Pork and beans

Growing up a few decades ago compared to today, there were so few choices when it came to food.  The cereal variety was maybe about less than ten.  There were no gluten free pasta or bread, no dairy free butter, no sugar free muffins.   Coffee was coffee, no soy, light, chai, etc.  A steak was usually T-bone, no varieties such as Wagyu, Angus, or labels such as corn fed, grass fed, aged, dry aged, etc.  Food was food.  There were no unnecessary labels.  Whether it was fresh - from the ground, from a tree/plant or packed - cans, boxes, plastic packaging.   Today, it's an entirely different story.  Whatever happened to simple food?  

In his 2009 book Food Matters, Mark Bittman mentioned modern agriculture, global warming, sustainability and the change towards conscious eating. These days, we don't look at calories anymore. Consumers are conscious about where their food comes from, the carbon footprint, whether its organic, grown locally or imported from half way around the globe.  This kind of mentality creates a good set of consumers. Smart consumers.  But then we also create a lot of waste.  In Australia alone, consumers waste an estimate of 4 million tons of food each year!  Because what happens is we tend to shop more than what we can actually consume.  (How not to waste food shall be for another post!)

I'm not a fan of food fads but I do believe in simple good food. Seasonal cooking is always how we plan our menu at home.   Simple food prepared at home. With love.  For family and friends.

Now growing up, we were fed with lots of food I wouldn't normally buy these days. Our parents back then fed us with what they knew best.   Powdered orange juice (Tang), canned vienna sausages... including a favorite breakfast fare a million years ago.  Canned pork and beans.  A mixture of beans covered with sweet tomato sauce and about 1 to 2 pieces of pork.  We used to eat it on toasted white bread and loved it for breakfast and even after school snack. And sometimes ate it with rice too.  It's a Filipino thing (rice with everything).

Now this is my take on the canned pork and beans I grew up eating.   A simple dish made of 2 basic ingredients:  pork and beans! 

Ingredients

200 grams pork belly, cubed

300 grams French beans, cut into 2 inch pieces

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

vegetable oil 

chilli flakes (optional)

Method

Heat a shallow pan and add cooking oil.

Fry the pork pieces until crispy.  Set aside.

Using the same pan, add the garlic and cook until soft and fragrant. Do not overcook or burn.

Add the beans, and stir to cook the beans until bright green, about 2 minutes.

Add the cooked pork and stir to mix through.

Add the chilli flakes (if using) and stir.  Turn off heat.

Serve with steamed rice.

Empanadas (empanaditas)

Heirloom recipes.  Do you have those?  Handed and taught down from generation to generation through family members?  

 

 

I don’t have an image of me growing up with my grandmother on one side and mother on another, dabbling with ingredients in the kitchen or making  a mess with flour and sprinkles.

Inay, my grandmother (mother side), was not so much a kitchen person.  She’ll concoct some traditional Tagalog / Filipino dishes every now and then, effortlessly.  The few times she’s in the kitchen, she can work magic with simple ingredients – from scratch.  And I mean from a live chicken to a dish on the table.  That type of cooking.  Other than those few magic moments, she’s really a Martha-Stewart-recycling-DIY-kinda-gal.  She’ll make a “walis ting-ting” – broom made of sticks from dried coconut palm leaves.  She’ll idle away the time making floor rags from old fabrics and old t-shirts.  She’ll clean the hell out of old coffee, jam, peanut butter jars and reuse them as drinking glasses and tumblers at home, she’ll be happily tinkering away the afternoon in her sewing machine. At the best of times, she’d be making mean "pinais na tulingan" (slow braised tuna in tamarind or kamias), tinolang manok with malunggay (native chicken tinola with moringa leaves).  Her cooking was always simple with fresh ingredients and as organic as would be called now. 


Now my grandmother on my father's side is the all the time cook.  Although I have never spent time with her side by side in the kitchen (she's lived in the US since we were born with a few visits in the Philippines while growing up),  I have gotten to know her through her cooking.  The few times she's visited us was always a lesson in the kitchen.  And this is her recipe. One of the dishes she can throw all together in a bowl without batting an eyelash, without measurements, and it always comes out perfect.    And whenever they make this at my aunt's home in NJ, everyone pitches in and make these.

