Estofadong baboy

Pork caramelised in sugar before any liquid goes in, then braised with vinegar and fried saba.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg pork belly, in 4 cm cubes
• 40 g dark muscovado sugar
• 60 ml soy sauce
• 60 ml vinegar
• 4 saba bananas, in thick slices
• 1 onion, sliced
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed
• 300 ml water
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 3 tablespoons oil

Method

1. THE SUGAR GOES IN BEFORE ANY LIQUID, and this is where it parts from the lengua estofado on this site. There the tongue is boiled for two and a half hours and only then meets a sauce. Here raw pork is turned in melting sugar until each cube is lacquered dark, and everything afterwards is built on that.
2. Melt the muscovado in the oil in a heavy pan over a medium heat until it foams and darkens, about 2 minutes.
3. Pork in at once, in a single layer, and turned every minute for 8 to 10 minutes until the cubes are mahogany on all sides. Do it in two batches -- crowded, they release water and boil in it instead of catching.
4. Watch it. Sugar that has gone from dark to black takes the whole dish with it, and the margin is under a minute.
5. Garlic and onion in, 3 minutes.
6. Vinegar in and LEFT WITHOUT STIRRING for 3 minutes at a boil. Stirred while raw, the vinegar is still sharp at the table.
7. Soy, water, bay and peppercorns in. Cover and simmer 1 hour 15, until the pork cuts with a spoon.
8. Fry the saba slices separately in a little oil until gold at the edges, 3 minutes.
9. Lid off and boil the sauce down 10 minutes, until it coats the pork in a thick glaze.
10. Saba folded in for the last 2 minutes only. In earlier they dissolve and the dish goes sickly.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes