Oven Smoked Pork BBQ Ribs

Ingredients:

(2)Two meaty slabs fresh pork ribs

Smoke Marinade:
Liquid smoke
Fresh cracked black pepper
Coarse Hawaiian or Kosher rock salt
MSG (optional)

Dry Rub:
Chili powder
Garlic powder
Paprika powder
Onion powder

Procedure:

Remove as much of the thin membrane as you can from the bone side of the slabs and then wash them off and dry with paper towels. Rub ribs with a good amount of the smoke marinade and finally the dry rub. Allow them to stand at room temperature for about half an hour. If you can leave them over night, all the better.
Heat your oven to 250°. Lay ribs, bone side down, on racks and cook for about 5 hours or until the meat pulls away from the bone.

During the last ½ hour, you may choose to baste or mop the ribs with your favorite bbq sauce. If you use a thick barbeque sauce, cut it down with water so the sugar in the sauce doesn't burn and ruin all your hard work.

Enjoy!! :)

Oven Smoked Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

Smoke Marinade:
(2)Two 8-10lb Boston Pork Butts or Pork shoulder
Liquid smoke
Fresh cracked black pepper
Coarse Hawaiian or Kosher rock salt
MSG (optional)

Dry Rub:
Chili powder
Garlic powder
Paprika powder
Onion powder

Procedure:

Rub 8-10 lb untrimmed shoulder or pork butts with a good amount of the smoke marinade. Don't skimp! Let it stand for 15-20 minutes at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator. Place it, fat side up, in a large aluminum roasting pan and apply dry rub all over the meat. Don't be stingy! Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Place butts in oven and cook for 10 to 12 hours, maintaining a temperature of 250 degrees F. Begin checking meat for doneness after 10 hours of cooking time. Use fork to check for doneness. Meat is done when it falls apart easily when pulling with a fork. Once done, remove from oven and set aside to rest for at least 1 hour. Pull meat apart with 2 forks or slice and serve as a sandwich with coleslaw and bbq sauce as desired.

We ate ours with steamed asparagus spears, brown rice, apple sauce and of course the bbq sauce!

Enjoy!

:)

Texas Oven Smoked BBQ Beef Brisket

Ingredients:

11-12 lb. beef brisket
Garlic powder
MSG (optional)
Paprika powder
Hawaiian coarse rock sea salt or Kosher salt
Fresh coarse cracked black pepper
Liquid Smoke
Barbecue sauce

Procedure:

Pour Liquid Smoke over brisket, placed in a aluminum foil pan then generously sprinkle garlic, paprika, MSG, salt, and black pepper.

Place the beef brisket in the refrigerator overnight, covered.

When ready to cook, sprinkle both sides of meat with all spices again. Oven "smoke" for 5 hours uncovered in a 250 degree oven (very slow oven). Place foil over top of meat and sides of pan so meat will lie in good juices while it cooks for another 5 hours. Then uncover meat and pour/brush barbecue sauce over it and bake one more hour. (Allow to cool at least 1 hour before slicing. May crumble if served hot.) Once the meat has cooked the suggested five hours, it will have the appearance of a large piece of charcoal. Don't be alarmed! Smell it. Pull off a sacrificial end piece and try it. Wow! How good is that? Sneak a piece of meat every now and then. When the strands fall apart, or the inside of the brisket reaches around 200°, your brisket is ready. :)

Cut brisket across the grain. Serve with barbecue sauce on the side. Try not to smother it with too much sauce. You still want to preserve the savory smoky tender slices. mmmmm yum!!

We ate it with brown rice and steamed asparagus spears and butter garlic steak mushrooms.

Enjoy!! :)

Pata Tim (Braised Oyster Sauce Pork Shank)

Ingredients:

1 pork leg shank and feet
Enough Canola oil for deep frying

Master Sauce Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced fine
2 inch knuckle of fresh ginger root, sliced lengthwise in half and crushed
4 star anise
1 cup soy sauce
2 cups water
1/2 cup whiskey or shaoxing wine
2 cinnamon sticks

Oyster Sauce Gravy Ingredients:

2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 cup water
1 Tbsp tapioca or corn starch with 1 cup of water mix well into a slurry.

