Pork Tocino
Tocino is cured pork, chicken, or beef. It is a staple in Filipino cuisine, mostly eaten for breakfast with garlic fried rice and a couple of sunny side up eggs. Tocino is traditionally cured with saltpeter, a preservative, the same ingredient used to cure corned beef. This particular recipe is salt and sugar cured, without any preservatives. The pineapple juice is used as a natural tenderizer. Pork shoulder is the best cut to use for making tocino. Pork loin and tenderloin is too lean; pork belly is too fatty. The pork shoulder should be cut against the grain, somewhere between 1/8”-1/4” thick. The pork only needs a day to marinate. When ready to cook, the pork is braised in water until all of the liquid is absorbed. It is then pan fried in cooking oil, allowing the sugars to caramelize. Any pork that isn’t cooked should be frozen in freezer bags for later use.
Ingredients
- 1 lb pork shoulder sliced 1/8”-1/4” thick
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup pineapple juice
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 drop red food coloring
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
- Mix together the sugar, pineapple juice, salt, garlic, pepper, and red food coloring.
- Add in the pork, making sure that all of the pieces are evenly coated. Marinate overnight.
- In a small pot, add in the pork and water. Simmer on medium heat for 10-15 minutes, until all of the liquid is cooked off.
- Remove the pork from the pot. Add in the vegetable oil. Add the pork to the oil. Cook for 5 minutes, allowing the sugars from the pork to caramelize.
