Lechon Sauce substitute

Substitutes for Lechon Sauce with ratios

1. 2Liverwurst or Liver Pate, Thinned With Vinegar and Sugar

   Different texture

   Use 3 tbsp liverwurst plus 2 tbsp vinegar plus 1 tbsp brown sugar plus 2 tbsp water for every ½ cup sauce

   The fastest genuinely close copy, because liverwurst brings the one flavour that is hard to fake: the mineral, slightly sweet depth of cooked liver.

   What changes

   Everything else in lechon sauce is sugar, vinegar and thickening, all of which you can add in a minute.

   Best for

   lechon kawali, crispy pata, roast pork, fried chicken, dipping sauce for grilled meats

   Whisk over low heat until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and a crushed garlic clove if you have one. It comes out smoother and softer than the bottled sauce, which has a slightly grainy body from breadcrumbs, and it is less sweet, so taste and add more sugar. Smoked liverwurst will make the sauce taste smoky, which is not wrong with roast pork but is not lechon sauce either. Whisk in a tablespoon of breadcrumbs if you want the proper clinging texture.

2. 3Spiced Vinegar With Garlic and Chilli (Sawsawan)

   Taste and texture differ

   Use serve to taste, about 2 tbsp for every person

   Not an imitation but a legitimate alternative, and the honest recommendation.

   What changes

   Filipinos eat roast pork with plain spiced vinegar at least as often as with lechon sauce, and it does the sauce's most important job, cutting through pork fat, more effectively than anything sweet.

   Best for

   lechon kawali, crispy pata, roast pork belly, grilled meats, fried fish

   Combine 1/2 cup cane or white vinegar, 3 crushed garlic cloves, a sliced chilli, 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch of sugar. Let it sit 20 minutes. It is thin, sharp and savoury with almost no sweetness and no body, so it will not coat a piece of crackling the way lechon sauce does; you dip rather than spoon. Nobody at the table will mistake it for Mang Tomas, but nobody will complain either. This is also the answer if anyone at the table will not eat liver.

3. 4Ketchup, Worcestershire and Brown Sugar

   Different taste

   Use 2 tbsp ketchup plus 1 tsp Worcestershire plus 1 tsp brown sugar plus 1 tsp vinegar for every ¼ cup

   A store-cupboard approximation that gets further than you would expect, because Worcestershire sauce is built on fermented anchovy and gives a savoury depth that stands in for some of the liver.

   What changes

   The ketchup supplies sweetness, sourness and body all at once.

   Best for

   roast pork, fried chicken, when the cupboard is bare, children who will not eat liver

   Whisk cold, or warm gently for 2 minutes to marry the flavours. Add a pinch of black pepper. It tastes tomatoey, which lechon sauce does not, and the finish is fruitier and less mineral. Banana ketchup, if you have it, is closer to the Filipino flavour than tomato ketchup. Add half a teaspoon more vinegar than feels right, because ketchup is sweeter than lechon sauce and roast pork needs the acid.

4. 5Hoisin Sauce Thinned With Vinegar

   Different taste

   Use 3 tbsp hoisin plus 1 tbsp vinegar plus 1 tbsp water for every ¼ cup

   The texture match is excellent: hoisin is dark, thick, sweet and salty, and it clings to a piece of pork exactly the way lechon sauce is supposed to.

   What changes

   If what you mainly miss is a sweet dark sauce with body, this is the quickest route to it.

   Best for

   roast pork, crispy pork belly, grilled meats, dipping

   Whisk together cold. Add a crushed garlic clove and let it sit 10 minutes. Five-spice and fermented soybean make it taste unmistakably Chinese, with an anise note lechon sauce does not have, so the plate reads as char siu rather than lechon. It is also considerably sweeter, which is why the vinegar is essential. No liver depth at all.

5. 6Plum Sauce or Sweet-and-Sour Sauce Plus Vinegar

   Different taste

   ¼ cup sauce plus 1 tsp vinegar

   The least-bad option and a perfectly serviceable one for a family meal.

   What changes

   It does the sweet-and-sour half of lechon sauce's job faithfully and has the right glossy clinging body, which is more than half the experience of eating it.

   Best for

   roast pork, fried chicken, lechon kawali for children, when nothing else is available

   Stir the vinegar into the sauce and add a pinch of salt and pepper. It tastes like a fruit sauce with roast pork, because that is what it is: no liver, no garlic, no savoury mineral depth, and a distinctly fruity sweetness. The extra vinegar is what keeps it from being cloying next to fatty pork. Drain any pineapple pieces out of a sweet-and-sour sauce first.