Procedure:

Rinse and clean pork leg shank and feet.
Combine mastersauce ingredients and bring to a boil in a pot large enough to braise pork leg.
Place pork leg into pot and bring to a boil and turn down heat to a nice simmer. Braise meat for 2 hours or until tender. Baste every now and then.
Take out tender pieces of pork, drain and cool.
Heat Canola oil in wok for deep frying.
Deep fry leg until skin is brown and little crisp. Do not burn. Take out and drain excess oil.
Add deep fried pork leg into boiling hot water for 2 minutes to remove greasiness. Drain, cool and set aside.
In the wok add 1 cup water and oyster sauce and sesame oil. Bring to a boil and add tapioca starch slurry to thicken gravy.
Take pork leg and put in a serving dish that can be used in a steamer. Pour gravy over pork leg and place in steamer. Steam for one hour until pork leg is super tender and soft.
Garnish with Chinese parsley or cilantro.

Serve with hot steamed white rice

Enjoy!! :)

Okinawan Pig's Feet Soup (Ashi Tebichi)

Ashi Tebichi

Ingredients:

4-5 lbs foreleg and pig's feet, pre-cut and cleaned
12 cups water
1 thumb-sized piece ginger, sliced
2 strips nishime kombu
8 medium dried shiitake mushrooms
8 medium daikon (turnip), peeled and cut into large chunks
1/4 cup soy sauce or miso
1 teaspoon Hawaiian salt
2 tablespoons sake or straight whiskey
1 small bunch mustard cabbage, parboiled and cut in 2-inch lengths (may substitute watercress or winter melon)
1 bunch chinese parsley or cilantro

Procedure:

The day before, cover pig's feet in water and bring to a rolling boil; drain and rinse. Return pig's feet to pot and cover with the 12 cups water. Boil for 10 minutes at high heat. Reduce heat to medium for 15 minutes, then add ginger. Cook 1 hour more until meat is tender. Refrigerate pig's feet and stock separately overnight.The next day, remove fat from refrigerated stock. Wash kombu; tie knots about 3 inches apart. Cut into sections. Soak shiitake in warm water with a pinch of sugar, 20 to 30 minutes. Reserve liquid; cut mushrooms into quarters, discarding stems.
Combine reserved mushroom water with enough stock to make 7 cups. Add pig's feet, kombu, mushrooms and daikon; cook 10 minutes. Add soy or miso, salt and sake; cover and simmer 1 hour, gently stirring 2 or 3 times.

Just before serving, add mustard cabbage. Grated ginger may be served as a condiment with chinese parsley or cilantro.

Serves 10-12

Enjoy!! :)

Hawaiian Pork Laulau Recipe

Ingredients:

1 roll heavy duty aluminum foil
4-6 lbs fresh taro (lu'au) leaves, leaves deveined and stems peeled (cut into 1"x 1" pieces0
6 lbs of fresh or frozen pork butt cubed 1"x 1"
4 lbs of fresh or frozen belly pork cubed 1"x 1"
Hawaiian coarse rock or kosher salt
MSG (optional)
Fresh cracked black pepper
2-3 tier steamer pot or pressure cooker

Procedure:

Mix pork butt and belly pork fat in a mixing bowl. Add salt, Msg, and pepper. Mix and let stand for spices to marinate meat for about 30 minutes. Amount of spices to add is by pinches. You will have to adjust to your preference. Less is better.
Rinse leaves and stems and set aside in a separate bowl.
Precut foil sheets to approximately 8"x 10". Make as much sheets as needed or until you run out of meat and taro leaves.
You will be making little foil packages. Here goes.
On one foil sheet, place 2 taro leaves in center. Add 2 pieces of meat and fat (equal amounts). Add a few pieces of taro stems.
Continue by folding in leaves and foil into the center tightly to contain the meat and leaves. The foil package should be like the picture.
Traditional laulau making is hard work using Ti leaves in place of the foil and sometimes tied with butcher's twine. I learned this recipe from my good neighbor George Keala Sr. while growing up in Kalihi. He had his own luau catering business and told me why work harder when you can make easy "juicy" laulaus instead of typical dry ones you buy at the market or restaurants.
Fill steamer pot with water and as much laulaus you can fit into each tier. steam for 6 hours and keep replenishing water levels.
With a pressure cooker you need to fill with water to appropriate level and add laulaus. Bring pressure to 40 psi and cook for 1 hour.
Laulaus will come out juicy. Eat with steamed whit rice or traditional poi (Hawaiian style mashed taro paste). Our family loves it with tabasco and soy sauce.

