A Souped-Up Pork Rib

Think of this as the “ferrari” of pork rib sinigangs. I wrote a straightforward and simple recipe for pork rib sinigang a few years ago, here. But I was looking for a version I would be happy to serve in a restaurant, so I took the recipe apart and decided to ramp up the flavor. A side note on Cebuanos and almost fanatical desire for the lechon’s rib cage. Fights sometimes break out as folks in line monopolize the rib section, sometimes buying it all without mixing it with other body parts, leaving none for others in line. It is quite amusing, until the dagger looks emerge. There is a reason for the obsession. Cebuano (and other Visayan) lechons are always stuffed with aromatics and seasoning. So as the pig turns, the juices and flavors inside the pig baste the rib section, resulting in some of the most succulent and flavorful morsels of the lechon. However, a well-made lechon should have flavorful meat all over, with the exception of the thigh that is quite thick, but the flavor is less subtle there and balances out a portion of ribs and other cuts.
And if you want a fright, the vast majority of commercial lechoneros these days almost certainly use a phenomenal amount of MSG to cut down on stuffing costs and work, so what swirls inside the stomach of the lechon is an MSG laden slushie that packs the ribs with MSG concentrated at junkie levels. Just remember that. Personally, I always ask for a mixture of cuts when ordering a kilo of lechon, and we try to serve it that way at the restaurant. This ensures that you get the fuller experience, and have meaty as well as bone-y sections. Folks who insist on just ribs get a much higher proportion of their order “in bones”, so the effective cost of the meat is higher. If you wish to feed a crowd well and more economically, you may want to move away from the obsession with “just ribs”…
Given that obsession, however, I thought it might be interesting to offer a pork rib sinigang for the rib-centric crowd. These large, meaty ribs are connected to the bone-in liempo that we use for our Zubuliempo and slow-cooked adobo. We insist on buying liempo bone in, and use the bones for this sinigang. To make, we start off with a 3 hour slow-cooked lechon pata broth, made with meaty trotters and legs of lechon simmered in water with onions, leeks, etc. on very low heat for 3+ hours. What results is a flavorful lechon reminiscent broth that is slightly colored from the caramelization on the lechon pieces. If you cool this and store in the fridge and skim off the fat from the surface the following day, you have a flavorful, less fatty broth as the beginnings of your soup.