Now like all recipes, as long as you have the ingredients on hand it's really up to you to adjust the quantities as it suits your taste.  The flavour, feel and texture is entirely up to you.  I have tweaked my grandmother's recipe for the filling to suit our preferene at home.

There are two elements to this recipe - the filling and the dough/pastry.   

Ingredients and method for the filling:

 500 grams minced pork (or beef or chicken)

 1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, finely diced

1 large potato, diced

2 medium sized carrots, diced

1 red capsicum, diced

1 stick celery, diced

1 cup frozen green peas

2-3 tablespoons soy sauce

salt and pepper, to taste

vegetable oil

2 teaspoon of chilli flakes (optional) 

In a large skillet or wok, pour about two tablespoons of vegetable oil and heat the pan.

Saute the onions and garlic until soft and fragrant.

Add the minced meat and cook stirring until almost brown, 5-10 minutes

Add the potatoes, carrots, capsicum, celery and cook stirring to coat all the ingredients.

Add soy sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Turn the heat to medium and simmer until meat and vegetables are cooked through, 10-15 minutes.

Add the frozen green peas and sprinkel the chilli flakes if using.

Simmer for another5 minutes then turn off heat.

Spoon onto a large bowl and let it cool.  

Make sure the filling is completely cool before making the empanada/empanaditas.

Ingredientes and method for the  dough:

170 grams butter, cold cut into cubes

3 and 1/2 cups plain flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup cold water

1 beaten egg + 1 tablespoon of water for the egg wash

2 tablespoon milk or water for sealing

Combine all the  dry ingredients in a bowl and rub the ingredients with your hands until it resembles fine crumbs.  Slowly add the water (a little at a time) and continue to mix with your hands until it forms into a ball.

* Alternatively, you can process the butter, flour and sugar in a processor, then slowly pour the cold water until the mixture forms into a ball.

Flatten the dough slightly and chill in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.

Place the dough on a flat surface, and using a rolling pin flatten the dough to abou 1-2 cm thick.  

Cut the dough with a cookie cutter (your desired size - can be bigger or smaller).

Filling the dough:   (see photo below).   

Press on the sides of the dough to slightly thin them out.  Seal one side with milk.

Fill the dough with a tablespoon of the filling.

Slowly pinch the sides to seal the empanada.

Place on the flat surface and using your thumb/finger, press the sides of the empanada.

Further seal the edges with a fork.  Place all finished empanadas on a lined baking tray.

Continue with the other dough/filling.  

Baking the empanadas/empanaditas

Before baking, preheat oven to 180*C.

Brush the empanadas/empanaditas with egg wash.

Bake in the oven until golden, 30-40 minutes. 

 

Tips and tricks

* The butter needs to be cold when making the dough, not softened or melting;

* When making the filling, you can add other ingredients to suit your preference.  You can make it entirely vegetarian too.

* Alternatively, you can also deep fry the empanadas until golden, then drain on paper towels.

* Create small air pockets on the empanadas prior to baking so they don't inflat too much leaving a space between the dough and the filling.  I usually use a small knife or a fork to do this.

* This dough which my grandmother uses does not have the flaky texture when baked.  If you prefer a flaky dough, you will need to roll until thin, fold, then roll, and fold and roll.  The layers from rolling and folding several times creates the layers which results in a flaky dough.

* Some empanada recipes calls for lard and butter combined, which also helps in creating a flaky texture when baked.  Trissalicious shares in her blog a secret for a flaky empanada. 

* Store-bought puff pastry can also be used to make these empanadas.

* They are called empanadas when they are bigger, like the palm of one's hands.  This recipe for empanaditas are bite-sized and a little fiddly to make (photos show scale).  You can always adjust the size to suit your preference.

From Inay Mercedes and lola/grandmother Antonia, this is my heirloom - memories of good old fashion, no-nonsence cooking.  No fancy antique jewelries here, or grand estates. 


And this family recipe, I'll recreate a tradition at home when making this - as these are bite-sized pieces, I'll gather the girls around the table, pinch away dough and seams and filling and sharing stories and creating new memories.