Yields about 40-50 mini laulaus!!

Freeze the rest for easy quick meals.

Enjoy!!
:)

Crispy Deep Fried Chicken Legs with a Turkey Fryer

Ingredients:

20 lbs fresh whole chicken legs (drumstick and thigh section)
coarse Hawaiian rock or kosher salt
MSG (optional)
garlic powder
fresh cracked medium ground black pepper
enough peanut oil for deep frying

Instructions:

1. Rinse chicken pieces and drain in colander.
2. Place chicken into a big stainless steel mixing bowl and add warm water to cover chicken and 2 tablespoons of rocksalt to create your salt brine that will marinate the chicken through.
3. Soak chicken for 30-45 mintes and drain again in colander.
4. Add pepper, MSG, and garlic power. Sprinkle liberal amounts all over and mix chicken parts with clean hands.
5. Heat peanut oil in turkey deep fryer. Use deep fryer thermometer and preheat to 400 degrees for 10 minutes and lower heat to 375 for the initial frying.
6. Place seasoned chicken pieces into the deep fryer basket(do not overcrowd) and carefully lower into hot oil. Be cautious as oil will splatter. Wear heatproof mitts and cooking aprons and long metal thongs.
7. When chicken is completely immersed in oil, cook chicken for 15-20 minutes or until cripsy and golden brown. Watch your timer. Lift out basket slowly from turkey cooker and drain chicken in basket.
8. Take out chicken and place in serving pan to cool for 10 minutes
   for additional stand time. Chicken will still be cooking in the inside and steam itself nice and juicy. Deep fried turkey is a little bit more touchy because of the sheer size of a whole bird going into hot oil.

I'll post that recipe and pictures from the next family get together or coming up holiday occasion. This chicken is plain and simple. No flour or breading was used. The skin will be crispy and the meat inside will be moist and juicy. All you need is your favorite condiments like soy sauce, catsup, tabasco, lemon (kalamansi) juice and or barbecue sauce.
Everybody was suprised because a family member would usually bring KFC Original Recipe Chicken to gatherings. So clean crispy fried chicken was a delight to all.

So there you go. Let's kaukau!! Enjoy! :)

Homemade Teriyaki Barbecue Chicken

Since posting the Teri BBQ Shortribs recipe it wouldn't be right not to include another Hawaiian favorite in the fast food plate lunch business. This recipe is another bestseller plate lunch at L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. The simple recipe is the same for the shortribs only thing you use boneless skinless chicken thighs. You may use chicken thighs with the skin on if you prefer.

Ingredients:

1 frozen bag of instant quick frozen boneless skinless chicken thighs
enough Teriyaki Sauce/Marinade to soak the chicken thighs
enough canola oil for pan frying

Instructions:

Thaw quick frozen chicken thighs in running water and drain in collander. Pat dry with paper towels and set aside in mixing bowl. Pour enough Teriyaki sauce to nicely cover the chicken thighs evenly. Marinade overnight 8-10 hours. The longer the meat soaks the more tender the chicken will be when cooked. I have cooked chicken soaked for 2 days in the sauce and the chicken didn't come out salty.

Cooking procedure:

In a hot frying pan add 2 Tbsp canola oil. When oil starts to smoke add chicken thighs to sear and lower heat to medium. Fry thighs well done and brown on both sides. Let it char a little bit for that bbq flavor. Do not burn. Serve with hot steamed white rice and macaroni salad.

