The cure

I told my friend Balot we already had enough pork jerky to last us the rest of the year, but she brought some anyway. I would later learn she had purchased, like, a hundred kilos in extra baggage allowance. “In that case,” I said, “I wouldn’t have minded if you’d brought more.” It was good jerky, see (a Taiwanese brand via Hong Kong), light on sugar and generous with black pepper, just the inspiration I needed for my attempt at tocino.

Now I am really more of a tapa guy. In fact, it is the only cured meat I ever order for a -silog dish. Tocino and longganisa? Too sweet. Too red. In short, boring. Relishing Balot’s gift, it dawned on me that they did not have to be so, and could even use a spicy kick — an opportunity to dip into my stash of Kampot and Sichuan peppercorns. This, shortly after I wrote back another good friend who had asked for tapa and tocino recipes. “Really now,” I had essentially said to her (she is also an accomplished baker), “must you make everything yourself?” Wey.

I actually ended up making two batches of tocino, the first with just sugar, salt, granulated garlic, ground black pepper, annato powder (for color), and pineapple juice — the last to supposedly tenderize the pork. Instead I got dry, flaky tocino. It was also too sweet and not spicy enough. The next time around, I dropped any pretense of doing it the traditional way, and worked spices and condiments (including fish sauce and two kinds of soy) into the pork in increments, tasting along the way until to my satisfaction. To hedge against spoilage and bacterial contamination, I added the recommended ½ teaspoon of Prague powder (#1) for each kilo of meat.

Was it any good? For my money, better than any tocino I have so far tasted (which has not really been much). That bacon was juicy and tender and just this shade of red. Will I be making it again? Honestly, I doubt it; I still prefer tapa with my egg and fried rice. Too bad I can’t seem to get that one right.

Black Pepper Tocino

Have your butcher slice skinless pork belly into ⅛-inch strips, then slice again into bite-size pieces (the smaller/thinner, the better the flavor absorption and color distribution). Add more sugar if you like your tocino sweeter. If without Sichuan pepper, use regular black pepper. Dry-roast peppercorns before using to bring out flavor. You can obviously use less (or none) of the pepper, but then you would have regular (if still not traditional) tocino.

• 1 kilo pork belly, sliced (see notes above)


• ½ teaspoon Prague powder #1
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon five-spice powder
• ½ tablespoon annato powder
• 2 teaspoons black peppercorns, ground (see notes above)
• 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns, ground (see notes above)
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1½ tablespoons light soy sauce
• ½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon chili oil
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil

1. Pat meat dry. Set aside.
2. In a big bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients (use a whisk to get an even mix). Add pork to bowl and massage with marinade for a few minutes until evenly coated.
3. Let marinated meat sit in the refrigerator, covered, for at least 8 hours or overnight. If not using immediately, divide into portions, wrap, and store in the freezer.
4. To fry, use a small amount of oil in a pan over medium heat so meat does not burn. Serve with egg, (fried) rice, and vinegar on the side.