 

Barbecued pork belly cooked in capsicum paste

 

I love a good make ahead recipe.  Especially when it's something that can be used for grilled dishes (like my version of chermoula chicken)  and when it takes me outside of my (Filipino) comfort zone - where the usual marinades consists of soy sauce, vinegar and garlic.  This one caught my eye from the get-go - the small photo in the October 2013 issue of The Sydney Magazine of Mark Jensen's barbecued pork spare ribs was enough to leave me drooling and craving for this dish!  And when that happens, off to kitchen I go.

Red capsicums are a plenty at my local green grocer and they're cheap as! Although they came in different sizes.  But size and shape does not matter that this was on our table for a weenight dinner. It helps that I only work 3 days a week and Mondays and Tuesdays are quiet days to ponder and domesticate myself while the kids are at school and hubby at work. So I prepared the paste a day ahead.

Vibrant red!  They're so pretty!

Oh. The. Smell!  It was divine!!

Now the hero of this dish is the capsicum paste.   You make it a day ahead and it keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks (according to the recipe). 

Ingredients:

125g of red capsicum, washed

2 heads garlic

2-3 pieces red chillis

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method

 Preheat oven to 220*C.  

Place capsicums and garlic on a baking tray and roast for 20-30 minutes or until the capsicum skins have blackened.  

Place a rack and leave to cool.

Peel the garlic skins off and place the flesh in the food processor.

Peel and seed the capsicums and add to the food processor with the chillies, salt and pepper.

Process to a smooth paste.

Spoon into sterilised jars and top with olive oil.

Keep in the fridge until ready to use. 

Poured into a sterilised jar and topped with olive oil!

On the ready - to brush onto the pork pieces!

To make the barbecued pork ribs or belly:

1.5 kg of pork belly, sliced 1/2 inch thick strips

Generously rub on pork pieces and leave to marinade in a glass bowl, covered with cling wrap in the fridge - minimum 1 hour (or up to 4 hours)

Heat the BBQ grill or pan-grill and cook away.

Chop into small bite size pieces.

Enjoy with some coriander for garnish.  Serve with a slice of lemon or lime.  Best eaten with lots of rice.

Tips:

* In the recipe, Mark suggested to place the roasted capsicums in a plastic bag for 15-20 minutes.  I guess this makes the skins peel off easily.

* The recipe called for julienned ginger and chilli slices for garnish.

Pork and chorizo sliders with jalapeno mayo

"Life is full of surprises and serendipity. Being open to unexpected turns in the road is an important part of success. If you try to plan every step, you may miss those wonderful twists and turns. Just find your next adventure - do it well, enjoy it and then, not now, think about what comes next." - Condoleezza Rice

Do you believe in fate?  Serendipity?  I do in most instances.  I mean there are small miracles that happen every day, I believe that.  I've experienced that. But serendipity are those little sometimes big, pleasant surprises that just happen.  Because of fate?  Maybe.  Luck?  Who knows.  But I do believe this.  That if you think something or visualise something so bad and pray for it, the forces of the universe will make it happen.  

Now maybe I'm a little naive about these things and believe too much in this crap, but truly I am amazed at how things turned out for someone I've connected with in IG.  We don't know each other personally, but she's contacted me a few weeks ago.  We had two things in common.  We're both Filipinos and into Instagram.  That's about it.  In the course of our email exchange, she mentions about looking for a job which I thought maybe, somehow I could help however way I can.  Working a few days at at government office and with limited connections myself I casually forwarded a job posting email which circulates around the office when positions fall vacant.  And from there,  a few weeks after that email exchange, it all turned quite magical.  Serendipty. A happy pleasant surprise!  She got the job which involves a project working closely with our branch!  I am amazed at how this all turned out.  Social networking does work!  And soon, I will get to meet her!

Not to mention through social networking, my eating and cooking adventures (and my family included) have evolved.    

Just looking at my Instagram feed, Pinterest, FB and reading other food bloggers' posts is always inspiring.  Recently though, I had some nostalgic kick craving and remembering a particular burger we loved to eat while hubby and me were still dating.  This was served at a small kiosk at the Greenbelt Plaza just outside the cinema.  This was during the early 90s but they disappeared later on during that decade. From what I've learned, they are now back with the same famous recipe for choriburger but with an entirely new look and logo.  

