Press Kit

It's A Wrap for Charlie’s Pritchon™

By Eric S. Caruncho
Philippine Daily Inquirer

College sweethearts Charlie and Dina Esguerra have perfected this guilty pleasure of deep-fried suckling pig wrapped in pita. And it all started with idle thoughts during rush hour traffic, and Dina's dream about her dead mother.

There is no flavour comparable, I will contend, to that of the crisp, tawny, well-watched, not over-roasted, crackling, as it is well called - the very teeth are invited to their share of the pleasure at this banquet in overcoming the coy, brittle resistance - with the adhesive oleaginous - o call it not fat - but an indefinable sweetness growing up to it-the tender bloosoming of fat- fat chopped in the bud-taken in the shoot-in the first innocence - the cream and quintessence of the child-pig’s yet pure food-the lean , no lean, but a kind animal manna - or, rather, fat and lean (if it must so) so blended and running into each other, that both together make but one ambrosian result, or common substance.

- Charles Lamb , "A Dissertion Upon Roast Pig"

Three words: roast- suckling-pig.
Is your mouth watering yet?
Once more, en espanol: lechon de leche.
Is that your stomach rumbling?

Nothing gladdens the Filipino heart more than the sight of lechon. The roast pig is the centerpiece of the fiesta which - as historians would have us believe - is the heart of Pinoy culture.

But for true gourmands, nothing beats roast suckling pig. No more than two months old and fed exclusively on mother sow ’s milk, the crisp, water-thin skin yields readily to the bite, revealing a thin layer of sweet baby fat, and then the succulent, tender flesh that almost melt in your mouth …oh, bliss!

Cochinillo, spread-eagled and baked crisp in a brick oven, is still one of the most popular items on the menu of Madrid ’s El Botin, hailed by Guinness as the world ’s oldest restaurant. The good folks at La Loma have done the Spaniards one better by introducing the ultra-decadent paella-stuffed lechon de leche. Now, there ’s even boneless lechon de leche. But for the last five years or so, food trippers around town have been all agog over Charlie ’s pritchon ™, "the original pritong biik."

Now, calorie counters and the cholesterol-conscious might keel over at the mere thought of "deep-fried pork ", but Pritchon ™ is, rest assured, not as artery-clogging as it may sound, as most of the fat is drained away before being served, Peking duck style.

Prized pritchon

Starting with the highly-prized skin, the pritchon is chopped into bite-size pieces and served wrapped in thin pancakes - actually, wedges of tomato-, spinach-and herb-flavored pita-with slivers of cucumber and spring onions and sauce of one ’s choice. Diners can choose between the traditional liver sauce, hoisin, garlic, honey mustard, chili Tagalog, sate and honey lemon.

Charlie and Dina Esguerra, the husband and wife team who came up with the idea, now have it down to a science. They now deliver an average of five orders a day, though they ’ve served as many as 20 for one single mind-boggling feast, and have served customers from as far away as Lucena and San Jose, Nueva Ecija.

Sweethearts since high school, Charlie and Dina got married soon after graduating from college; he ’s a BS psychology major from UST, she ’s a BS Accounting major from U.P. Charlie had gone through a series of jobs, while Dina, a CPA, had taken over her mother's pre-need company. Eventually, they decided to start a garment export business, which eventually shut down because of the Asian financial crisis and assorted labor problems.

One day, while both car and mind were idling in the usual Edsa rush hour traffic, Charlie came up with a brainstorm: What if you deep-fried a whole suckling pig?

It ’s not as if they were thinking of going into food business, he says, but both Charlie and Dina were keen foodies, who ate out often and were the first to try new dishes and restaurants.

Tickling idea

"I didn ’t know anything about cooking. Except for the usual lutong bahay, " says Charlie. But he did know something about pigs, since his mother had a farm in Pulilan, Bulacan, where they raised pigs. He was so ticked with the idea of "deep-fried suckling pig, " however, that he tried it out, filling the largest cooking vessel in the house with oil, and immersing the suckling pig by hand.

When the family demolished the result in less than five minutes, "sagad to the bone " he knew he had something on his hands,

The next step came just as serendipitously.

One early morning, dina woke me to tell me that she had a dream about her late mother, he says. "She told me that in the dream, her mother had told her to serve the pritchon like Peking Duck."

In Chinese restaurants, Peking duck is traditionally served three ways: first the skin is sliced into bite-sized pieces, dabbed with hoisin sauce and wrapped in this pancakes. Then the duck meat is chopped fine and eaten. Finally the remaining carcass is made into soup.

