Dagupan City holds lechon cook-off

DAGUPAN CITY – Thirty roasted pigs vied last week for the top prize in a cook-off at the city plaza in the first-ever Lechon Festival here.

            Maximo Tan Jr., chairman of the Lechon Festival, said lechoneros from as far as Ozamis City in Mindanao joined the contest.

            The roasting started at 8 a.m. and lasted before lunchtime. The winners were judged according to taste, aroma, crispiness, and overall appearance.

            The city government each gave the participants a pig to roast, charcoal, some materials and P1,000 for their other needs. Each lechonero had two assistants.

            The city government under Mayor Benjamin Lim said the pigs were raised by residents of Barangays Mangin and Salisay under a livelihood project. FeedPro, a company that manufactures special, all-natural feeds, provided the “almost organic” feeds for the hogs, Tan said.

            Dagupan’s Best Special Lechon contest is Lim’s brainchild as part of this city’s ongoing Bangus Festival, now on its 11th year, chaired by his son, Councilor Brian Lim.

            Winners were Melchor Corpuz from Barangay Bonuan Gueset, first prize; Virgilio Raga from Barangay Lasip Chico, second prize; and Richard Tamayo from Barangay Malued, all in Dagupan City, third prize.

            They received P50,000, P30,000 and P20,000, respectively.

After the 30 entries were paraded and judged, spectators partook of the lechon.

            The cook-off is part of Lim’s TatakDagupan project to promote not just the city’s most popular aquaculture product, the bangus (milkfish), but other alternative products like lechon, too, Tan said. 

There are 12 registered lechon establishments in the city, but there are also many backyard lechoneros.