Ofcourse, tocino is actually cured pork (or bacon in spanish) but since it is not available here in Beijing, I made some alterations to my pork asado (originally roasted pork in spanish) recipe and the end result... the taste of authentic tocino & some guys would probably wonder where i bought it.

Ingredients:
450 g. of pork rump or butt (can be pork chops, but I like them with fat, ‘helps keep the meat moist’ & tastes a lot better; but for whatever reasons u r watching ur fat intake, you can always use pure lean meat)

For the marinade:
1/2 c. of dark soy sauce
2 tbsp. of oyster sauce
2 tbsp. of vinegar
2 tbsp. of finely minced garlic
2 tbsp. of onion, finely chopped
1 small tomato (in place of 1/4 c. of catsup, I ran out of it)
1 tsp. of ground black pepper
4 tbsp. of sugar
½ tbsp. of crushed peppercorns
salt
a dash of MSG or Monosodium glutamate (u may wanna omit this but heck, I do know there’s a difference when u add this to most of asian dish)

Cut the pork into thin slices (about 1/8" thick). (I’ve read in some blog that semi-freezing the meat before cutting will make the job a lot easier.) . Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade and pour over the pork meat. Mix in the marinade well with the meat using your hands. Cover and let stand for at least an hour, mixing the meat every few minutes or so to let the pork pieces marinate evenly.

Place it in a casserole and pour in water just enough to cover the meat. When boiling, stir a few times. Continue boiling until the pork starts to render fat. Continue cooking until quite dry and the pork is lightly browned. Add water, a little at a time, if the liquid dries up before the pork is cooked.

We still have some left-over rice so I decided to make some 'sinangag' or fried rice using the sauce left from cooking the tocino. Very simple - turn up the heat, stir the rice, until it’s thoroughly heated. Golden brown garlic is the actually secret to the aroma of delicious fried rice but I was too lazy today I didn’t prepare some. Anyways, the tocino turns up to be really delicious the missing garlic flavor in my fried rice wasn’t noticed at all.


Food for your thoughts:
"Happy and successful cooking doesn't rely only on know-how; it comes from the heart, makes great demands on the palate and needs enthusiasm and a deep love of food to bring it to life." - Georges Blanc

Tags: home-made tocino, sinangag, tocino, tocino and sinangag.

You must be logged on in order to post a comment.

— Login —
— Free Registration —

Is this pork tocino, pork asado or pork adobo? Just asking — waitekere, 01/06/2005 08:05

:) this is 'my pork tocino' cos anybody who tries it wud guess it's the normal tocino everybody buys anywhere back home. pork adobo is diffrent... it has vinegar as a main ingredient, definitely w/o catsup or tomato & tastes differently. unless some guys cook it the way i do w/ my tocino. — iska, 01/06/2005 16:11

Oh my! Tocino from scratch! Thanks for sharing this...must try :-) — joey80breakfasts, 23/08/2005 16:17

Hi, thanks for sharing this... I also miss this kind of food coz I am also away from the Philippines... After I found this site, I immediately bought the ingredients :-)... I'm excited to eat it:-) — mellani, 18/02/2007 13:33