So here's a recipe inspired by an old favourite from back in Manila (Burger on the Run's Choriburger).  I was looking for Bun on the Run online and found a Pork and Chorizo burger by Emeril Lagasse's from the Food Network's Backyard Eats - which I found too complicated with so many spices so I made my own version.  We served this "for adults only" at that weekend birthday party.   The smell of the patties while cooking was so inviting, some of the kids kept coming into the kitchen and asking what's cooking.  "Sorry kids, this is for adults only."

Ingredients:

500g pork mince

3 fresh chorizo sausages, removed from casings

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cajun pepper/seasoning

1 tablespoon corn flour (for binding)

salt and pepper for seasoning

 

Mix all the above ingredients by hand in a large bowl.  Shape into patties.  Set aside.

Using a pan griddle, or a simple pan, fry the patties in a little oil and cook until done.

To serve: thinly spread some jalapeno mayonnaise* on the rolls/buns, top with a pork-chorizo burger, some lettuce (add tomato slices and cucumbers if you prefer), and top with a good dollop of the jalapeno mayo*.  

*I wanted to make Emeril's green chilli mayonnaise but can't get poblano peppers at the time, so I made a simple Jalapeno mayonnaise.  Which was a mixture of 2 jalapeno peppers finely diced, mixed with a cup of mayonnaise. 

Tips:

•  Buy your chorizo fresh from the butcher or deli.  The supermarket variety will work but will not be the same because they are slightly cooked.  You will need to remove the chorizo from the casings which will be difficult to do with the commercial variety;

• You can make this as big as burgers or small as in for sliders (like this version);

 

Sometimes I think the fear of being vulnerable and taking a risk stops us from connecting with people.  Opening doors, in more ways than none, actually helps.  We create friendships and build little communities!   I love how blogging and social networks has helped me do this.  And taken my thirst for cooking and eating into new heights.

Almondigas - Filipino meat ball soup with sponge gourd (loofa sponge)

Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. - Jim Davis 

 (Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jimdavis108715.html#jvVgHszuPy0XDhKv.99)

Let me introduce you to a Filipino dish called 'almondigas' in Tagalog.  Translated it is simply meatball soup, cooked with some vegetables and flour vermicelli noodles.  This is just one of the many dishes influenced by the Spanish occupation in the Philippines. This is very similar to the Spanish/Mexican 'albondigas' which is of the base ingredients - meatballs in soup.  Like most Filipino dishes, this dish is honest and very pedestrian. It is home-cooking-comfort-food-in-a-bowl.

Compared to the Spanish/Mexican 'albondigas', the use of the vegetable sponge gourd (patola) in the Filipino version can be attributed to the abundance of this warm climate vine plant.  They are fast growing and can grow fruit for a long period.  These green zucchini like vegetables are a usual fare in local farmer's markets around the country.  The use of other vegetables can make this dish shine. like its Spanish/Mexican counterpart (here's one from Simply Recipes, and another with chipotle from the Food Network and another version with the addition of rice).   But as it strikes close to home, we make this dish the way we knew it - with good old patola. 

This is my first post for the Kulinary Cooking Club - a group started by Filipino foodies who are eager and passionate about Filipino culture and the colourful cuisine. Supposedly for August (with the theme Pang Habang Buhay) but late.  But I'm posting this anyway as it is a true Filipino dish that's easy to make.  And healthy too.  

Ingredients

 250g pork mince

2 medium sized onion, finely diced (separate each diced onion in a small bowl)

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

1 egg

1 tablespoon flour

salt and pepper to season

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 piece sponge gourd, washed peeled and cut

5 cups water or vegetable stock

100g of amoy flour vermicelli noodles (I've used 1/3 of this pack)

3 tablespoons fish sauce

spring onions, chopped for garnish

These are available from any of your local Asian grocery

In a large bowl, combine the minced pork, 1 finely diced onion, garlic, egg and flour. Mix to combine.  Form into golf-ball sized meat balls (bigger if you prefer, totally up to you). Season with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Heat a medium sized pot, add vegetable oil then saute the remaining onion until soft.

Add the water or stock, and bring to a boil.

Add the the meatballs into the stock/broth, bring to a boil then turn heat down to medium and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Add the sponge gourd pieces and cook for 5 minutes.  They will become soft.

