Filipino Pork Barbecue

Michael's mom makes great barbecue. Her sons request it fairly often, to the point that she doesn't really enjoy making it anymore. Still, it's a rare treat when we get to have it. A few months ago I bought a Filipino cookbook in order to learn some recipes on my own. Not wanting to steal Juanita's thunder, when I decided to make Filipino barbecue for Labor Day, I took to my cookbook, rather than asking for her recipe, knowing that it would not be exactly the same. (Plus, knowing the recipe so well, she just eye balls all of the ingredients, which would have been of no help to me).

This recipe consists of marinated, thin slices of pork, threaded onto skewers before they are grilled. Slicing the meat thin is the only part of the recipe that requires any skill; if you have a decent knife, it's easier than I expected. This recipe calls for three pounds of pork; since it would be just the two of us eating it, I cut up three pork steaks but used the same amount of marinade. That amount of meat produced 14 skewers.

I was a little iffy on the marinade before tasting it - wasn't sure about the ketchup. After repeatedly reminding Michael that "this is not your mother's barbecue," I was happy to discover that it tastes very similar to Juanita's version. So was he. In fact, he told me that was both good and bad for me - good that I made something so delicious. Bad that he'll now be requesting this regularly.

Pork Barbecue

Source: Phillipine Recipes Made Easy by Violetta A. Noriega

Serves 6-8

3 lbs boneless pork, sliced 1/4" thick, 2" wide

Bamboo or metal skewers

Marinade:

1/4 cup vinegar

3 Tbsp soy sauce

3 Tbsp sugar

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)

1/4 tsp black ground pepper or to taste

3/4 tsp salt or to taste

1/4 cup ketchup

In a bowl, mix marinade together and let stand for 15 minutes. Marinade pork slices for six hours or overnight (the longer the better) in the refridgerator. Stir meat occasionally to evenly distribute flavor.

Prepare barbecue equipment. Soak skewers (if wooden) in water for at least an hour. Thread meat onto skewers. Placed skewered meat on hot grill. Brush marinade on pork during the course of cooking. Make sure meat is cooked through. Serve immediately.

Quick Ensaymadas (Filipino Sweet Rolls)

I grew up in your standard Midwestern household. When we'd go out to eat, the most exotic we'd get would be Mexican or Chinese. When I got together with my husband, a whole new culinary world opened up to me. His parents are from Manila and his mom is an excellent cook, so I was introduced to lots of delicious new dishes from the Philippines. One treat in particular, ensaymada, is a sweet roll with butter, cheese and sugar. Until recently I had only had pre-packaged ensaymada from Goldilocks Bakery.

Michael's parents usually had a stash in their freezer from relatives who visited from California. In my attempts to learn how to cook some traditional Filipino dishes, I recently bought a cookbook of Filipino cuisine. The other night I realized I had all (four) of the ingredients needed for Quick Ensaymada, so I thought I'd try it. So glad I did. This tastes pretty much like the real thing. Maybe even better, as it's smaller and likely quite a bit better for us (or less bad, depending on your outlook).

Since we generally start with frozen ensaymada, we tend to microwave ours before eating, so the cheese is pretty melted. According to this recipe, that's not how you'd normally eat it.

Source: Philippine Recipes Made Easy by Violeta A. Noriega

Hawaiian sweet rolls
Butter or margarine
Sugar
Shredded cheddar cheese

Butter your roll, dredge in sugar and top with cheese. (I then microwaved for 11 seconds). Enjoy. Because seriously, you will.