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Pork Hamonado

Pork Hamonado

Pork Hamonado

In Filipino cuisine, hamonado refers to meat sweetened with pineapple. This dish can be made with pork, beef, or chicken. Fattier cuts will work the best with this recipe. Pork shoulder or belly, beef chuck, bottom round, shank meat, short ribs, or chicken thighs will all work well
I prefer to use fresh pineapple as opposed to canned. Canned pineapple has a lot of added sugar and just doesn’t taste as good as the fresh. 
This dish can also be prepared in an Instant Pot! Follow all of the steps right up until you were going to simmer the pork on the stove top. Instead, set the function to pressure cooker on high for 30 minutes. A good rule to remember for meats you’d normally slow cook in the oven or a crock pot like pork shoulder or chuck, is to cook them for 15 minutes per lb. in the Instant Pot. Once the 30 minutes is up, your pork should be very tender. You will have to turn the function to sauté to reduce down the liquid in the pot. Simmer on medium unit it reduces by half. This will take 10-15minutes. 
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 10 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Filipino
Keyword: Filipino, main course, Pork
Servings: 4
Author: Alex Gorgos

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs pork shoulder 1″ cubes
  • 2 cups pineapple juice
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 5 tbsp brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
  • 1 cup beef stock
  • 2 cups chunked fresh pineapple
  • 1 bunch green onions chopped
  • 1/2 medium onion chopped
  • 6 garlic cloves minced

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, mix together the pineapple juice, soy sauce, and brown sugar.
    Filipino, main course, pork
  • Add in the cubed pork shoulder. Marinate for 3-4 hours. Overnight is even better.
    Filipino, main course, pork
  • Once the pork is finished marinating, strain the pork of the marinade in a colander. Pat dry.
    Filipino, main course, pork
  • Save all of the marinade.
    Filipino, main course, pork
  • Heat up the cooking oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat. sear the pork shoulder in batches, making sure to not overcrowd the dutch oven. Add each batch of the seared pork shoulder back into the marinade.
    Filipino, main course, pork
  • In the same dutch oven, sauté the onions and garlic for 3-4 minutes. 
    Filipino, main course, pork
  • Stir in the 2 cups of chunked pineapple. Sauté for 5 minutes. 
    Filipino, main course, pork
  • Stir in the green onions.
    Filipino, main course, pork
  • Add in the pork shoulder with all of the marinade and 1 cup of beef stock. Simmer for 60 minutes.
    Filipino, main course, pork
  • After simmering for an hour, the juices of the pork hamonado will reduce down drastically. The sauce should look like a thick brown gravy.
    Filipino, main course, pork
  • Serve with steamed jasmine rice.
    Filipino, main course, pork
Roasted Salsa Verde

Roasted Salsa Verde

Roasted Salsa Verde

Salsa Verde is a staple in Mexican cuisine. It can be used in countless dishes such as enchiladas, chilaquiles, pork ribs, and tamales, just to name a few. There are multiple different ways to make salsa verde. The main ingredient are tomatillos and either Serrano or jalapeño peppers. These are usually accompanied by onion, garlic, and cilantro. 
In this version of salsa verde, the vegetables are all dry roasted before being pureed in a blender. This type of salsa verde is used more for cooking as a sauce instead of a table salsa.
If you are looking to make a salsa verde as a table salsa, simmer your vegetables in a pot of water for 12-15 minutes instead of dry roasting them. Add the vegetables, cilantro, and 1/4 cup of the water from the pot to a blender, then puree. Cook with 1 tbsp of cooking oil over medium heat for 5 minutes.  
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time5 minutes
Total Time15 minutes
Course: condiment
Cuisine: Mexican
Keyword: condiment, Mexican
Author: Alex Gorgos

Ingredients

  • 1 lb tomatillos
  • 5 serrano peppers
  • 1/3 onion
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1/3 cup cilantro
  • 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
  • 1 tsp salt