Add in the flour vermicelli noodles and cook while stirring for another 2 minutes.  As these are made of flour, this will somehow thicken the sauce a little bit.

Add the fish sauce to suit your taste.

Turn off heat. Serve in bowls and garnish with spring onions.  You can also add some toasted garlic or shallots to add some texture.

 

Now this is a true pedestrian Filipino dish. Simple. No fancy-schmancy going on here.  Just good comfort food you'd want to eat anytime of the day, any season.  It warms you up inside and out.  And did I tell you the health benefits of the sponge gourd?  You'd be amazed.  Check it out here.  Well I was, anyway.  

Pork chop steak

 

Rice is a staple in the Filipino home.  Just like the "tabo" in the bathroom and a karaoke/videoke unit in the lounge room, there is the rice cooker in the kitchen. 

A day without rice will make hubby weak, like the effect of kryptonite to Superman.  Its just not normal.  Although we do have pasta dishes in-between days and have the usual pizza take-away or a taco weekend dinner, RICE must always be on the menu the day after these episodes.  Otherwise, wrath will set in.  I'm kidding of course.  But you can imagine the seriousness of what I'm talking about here, do you? Rice to us, is bread to others.   And because rice is a staple and a regular side, we have an endless supply of mains.  Maybe a lot of them have more similarities than differences in terms of ingredients and preparation. Some are exotic and unique, others just a replica of some foreign dish brought about by the influence that country made in Philippine shores. 

This pork chop steak is a take off from the Tagalog Beefsteak - a beef dish marinated in calamansi (an indigenous Filipino citrus) and soy sauce, fried separately then served with sauteed onion rings.  

1k pork chops

1/2 cup light soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 lemon (an original version of this would use calamansi)

1 large onion, sliced (like rings - see photo)

vegetable oil

Marinade the pork chops in soy sauce, garlic and half of the lemon.  Let it sit for half an hour.

Heat a skillet or fry pan, add vegetable oil and shallow fry the pork chops in batches, 3-4 minutes on each side.  Set aside on a serving dish or plate.

Saute the onion rings in the same pan until soft.  Add the pork chop marinade and simmer for 5 minutes. Squeeze the other half of the lemon.  Pour on top of the pork chops.

Best served with, do I need to say it?.... RICE!

Baby back ribs in ginger-orange glaze

I've never tried making my own glaze or sauce for a barbeque before.  This was a first. And now I'm thinking of making more and bottling them, and selling them!  Seriously!  Because they are absolutely great!   The golden ticket of barbeque ribs! This recipe is adapted from Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen.  I've tried this over the weekend, including her fall-off-the-bone tip and what a turn out!  Serious baby back ribs, and literally fall-of-the-bone ribs, with a sweet and spicy Asian glaze.


These are the best ribs I've ever cooked at home! Most ribs we grill always end up marinaded for a few hours then on the grill.  Great for those spontaneous what-should-we-have-for-Sunday-lunch-barbeque?  On the other side of the fast and furious is this.  Slow and tender cooking (3-4hours) with some passionate smearing of spicy-sweet-orange glaze. And if you don't like the sweet and spicy orange glaze, you can still use your own favourite supermarket variety.  But do the 3-4 hours slow cooking process, because it'll change your life forever. The next time you'll have a backyard barbie, you can have this in your repertoire and your guests will definitely be impressed.

Pat dry the 1.5-2k pork baby back or rack ribs (American ribs as called in local butchers) with salt and pepper.  Place on a roasting tray or dish, cover with aluminum foil and place in a 150 degrees pre-heated oven for 3-4 hours. 





To make the glaze

1 tsp grated ginger (1 thumb-sized nob)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 small eschalot , minced (Also known as shallots - see onion varieties here)

3/4 hoisin sauce (I used up a whole jar 240g Lee Kum Kee jar)

1 large orange, zest and juice

1 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp sambal

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Heat a small skillet or saucepan.  Add the vegetable oil and saute the onion until soft, 2-3  minutes.

Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute.

Add all the ingredients except the lemon juice (Jaden uses yuzu sauce but mentioned that lemon can be a substitute).

Lower the heat to low and simmer until sauce thickens, 8-10 minutes. 

