during the last quarter of 2020.

Precious Joy Requiso-Postrano and her husband wanted to look for a way to make the already famous lechon even better. “We wanted to come up with something new, something unique, and with a twist of the lechon,” Postrano mentioned.

What came out as a result of their brainstorming was a rather unique but equally flavorful Black Lechon. To test the flavors of their new product, Postrano served it during her mother’s birthday as a prank to which her mother reacted surprised due to its burnt color. Upon eating it, the taste of the lechon was anything but burnt.

This new and unique twist in the Lechon, which is only available in Danao as of the moment, gains its black color as a result of their special paste made from a variety of herbs and spices mixed with squid ink. Aside from the color, the time and procedure to prepare this variety of lechon is different as well.

The original lechon takes around 2-3 hours to prepare and cook fully while the Black Lechon still requires quite a bit of time to be completely air dried before putting it over the charcoal to ensure that their special paste stays on the lechon. The belly also contains more herbs and other stuffing as well as a whole chicken to make it meatier and much more flavorful. Once all of the steps have been done, the lechon is cooked over burning charcoal for about 2-4 hours.