Enjoy!!

Tortang Talong Kapampangan Style (Eggplant Omelette)

Today we spent the whole day at my brother in law Les's place. He and my sister in law Cathy cooked one of my favorite dishes which was "Tortang Talong" for lunch and for dinner I cooked Pork Kaldereta. This recipe is also one of Cathy's favorite Kapampangan comfort foods that she misses from the motherland. Ilocanos have a variation to this which is plain egg torta with eggplant but this one has hamburger, diced potatoes, minced onions and garlic. Also in prepping it filipinos either grill it over an open flame or electric burner or boiled in water then the charred or boiled skin is peeled and removed from the succulent green flesh of the eggplant. One tortang is enough to feed one person, but for me I can always go for two! :) So here is the recipe!

Tortang Talong Kapampangan Style

Ingredients:

4 eggs
4 large long eggplants
2 lb ground beef
1 round yellow onion, chopped and minced fine
2 large fresh garlic cloves, chopped and minced fine
1 large russet potato, peeled and diced
dash fresh cracked black pepper
dash MSG to taste (optional)
1 Tbsp patis or fish sauce (nuoc mam)
canola oil for pan frying

Instructions:

Grill eggplant over an open flame or electric burner. My wife prefers it boiled because its a lot cleaner without the charred taste. Most filipinos love the charred flavor.
Peel skin and rinse under cold running water to remove charred skin. Set aside and drain in paper towels to remove moisture.

Crack 4 eggs in a mixing bowl and scramble. Do not over scramble because you will make it too thin. Add pepper, patis, and MSG. Set aside for later.

In a hot frying pan add 2 Tbsp canola oil. Add minced garlic and onions. Fry until translucent. Add ground beef and brown and cook well done. Mash hamburger up and add diced potatoes. Continue cooking until potatoes and hamburger cooks down. Drain excess oil and set aside to cool in another bowl.

Add 1 Tbsp canola oil to a frying pan and set on medium heat. Smash and flatten drained eggplant and dip in beaten egg mixture. Fry one eggplant at a time. Add hamburger mixture to eggplant and flatten with spatula. Add more egg to eggplant if needed to coat hamburger mixture. Flip over to brown both sides. Lower flame to cook well. Be careful not to burn Tortang Talong. Repeat method for 3 other eggplant. Serve with steamed hot rice.

Yields 4 servings.








































































































































Serve with ketchup/catsup or filipino style with kalamansi lime, soy sauce and patis as a dipping sauce. Other variations are patis, vinegar and or soy sauce etc.

Enjoy!!! :D

Homemade Teriyaki BBQ Shortribs just like L&L Drive Inn!

Ok it's been a while since my last posting. Here is a recipe for everybody on the Mainland USA and beyond that miss local Hawaiian style plate lunches and for those who never had a local Hawaiian plate lunch. Especially the ones made famous from L&L Hawaiian Barbecue which is Hawaii's #1 fast food takeout restaurant franchise with 100 locations from the west to east coast and growing.
This recipe is a clone of their Hawaiian Barbecue Shortribs. After careful trial and error and googling the net for similar recipes, my recipe could put you in the plate lunch business. lol :) Please note that this recipe is for 10-15 people for a potluck bbq cookout party. You may soak a little meat at a time and cook the amount of meat at your preference or whenever you crave Hawaiian plate lunch bbq. You may grill the shortribs over charcoal or propane but the way L&L does it is just on a flat metal griddle or grill with oil. Grilling the meat over a flame is ok if you prefer it that way but oil in a saute' pan keeps the meat moist and tender and a little bit greasy! mmmmmmmmm!! lol :D

Teriyaki BBQ Shortribs

Teriyaki Sauce/Marinade Ingredients:
1 5lb tray USDA Choice beef shortribs thinly sliced
6 cups hot water
3 cups brown sugar
6 cups Aloha Shoyu Lower Salt Soy Sauce
1/4 cup shaoxing wine or straight whiskey
8 large fresh garlic cloves, minced fine
2-3 inch knuckle of fresh ginger root, peeled and minced fine
1 can frozen orange juice concentrate
Canola oil for pan frying
Yields: 1 gallon of sauce

