CHEF SAMBRANO: FRIED PORK WITH TOMATO AND ONIONS

Sunday, May 24, 2015

FRIED PORK WITH TOMATO AND ONIONS

Fried pork, with tomato and onions is a favorite of my Filipino culture, our foodie culture, our love to eat with beer, our love to eat it for lunch or dinner, or even as the protein sitting on top of English muffins for Eggs Benedict. Yeah you heard me, fried pork baby!

We love to get a piece of belly pork, and deep fry it so it's crispy all over, and crunchy. Different cooks have different methods to make belly pork crispy. Some will take a pound or so, and boil it until it softens up because the skin on bell pork can be tough. The final product we all want is a very crispy crust but sort of juicy in the center.

My method.

1 lb. of belly pork.. multiply for more.
Score the skin a few times with a paring knife.
Take the pork, and cut it into bite size pieces.
Get a pot of boiling water going, and place all the pieces in the boiling water.
Lower heat, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove and drain well. Place pieces on a strainer and drain out all the water.
Place the pieces on to a pan, and refrigerate for about 8 hours.

Remove to room temperature, and heat up about 3 cups of vegetable oil and bring it to hot, test by putting a small piece of bread inside if it starts to bubble and get golden, that's the temperature you want. Working in small batches, fry each piece of pork until golden brown. Continue to fry the rest, place in bowl lined with paper towels. Never crowd the pan you're frying with, the less pieces of pork you have inside the hot oil, the quicker it will turn golden.

Now for the tomato and onions, basically our version of salsa. Only difference from the Mexican version is we add in Patis (Pah tees) fish sauce. This is easy to make, take about 8 oz. of cherry or grape tomatoes, and one medium red round onion, and slice the tomato in half, and rough chop the onion. Toss with parsley if you like for color. Add in a dash of salt and pepper, and about 1/4 cup of fish sauce. You can use any fish sauce you can get, try and use patis the Filipino version it comes in various brands. Also add a twist of lemon or lime to it too.

To serve place a few saucers for each diner, chopsticks or forks have the pork on one platter, and the tomatoes and onion in a small bowl with a spoon, the fish sauce in a small bowl with a spoon. And dig in.