The Esguerras decided to add their own twist. Instead of pancakes, they decided to use flavored pita wedges, provided by a friend who had a shawarma business. And apart from the traditional hoisin sauce, Dina develops six other sauces, to add variety.

Word of mouth

Their innovation proved an instant hit with family and friends. Soon word of mouth spread and orders began coming in. Before they knew it, they had a business on their hands.

"The best business pitch is word of mouth ", says Charlie. From the initial circle of friends and acquaintances, the word began to snowball, even without advertising. In no time, orders were coming in from offices and plush subdivisions, and many of these were repeat customers.

Of course, the first few years provided valuable learning experience.

To begin with, says Charlie, not all pigs are the same, or taste the same. Breed, type of feed, even their environment will determine the flavor. Over the years, Charlie has become a keen judge of pig flesh, and he selects only true "de leche "- sucklings no more than one and half months old - from breeders whose methods he knows and trusts.

He has also ideal type of vegetable oil- a trade secret about which he will reveal nothing, except that it can "t be found in supermarkets. He has also designed his own deep fryers, which were custom fabricated for him.

After couple of years, the Esguerras decided to expand their menu to include American fiesta fare: they developed what they call "Pritchopabo ™, " their own twist on the traditional Thanks giving turkey. Like Pritchon ™, a Butterball turkey is deep fried and served a la Peking duck, with its own complement of sauces, including the traditional cranberry, spicy curry, hoisin, mushroom gravy, and Mexican salsa. Apart from its own distinct flavor, turkey also appeals to the more calorie conscious, since it has very little fat.

After couple of years, the Esguerras decided to expand their menu to include American fiesta fare: they developed what they call "Pritchopabo ™, " their own twist on the traditional Thanks giving turkey. Like Pritchon ™, a Butterball turkey is deep fried and served a la Peking duck, with its own complement of sauces, including the traditional cranberry, spicy curry, hoisin, mushroom gravy, and Mexican salsa. Apart from its own distinct flavor, turkey also appeals to the more calorie conscious, since it has very little fat.

Vegetarians need no feel left out of the fiesta either.

After noticing that non-meat eaters were nibbling at the pancakes and cucumber strips, Charlie developed what he calls Veggie Wraps, an all vegetable dish which is similarly wrapped in pita wedges and eaten with two types of sauce, hoisin and balsamic.

Satisfaction

The Esguerras haven ’t stopped dreaming. Right now, they ’re hard at work perfecting what promises to be their next menu offering: Christmas pata, which promises to be an alternative to traditional Christmas ham.

Because of the labor and the ingredients involved, of course, pritchon doesn ’t come cheap. One order, with 80 pita wedges and all trimmings, currently goes for P4, 000 while the turkey goes for P4, 100. But as those who've partaken of Charlie's ambrosial offerings will tell you, it's worth every cent.

For Charlie and Dina Esguerra, however, the business is the least of their rewards.

"In terms of morale, our satisfaction is greater here than with our previous business, because we ’re dealing with people, "says Dina. In fact, the couple still goes out deliveries, as much to see the satisfaction on their customers faces as to keep up their service standards.

There is, for instance, the teenager who ate 35 pritchon wraps in one go (the current record holder), and the three sisters who managed to demolish one order all by themselves. But there are also the chemotherapy patients who get pritchon delivered to their hospital rooms, a welcome change from hospital food.

And there is the bedridden 94-year-old grandmother who, miraculously, rose from her sickbed for the first time in two years and sat at the dining table when the family served pritchon.

Says Dina Esguerra: "Its instant gratification when you see people happy like that. "

Read Articles About Charlie’s Pritchon™

• It's A Wrap for Charlie's Pritchon
  Philippine Daily Inquirer
  Eric S. Caruncho
• The Whole Hog
  People Asia
  Patricia M. Romualdez
• A Tale of Turkey and the Deep Fried Pig
  Food Magazine
  Lori B. Baltazar
• Reinventing the Native Lechon
  Weekender -Business World
  Cherry C. Bobadilla
• Pritchon™... The lechon reinvented!
  Manila Bulletin - Sunday Leisure
  Lai Suarez-Reyes
• Pritchon™: The " Pritong Biik" Deep Fried in Stainless Steel Tub
  Philippine Star
  Millie Reyes
• Pritchon™ - Lechon Noveau
  Filipinas Magazine
  Ma. Regina Luz Danguilan
• PRITCHON™- Ang Lechon ng Bayan!
  By Robie Sandoval
  

[ back to top ]