Tocino Recipe

Tocino or tosino is a cured meat product native to the Philippines. It is usually made out of pork and is similar to ham and bacon. It is often reddish in color and has a sweetish taste. Its name derived from the Spanish word tocino, which is used to describe bacon or cured meat.

I prepared tocino yesterday and it was my first try. I bought 1 kilo of pork (pigue) and 1/4 pork fat sliced into 1/4-inch thick. I researched (online) for its recipe but I found out that some of the ingredients are not available at our public market, so I experimented a bit. I didn't put any food coloring.

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo of pork and 1/4 kilo of pork fat, sliced into 1/4 inch thick
• 1-1/2 tablespoons of salt
• 10 tablespoons of brown sugar
• garlic powder
• black ground pepper
  
• 100 mL of soda (i used sprite)
• 400 mL pineapple juice
• vetsin

Procedure:

• Combine sugar, salt, pepper, vetsin and garlic powder.
  

• Coat the sliced pork evenly in the mixture. Put in a container then pour soda and pineapple juice. Cover it and keep refrigerated for at least 24 hours.

I just cooked it with water, not oil. Well, my mother liked it. I also shared some to my friends. This is one of my favorite dishes so it doesn't really matter to me if it's served 3 meals a day :) Too bad I forgot to take a photo..maybe next time.