Procedure:
Water must be hot enough to dissolve sugar so heat water in a large saucepan or pot. Combine water, sugar, and soy sauce. Stir to blend with wire whisk until sugar is completely dissolved.
Add the ginger, garlic, wine, and orange juice. Stir to blend well.
Transfer to a container and store in fridge.
Add shortribs to clean container for marinating. Cover with teriyaki sauce/marinade and soak overnight for about 4-8 hours. The sauce isn't overly salty or sweet. The longer the marinade process the more tender, sweeter, and saltier the meat will become. About 6 hours or so is just right.
Cooking Procedure:
Add 1 Tbsp canola oil to a large frying or saute' pan over medium high heat.
When the pan begins to smoke, place marinated shortrib pieces into the pan. Let it cook until seared and lightly charred on both sides.
Serve with steamed hot white rice and macaroni salad just like L&L. :)
Enjoy!!! :D

Homemade Zippy's Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

1 3-4lb fresh whole fryer chicken
2 cups wheat flour
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp paprika
2 tsp white pepper
1 Tbsp MSG
2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
2 big pinches of coarse Hawaiian rock or kosher salt
enough canola oil for deep frying
enough warm water to cover chicken

Instructions:

Rinse and cut up chicken into parts easy for frying. Drain and in colander and put in clean mixing bowl and cover with warm water. Add 2 big pinches of Hawaiian rock or kosher salt to bowl to create a salt brine for the chicken. Soak chicken parts for 10 minutes. Drain in collander and do not rinse.
In another mixing bowl add dry ingredients such as flour, garlic powder, paprika, white/black pepper, and MSG. Mix with wire wisk or blend in a blender to remove flour lumps.
Add drained chicken pieces to mixing bowl of dry ingredients. Dredge chicken parts well to make sure it covers the whole piece. Shake excess flour off of chicken and set aside on tray or cookie sheet while you're heating up oil.
Heat canola oil in wok, deep frying pan, or dedicated deep fryer with oil enough to cover chicken pieces. Heat oil to 350-375 degrees F. Add chicken in 2 batches. Chicken batches will cook for approximately 15mins or until golden brown all over. Drain on paper towels and keep in 150 degree oven to keep warm.

A secret to cooking the chicken thighs thoroughly without getting a bloody vein is to use the blunt side of a knife or cleaver to break the thigh bone.
The secret of Zippy's Crispy Fried Chicken is the paprika and flour. The paprika and flour will make the chicken crispy without it being overly battered. Adding a bit of cornstarch will make it even more crispier if you prefer it this way. The more paprika you add will also make the chicken darker.

My brother in law worked for Zippy's Restaurants in the mid 80's starting his career in the food service industry. He told me that back then they used pressure fryers to make broasted chicken which is a trademarked name by the Broaster Corporation for their pressure cooked/fried chicken cooking process. According to recent sources, Zippy's now use regular commercial deep fryers to create their signature cripsy fried chicken and use Tyson chicken thighs exclusively for their $18 12-piece buckets and $28 21-piece barrels.















Enjoy!! Use chicken thighs and it should definitely look and taste exactly like Zippy's either hot or cold!!

Get your rice, chili and macaroni salad ready people!! :)

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Over the past weeks I've been having an obsession with fried chicken. My wife sparked it again with her craving for Zippy's Fried Chicken and Zippy's Signature Chili combination plate. I've always had an obsession with making the closest recipe to KFC Original Recipe Fried Chicken and or Zippy's Fried Chicken which is a long time favorite among the local Hawaiian residents. There are many fried chicken recipes on the internet especially for KFC Chicken. I've tried my share in the past when I started to learn more about cooking while growing up. Tonight for dinner I made Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix. I was prompted to make this recipe because I didn't have any flour or cornstarch in the cupboard except for a big bag of instant buttermilk pancake mix. They had other variations of this recipe which used just the water and the pancake mix. I opted not to add water and instead used the mix as a flour dredge. I might add it came out pretty well with the addition of Mrs. Dash Original Spice Blend. Here is the recipe.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