Instructions

  • In a skillet, dry roast the tomatillos, Serrano peppers, onions, and garlic cloves for 6-7 minutes.
    Mexican, condiment
  • Make sure to get some color out of the vegetables.
    Mexican, condiment
  • Add the roasted vegetables and cilantro to a blender.
    Mexican, condiment
  • Puree until smooth.
    Mexican, condiment
  • In the same skillet, heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil. Add the salsa verde and salt.  Cook for 5 minutes. Now it’s done and ready for use!
    Mexican, condiment
Sticky Rice

Sticky Rice

Sticky Rice

I love sticky rice. It is so unbelievably easy to make. Sticky rice, also known as glutinous rice, has to be steamed. It can not be boiled or you will get mush. You can prepare it in an electric rice steamer, but the best way is to steam it in a traditional Thai rice steamer bamboo basket. The basket gives the rice a particular flavor that you won’t get from an electric rice steamer. 
To make the sticky rice, wash and rinse the rice 3 times. Then soak in cold water for at least 4 hours. Overnight is even better. Fill your sticky rice steamer with 2 inches of water. Making sure that the steamer basket isn’t touching the water. Bring to a boil. I like to line the basket with cheese cloth to make clean up a little easier, but this step isn’t necessary. Add the rice. Fold the cheese cloth over the rice. Cover the basket with a lid. Steam for 20 minutes. Uncover and pull the rice from the sides to the center, kinda giving the rice a flip. Cover again and steam for another 10 minutes. Then it’s ready to serve.
So now the truth about sticky rice. While you eat it at the Thai restaurants in America with red and green curries and you make it at home with your curry; sticky rice is not actually eaten with these curries in Thailand. Why? Sticky rice is grown in Northern and Northeastern Thailand where these curries aren’t part of the culture. Green and red curry are from Central and Southern Thailand, where they eat the curry with regular steamed rice. They still eat sticky rice in these regions, just not as a main staple and usually as a sweet dessert. 
So what foods do you eat sticky rice with? All Northern Thai cuisine, papaya salad, meat salads such as laab, grilled meats, and many sweetened desserts.
What foods do you not eat sticky rice with: stir fried dishes, most coconut milk based Thai curries, soups like tom yum.
How is sticky rice eaten? Because of how sticky it is, the rice is usually rolled into little balls and dipped into whatever sauce of whatever you’re eating. The only downside to eating sticky rice is that it is double the calories of regular rice. Oh well.
With all of this being said, eat sticky rice with whatever you damn well please! I still eat curries with sticky rice and don’t plan to stop any time soon. While I like to try and cook everything as traditional as possible, sometimes I say fuck it and do what tastes good to me. 
Cook Time30 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Thai
Keyword: side dish, Thai
Author: Alex Gorgos

Ingredients

  • 3 cups Thai glutenous rice

Instructions

  • Rinse the sticky rice in cold water 3 times. Soak the sticky rice in water for at least 4 hours. Overnight is even better.
    Thai, side dish
  • This is a traditional Thai sticky rice steamer. Fill the bottom with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. You can use any type of rice steamer, but the the flavor will be different not steaming it in a bamboo basket.
    Thai, side dish
  • I like to have a layer of cheese cloth in the basket. This allows for easy cleanup.
    Thai, side dish
  • Add the sticky rice to the steamer.
    Thai, side dish
  • Fold the cheese cloth over the rice and cover with a lid over the basket. Steam for 20 minutes.
    Thai, side dish
  • At the 20 minute mark take off the lid. With a fork, fold the rice in from the sides to the middle. I kind of flip the rice to ensure even cooking. Fold the cheese cloth back over the rice and cover with the lid. Steam for another 10 minutes.
    Thai, side dish
  • Turn off the heat. Take off the lid. Open the cheese cloth. Put the serving bowl over the rice. Give it a flip. It’s sticky time.
    Thai, side dish
How To Cut Up A Whole Chicken

How To Cut Up A Whole Chicken

The most common question I was asked in my 14 years as a butcher was “How do you cut up a whole chicken?”. It became very shocking to me how many people had zero clue, especially in this day and age where everyone lives on