Crispy pata is one of the favorite dishes in the Philippines which usually is served in special occasions, it is similar to a lamb leg roast or Thanksgiving turkey in the Western World, It’s a simple recipe of deep-fried pork leg or “pata” in Tagalog served vinegar and soy sauce dip. It’s a very unhealthy dish as the pork legs that already consist of high fat content is deep fried until skin becomes really crisp resembling pork crackling in texture, its a dish that the heart foundation definitely would not tick, but for my version I will not deep fry it for two main reasons, 1. To give the dish a lower less cholesterol level compared to the fried counterpart and 2. Its cheaper as you are not using a lot of oil for deep frying. Now what will I do is bake it in an oven to achive not the same results as the fried one but trust me it will be near.
So today I will be making 3 legs as we have a christmas party to attend to in one of of local community organization and the picture above is our share on the pot luck, the time consumed in preparing this dish is nearly 3 hours for cooking and 24 hours to marinate and thats the key so that you have a very tasty meat that is soft and juicy on the inside but crisp on the outside. If you have the same patience as mine then go ahead and follow this recipe.
Combine soy sauce, fish sauce, sprite, garlic, baking soda, salt in a deep pot.
Now soak the pork leg into the mixture, pierce the skin multiple time with knife to let the marinade seep through.
Marinate for at least 24 hours turing to the other side after 12 hrs.
Now using the same pot with eveything on it (marinade and pork), place in a stove top add the onions and laurel leaves and bring to a boil and cook for 1 hour.
Let the meat cool for at least an hour, then place in a fridge for at least 2 hours.
Remove from fridge and massage pork leg with lots of salt (specially on the pierced skin) this helps the skin to be crunchy. Once slat is applied pour cooking oil on pork leg and spread evenly on the skin surface.
Prepare to heat the oven at 220C.
Place legs on roasting rack (with a tray below to catch the drippings) then fan bake for 1 hour.
Reduce heat to 180 then continue to fan bake for 45 more minutes.
This sounds really yummy. I have two questions…what are laurel leaves and where do you get pork legs? Local butcher? Thanks. This sounds like something I will have to try.
Hello! I’m really interested to make this one, but I just want to clarify something about the recipe. I’m confused about the salt rub. I know putting salt on the skin is important in keeping it crispy but I read in some recipes (albeit in crispy pork belly) that you scrape off the salt crust after a period of time. Yours didn’t indicate it and it seems like you just rub it in the salt together with some oil. Pls clarify. I don’t want to expend time and energy only to muck it up because of some silly mistake I made. Thanks!
HI, just a quick question. What do you mean by fan bake? If I use just the regular bake, is it the same time? Can I broil it afterwards to make the skin crispier?
What a brilliant recipe – I can just imagine how nice it would be deep fried but agree that baking is equally as good.
🙂 Mandy
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This sounds really yummy. I have two questions…what are laurel leaves and where do you get pork legs? Local butcher? Thanks. This sounds like something I will have to try.
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You usually get pork legs in Asian supermarkets, and laurel leaves might be called bay leaves in where you are.
Interesting recipe – I’ve never tried it before, but it looks good!
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yum! i would eat this occasionally max’s in daly city, ca when i was growing up. i’m going to keep this in my recipe archives…
Can i replace the pork leg with cow leg?
Actually I am not sure as I haven’t tried that yet, it is a tougher meat so cooking time will vary
HOW ABOUT LAMB LEG ?
Yup but it wont be cripsy, the pork skin is the best quality of this dish
Hello! I’m really interested to make this one, but I just want to clarify something about the recipe. I’m confused about the salt rub. I know putting salt on the skin is important in keeping it crispy but I read in some recipes (albeit in crispy pork belly) that you scrape off the salt crust after a period of time. Yours didn’t indicate it and it seems like you just rub it in the salt together with some oil. Pls clarify. I don’t want to expend time and energy only to muck it up because of some silly mistake I made. Thanks!
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I just rub salt and drizzle some oil. Make sure that the skin is dry as well before applying the salt.
HI, just a quick question. What do you mean by fan bake? If I use just the regular bake, is it the same time? Can I broil it afterwards to make the skin crispier?
I just use normal bake, and yes you can broil it afterwards