1 3-4 lb whole fresh fryer chicken, cut up in pieces for frying
2 cups Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix
2 Tbsp Hawaiian rock sea salt or kosher rock salt
1 tsp MSG (optional)
Dash fresh cracked black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp Mrs. Dash Original Spice Blend
canola oil for frying

Instructions:

Cut up whole chicken in pieces and rinse in cold water and drain in strainer. Put pieces in mixing bowl add sea salt and cover with warm tap water. Mix and soak for 10 minutes. Drain from brine and set aside. In another mixing bowl add pancake mix, pepper, Mrs. Dash spices, MSG, and pepper. Mix by hand dry ingredients until blended well. Add pieces of chicken meat to dredge in pancake mix. Coat pieces evenly all over and shake off excess flour mixture. The warm brine will make dry ingredients adhere to chicken. Set dredged pieces on a cookie sheet to rest while you heat a frying pan or wok with canola oil. Add enough oil to about 3 inches deep. Oil should be about 375 degrees F. Fry chicken in 2 batches and do not overcrowd wok or the temperature will drop and the chicken will soak up the oil. Each batch takes approximately 15 minutes to cook. Turn pieces with thongs or chopsticks to cook chicken evenly on both sides. Chicken pieces will brown and crisp nicely. Drain chicken on paper towels and cool before serving.

Serves 4













Easy fried chicken with instant pancake mix!

My wife ate her chicken with brown rice and buttered corn niblets. The Colonel would've been proud! lol :)















Enjoy!! :)

Meatball and Egg Sarciado

Well another weekend request from my wife. This time her cravings for meaty meatballs came into play for Meatball and Egg Sarciado. Sarciado is a tomato base sauce with simple ingredients like garlic, onions, a splash of patis (fish sauce) and vinegar with a slight subtle sweetness. This time the main ingredient is meatballs and hard boiled eggs. I made a plain Egg Sarciado for my wife before that came out pretty good for my protein diet. The tomato sauce gives it a rich flavor to it. Here is the recipe.

Meatball and Egg Sarciado

Ingredients:

12 eggs hard boiled and shelled
3-4 lbs of fresh ground beef, rolled into 1/2 inch diameter meatballs (pre-season with salt and pepper)
1 egg
1 large whole tomato, sliced
2 cloves of fresh garlic, crushed and minced fine
Dash fresh cracked black pepper
patis (fish sauce/nuoc mam) to taste
vinegar to taste
MSG to taste (optional)
1 bay laurel leaf, ripped in half
1 small onion, sliced
1 Tbsp canola oil
1-2 cups water, more or less
1 8oz can tomato sauce or 1/4 cup tomato paste
1-2 tsp Splenda or sugar

Instructions:

In a pot place 12 eggs and cover with water. Bring to a boil then lower to a medium heat and cook eggs hardboiled for about 15 minutes. Rinse in running cold water and peel shells off of eggs. Drain from water and set aside for later.
Prepare meatballs by mixing ground beef in a mixing bowl with salt and pepper and egg. Mix well and roll into meatballs.
Heat oil in frying pan and brown meatballs until well done. Do not burn. Drain on paper towels.
In same frying pan saute garlic, onions, tomatoes and bay leaf until onions are translucent. Do not burn garlic.
Add tomato paste and water and let boil for 2 minutes. Season with black pepper and MSG.
Add meatballs and hardboiled eggs. Splash patis and vinegar to taste. Adjust flavor to your preference. Add Splenda to desired sweetness. Simmer for 10 minutes to let sauce cook down and thicken.

Serves 6

Serve with hot steamed white or brown rice.

Enjoy!!

Lasang Pinoy and what it meant to me...

I know its kinda late but I would like to share my thoughts of Lasang Pinoy to make the roundup. I don't recall much of what I did on August 21, 1983. It was summer vacation for me in the 11th grade as a junior in high school transitioning to become a senior. I was 16 years old and remember seeing footage on local Hawaii TV news about the slaying of Senator Benigno Ninoy Aquino Jr. I thought to myself how evil a person or persons were to do such a dreadful thing to a good man. I remember thinking about President Ferdinand Marcos and the news stating his implication in the event soon after. It was confusing times for me. I really didn't see the ramifications it had on Hawaii's filipino population and the rest of the world. Although most of the filipinos of Hawaii were of Ilocano descent and strong Marcos supporters, there was a definite rift in the communities. I remember watching Cory Aquino and her EDSA Revolution on TV as it unfolded and also when President Marcos and his family fled to the US and stayed in Hawaii until his death in 1993 from cardiac arrest. His body was in a air-conditioned mausoleum not too far from where we lived in Valley of the Temples Memorial Park in Kahalu'u, Hawaii. Such a turbulent time. Who would ever thought I would go to the Philippines 20 years later to meet my beautiful loving wife and see my homeland. All in all I knew it was a good thing that resulted by the death of a great man for the people of the Philippines and to the end of martial law and the Marcos dictatorship.

Born and raised as a chubby filipino-american boy, I was always proud of my culture and heritage. It has always been a deep longing in my heart to learn more of my roots about my family on both my parents sides. My dad's family from the north of the Philippines in Ilocos Norte and to the south my mother's side in the Visayas. Filipino Cuisine has always been a part of me while growing up and watching my grandfather prep and cook for big weddings with a few of his friends toiling at huge carbon steel woks over 50 gallon barrel halves over open charcoal wood fires. There were no such thing as propane burners, everything was cooked over an open fire to which was controlled by feeding or starving the flame for the perfect temperature. Litson Baboy or lechon, dinadaraan or dinuguan, pinakbet or diningdeng and various kakanin such as bibingka and suman were highlight favorites of my youth as well as my siblings. Filipino food brings back so much memories of growing up. Such comfort food where it felt so safe and secure like a warm cuddly blanket.

Everytime I cook I think of my late grandfathers and how they taught me to cook. And the way I think they would have taught me for the dishes I learned on my own. My Kapampangan wife Aurora is a great inspiration and motivator for me. It's her that broadened my horizons to what excellent filipino cuisine is all about. Even though she doesn't really cook at all. Well she just eats like all spoiled rich filipina girls in the Phils. Here in America we didn't have the luxury of a maid, cook, and or yaya (nursemaid). Going to the Philippines was a culture shock and eye opener for me. It has made me a better person and husband in understanding my wife and the filipino way of thinking.

Deep Fried Crispy Pork Filets with Katsu Sauce

Today for lunch we had Deep Fried Crispy Skin Pork Filets with katsu sauce from scratch. Nothing special but just good eating!! :) Here is the recipe.

Deep Fried Crispy Pork Filets

Ingredients:

2-3 lbs boneless pork shoulder butt, sliced into thin filets and tenderized (pounded)
2 eggs scrambled
2 cups tapioca starch or cornstarch
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Hawaiian or kosher rock salt to taste
MSG to taste (optional)
enough canola oil for deep frying

Katsu sauce:

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp Tabasco chili pepper sauce for spicyness
1/4 cup brown sugar
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
2-4 Tbsp vinegar to taste for extra tangyness
2 Tbsp tapioca starch or cornstarch with 1 cup of water, mix well (thickener)
Add all ingredeients in saucepan and bring to a boil then simmer. Add tapioca starch slurry to thicken sauce. Remove from heat and serve as dipping sauce for crispy pork.


Instructions:

Season pork filets with salt, pepper, and MSG. Mix well and let stand for 5 minutes. Heat oil in wok to approximately 375 degrees F. Dip pork filets in egg wash and dredge in tapioca starch. Drop in hot oil and deep fry until brown and filets float to the top. Drain on paper towels. Let cool and chop into pieces. Serve along side with katsu sauce.

Serves 4






























The meat on the left is just plain deep fried pork without the breading...

Enjoy!! Onolicious!! :D