Coming from a person who is not fond of eating pork, the word “Lechon” is not an eye-popper compared to most of the people we know. It could sound weird to you but I don’t dig eating pork. I’d rather eat fried chicken than eat lechon. Oops, you might be one of those who suddenly became interested about this post because of the dead pig posing in front of you. Hehe. At this point, you might find me weird on how I view Filipinos’ (or your) favorite lechon. Prior to this dinner, pigging out for me is not all about Lechon. But then, when I found out that it was going to be a 14-course Lechon Degustacion from Pepita’s Kitchen, my eyes suddenly popped. If my eyes can speak, this is how it would sound, “now that’s what you call PIG-OUT!”

How do you define PIG-OUT? 

I was invited to join a 14-course Lechon Degustacion with selected foodies from the media industry. Most of them are writers and editors from prestigious magazines in our country. I wouldn’t want to miss out on that event that’s why I immediately said Yes to Spanky when he invited me. 

The Food Scout, yes me, was the last one to arrive the beautiful house of Ms. Dedet De La Fuente. While stuck in the middle of edsa traffic, I thought I already missed out on the first lechon. Whew! Thank God, they all waited for me to arrive before the degustation started. 

The degustation didn’t start with lechon served to us. Although, I want to get straight to the point and show you the highlights of my Lechon Degustation brought by Pepita’s Kitchen.

1) The first lechon presented to us looked like the normal lechon you can get off from lechon restaurants. I wasn’t impressed until Ms. Dedet told us that the first lechon is called, “Sisig Lechon” or Pinoy Lechon. I was wondering how that could happen. Until the server of Pepita’s Lechon demonstrated as she gently sliced the first lechon on the table and carefully opened it up. All I said was WOW! It is not your ordinary lechon because it is “stuffed lechon”. Brilliant right?! Sisig plus rice mixed altogether to make the lechon full of Filipino flavors inside. 

2) Second lechon served was a German style Lechon. Looks confusing as you stare at the photo but inside the stuffed lechon are baby potatoes, onions and garlic. The potatoes are fantastic! There was a lime twist that tickled my taste-buds. Without rice, only potatoes. This lechon makes it to my top list. A gourmet food for lechon lovers I believe. A top-notcher taste, which can make to international standards.

3) The flag says it all. The French Lechon was up next, after we all conquered the German Lechon. 

When the stuffed lechon was sliced, we all reacted because of its aroma. Truffle oil made this lechon different from the rest. Also served with rice, similar to Pinoy Lechon. So, what else can you ask for? 

Before we started getting the last lechon, Ms. Dedet made us guess what kind of lechon it would be. My guess was Bicol Express when I saw the green chili pepper placed in the mouth of the poor pig. 

I was partly correct when the stuff inside the lechon was finally revealed. I’m honored to be one of the first guests to taste Ms. Dedet’s latest creation, The Laing Lechon. This is her newest baby among her stuffed lechon recipes. Filipinos will be fulfilled with this lechon alone. Already mixed with rice, laing and spiciness of Bicol Express sets the standard in eating lechon for most of us. After trying this lechon, we all have a common conclusion that the Laing Lechon is one of the best lechons we have tasted. Really more than brilliant! A big applause to Ms. Dedet for creating this genius recipe every Filipino, and even foreigners, would want to get into their mouth. 

One common denominator of Pepita’s Lechon is the crispy skin and juicy meat their baby lechon has. Since they are babies, the fats are not as hard to remove unlike adult lechons you get from other lechon stores. According to Ms. Dedet, this is the healthier way of eating lechon. I don’t know how you interpret it but I do believe so! When you get to try it, you’ll get to compare and understand why it is “healthier”. 

The guests were also given other pinoy dishes to try, aside from stuffed lechons. I personally kept on getting crackers because of their Pinoy Pate and Pinoy Caviar. This spread should make it to anyone’s party as an appetizer. They made the right move to put it closer to my area, like right in front of my seat. 🙂

Forgot about being healthy that night. It wasn’t really the venue to talk about “dieting”. Although Ms. Dedet still insisted for us to have a small percentage of healthy food in our bodies by trying her avocado & mango salad called, “Eto Naiba”. Ang galing lang ng name! Saktong sakto! 

The Calamansi Sorbet, a sweet refresher that night. I expected it to cling more on the sour side but it was actually sweet for a calamansi dessert. 

Small plate of Sabachara, not enough for me. From the name itself, Sabachara is a combination of Saging na Saba and Atchara. Complementing each other, Ms. Dedet’s Sabachara was a hit to everyone who had a taste of it.

Called as the Cholesterol Sweeper. So how can a champorado-like dessert sweep the cholesterol we had? Probably because of the oats and milk used? I don’t know why but all I know is that my small cup of “Cholesterol Sweeper” was completely swept. I finished it without hesitation.

The classic Butter Beer is one famous treat of Ms. Dedet’s home, a recipe created by Ms. Dedet’s daughter. 

The dessert freak in me stood up right away when this huge plate of Super Suman was served.

Define being SUPER! Again, another genius recipe from Pepita’s! My favorite Filipino treats like chocnut, pastillas, macapuno, ube, langka, nuts, all in one super dessert. How SUPERB!!! 🙂 This was in demand as much as how the lechon was! 

Our “Town & Country” photo (from Spanky). Surrounded with awesome and genius people in this photo. I’m kilig to be part of this. 🙂 hehe

One memorable dinner! One for the books! I will always rave about this night. The night I actually enjoyed eating Lechon for a change. 

Thank you Ms. Dedet De La Fuente and Spanky Enriquez!!! 🙂 Pls. adopt me for a day! I want to be stuck inside your kitchen. 😀

Cheers,

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