Here comes the sun

Five summers ago I dried my own chilies, it was that hot out. This year, the season’s just warming up, says PAGASA, maybe reach record-breaking levels in the coming months. I pray that the weather bureau’s wrong, but as long as I’m staying in, I figured I might as well make beef kosahos (better known as tapa) the traditional way. Rather them in the sun than me.

It’s my first attempt at curing meat, and I goof up in all the ways that count: I over-salt, then over-dry. The salt comes as a surprise; I hadn’t considered that beef contains up to 70% water (leaner cuts even more; see the USDA advisory), and displacing all that moisture leaves behind nothing but salt. Indeed, the meat weighs at least 75% less when dried (I used sirloin, BTW). And mine is not only dry, but thoroughly so — it’s desiccated (I left it under the sun for a full day).

Another point: in my zeal to keep the kosahos as “authentic” as possible, I had used only salt and garlic, so the taste is not only one-dimensional, but one-dimensionally salty.

For Round Two, I halve the salt, add a bit of sugar (sod authenticity), then the usual smashed garlic (native) with skin on, plus ground black pepper, and marinate the meat in the refrigerator overnight before drying out in the sun, but this time for only two hours. Do I really have to tell you that it came out much better? But still not as good as hoped for.

(And nowhere near as huge a disappointment as my attempt at preserving kalamansi. These I sun-dried as well, then mixed with sugar and sour plum powder. The result: bitter juice. “I could’ve told you that,” my father said.)

Ah, how I wish Lola Nena were still around to show me these things! I don’t recall her making kosahos, beef not being an everyday commodity then as it is now (and not even that much, at least here), but I bet she knew enough to tell me what I’m doing wrong. Boys and girls, if you are so fortunate, and as long as you are staying home this summer, seek out your elders; talk to them; solicit their wisdom and advice. You can only learn so much from the Internet.