Remove from heat and add the lemon juice (and some more ginger for extra punch).

We had this for dinner over the weekend, served with rice or rosemary buttered dinner rolls option, and simple side salad.  This dish is definitely making an encore in the next get-together.  I might make this a staple-plate-to-bring for those lunch and dinner invitations.  

Home-cured bacon

As its tax time, every corner of this country is obsessing over the carbon tax.  The truth is, mum’s as clueless as the next guy.  And I’m sure dad is just the same.  Personally, I feel it unfair that we /us/consumers are taxed over carbon pollution brought by big companies.  We maybe consuming the products they produced using fossil fuel and carbon, but what is the proportion of a per person consumption over how much these companies are using to produce an actual product?  Besides the fact that we will be slugged with the carbon tax, the big companies will also slug this into the prices of their commodities.  And were not just talking about food here.  We’re talking about the whole supply chain!  Qantas has even announced a fare hike in the next few months to start with.  What can we do?  Just queue up like robots and do what we’re told?  In cases like these, there are opportunities where we can make a difference. And that’s by starting within oneself, in our own.  I came across the 7 habits of reasonably green people from Simple Organic.  It starts with… Being thrifty. 

Being green doesn’t mean wearing organic cotton and buying only organic produce.  It means thinking about your consumption (food and other stuff), where they came from, and who are you supporting in the process of purchasing them.  Support local farmers, buy seasonal produce, reuse-reduce-recycle!  These are simple ways that we need to really look into and make a habit off, especially with now that we know that climate change is real.  That animated movie Wall-E showing the future of the earth looking like a rubbish dump is not impossible.  So let’s do our bit.

And while we’re at it, from the words of Mark Bittman from the NY Times, let’s start by making food choices simple.  Let’s cook!  And why not start by making your own home-cured bacon!

A week ago, mum started on the home-cured bacon project and what a result.  It was how a home-cured bacon would be – excellent by our standards.  It did not taste anything like the store-bought bacon, and it lacked a bit of that salty-smoky-honey-cured branded variety.  But it smelled and tasted like BACON! And while having BREAKFAST for DINNER is not unusual in our home, it was only right that we try out the bacon the week after its been curing.  We had this last night with some Spanish-style omelette some toast and rice (need I say why?).

This home-cured bacon recipe is adapted from the recipe book Charcuterie through Michael Ruhlman’s website.

2.5k pork belly slab

56g course salt (rock sea salt)

2 tsp pink curing salt #1

4 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper

4 bay leaves, crumbled

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 c brown sugar or honey or maple syrup (we used maple syrup)

5 cloves of garlic, pounded or mashed with the chef's knife

Put your belly in the zip-top bag or on a sheet tray or in a plastic container.  Rub the salt and spice mixture all over the belly.  Close the bag or cover it with plastic wrap, and stick it in the refrigerator for seven days (get your hands in there and give the spices another good rubbing around midway through).

After seven days, take it out of the fridge, rinse off all the seasonings under cold water and pat it dry.

Put it on a sheet tray and put it in the oven (put it on a rack on a sheet tray if you have one) and turn the oven on to 200 degrees F or 94 degrees C (if you want to preheat the oven, that’s fine, too). Leave it in the oven for 90 minutes (or, if you want to measure the internal temperature, until it reaches 150 degrees F.).

Let it cool and refrigerate it until you’re ready to cook it.  

  

Notes:  If you don’t have five pounds of belly, either guesstimate salt based on the above or, if you have a scale, multiply the weight of the belly in ounces or grams by .025 and that’s how many ounces or grams of salt you should use.

 Cooked to our liking - crispy!  Although mum could have tried to cut them thinner!

Easiest effort we’ve ever taken.  Few minutes of prep, a week long curing period and heaps of patience! 

Although the process of preparing to make this took longer (mum wrote about here a month ago!), e.g. sourcing out the curing salt (from Red Back Trading online) took about a month, procrastinating on actually doing it after several weeks of purchasing slabs of pork belly which only ended up either sliced and fried (lechon kawali) or into our favourite sour-soup pork dish pork sinigang, or pork adobo among other things. 

Now here’s what I can say – we made BACON!  Yes!  Finally!