Homemade Pork Tocino Recipe
Tocino is a cured meat product native to the Philippines. It is usually made out of pork and is similar to ham and bacon although beef is also used. It is often reddish in color and has a sweetish taste. Its name is derived from the Spanish word tocino, which is used to describe bacon or cured meat.
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Pork Tocino or simply tocino is a cured meat product native to the Philippines. It is usually made out of pork and is similar to ham and bacon although beef and chicken can sometimes be used as alternatives. It is often reddish in color and has a sweet savory taste. Pork Tocino was said to be named after the same Spanish word “tocino”, which is used to describe cured meats.
Pork Tocino is usually eaten during breakfast along with warm rice. Tosilog is a popular meal comprised of garlic rice (or sinangag), fried pork tocino, and a piece of fried sunny side up egg. Pork tocino has been a famous Filipino “anytime” food because it is available almost in every grocery stores and can be consumed anytime of the day.
Pork Tocino got its reddish color artificially. A red food coloring is needed to make your own homemade tocino to make it look more appetizing. Of course, the food coloring is just optional because it does not affect the taste of the meat. I usually cure my tocino in the fridge for at least 3 days for best results. I also freeze my cured tocino for a week before cooking. I am not recommending you guys to do the same because 24 is just enough for curing — I think that I just want my homemade pork tocino to get cured longer.
One word of advice though, even how good cured meat tastes, moderate consumption is still recommended. Too much intake can still affect our health in the long run. It is best to have pork tocino at least once or twice per month. By the way, it tastes best when dipped in spicy vinegar.
Let me tell where I bought some of the ingredients, since it can be quite a challenge to get these ingredients if you are outside of the Philippines. I got the Prague powder (also known as curing salt) online from a website called myspiceage.com. I also ordered the sodium phosphate online from americanspice.com. The annissette liquer was purchased from a local wine store, while the rest of the ingredients came from the local grocery store. Making your own homemade tocino is really easy, as long as you have all the ingredients in hand.
Good luck everyone and let me know if you have questions. You can reach me by emailing or by following our Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest accounts (@panlasangpinoy).
Try this Pork Tocino Recipe and let me know what you think.
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Homemade Pork Tocino Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. pork ham
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Prague powder #1
- 3/4 cups granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon sodium phosphate
- 1/4 cup anisette liquer
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 1/4 cup crushed garlic
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Vitamin C powder
- Red food coloring
Instructions
- Slice the pork ham to about ¼ inch thickness
- Dissolve the sodium phosphate in 5 tablespoons of water.
- Except for the meat, combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well
- Apply the combined mixture to the meat by rubbing. Make sure that the mixture is evenly distributed across the meat
- Place the mixed ingredients in a covered container
- Store the covered container (with meat and mixture) in room temperature for 14 hours. It may also be refrigerated but would take at least 3.5 days to complete.
Nutrition Information
Now that you have you have made your own homemade pork tocino, all you need to do is cook it. I cook my tocino by boiling it with 2 cups water and 1/4 cup cooking oil. The meat gets tender as the water starts to boil. After quite a while, the water evaporates and the cooking oil will be left. This will instantly fry the meat. Make sure to turn the meat over after a few minutes of frying to cook the opposite side of the tocino. Doing this will give you a tender and delicious pork tocino that is cooked just about right.
GABRELLE says
HELLO IM GABRELLE AND IM IN THE US I WANNA TRY TO COOK TOCINO BUT I DONT KNOW WHAT IS Phosphate, Anise Wine ,Prague Powder I REALLY HAVE PROBLEM ABOUT THE Phosphate I RESEARCH IT GOOGLE BUT THEY DIDNT GIVE ME THE RIGHT ANSWER PLEASE HELP ME THANK YOU
Beata alipalo says
hi,my kids love tocino,ayaw kong gumamit ng preservative kasi almost everyday thry eat tocino for breakfast of baon,please send me a recipe of tocino ang longganisa without preservative.thanks more power.
andoy says
Prague powder is sodium nitrate, as I saw it on You Tube. Pero Prague powder is carcinogenic. any green ?substitite
myree says
thank a lot.we have an idea in cooking it..but its hard to find the ingredients
David Thow says
G’day ( maayong adlaw -- Visayan ), I am an Australian living here in Oz who is happily married to a Filipino who is currently in Bukidnon ( Mindanao ). I have been to visit my wife in the PHP’s several times and do enjoy much of the cuisine there especially pork tocino. My inquiry is related to obtaining some of these ingredients here in Oz. Can you help me by recommending any Asian suppliers here where I may be able to buy these ‘ uncommon ‘ ingredient’s -- they are hard to come by. Some can be substituted but I would prefer to keep as close as possible to the traditional pork tocino recipe and maintain authenticity respectfully. Yours sincerely -- Dave.
shirley says
this is my first time to make tocino and chorizo for my 1-yr and 3 -yr old grandchildren because they love to eat these food. I want to be sure that what they eat are clean and healthy food. Can i do away with prague powder, phosphate and instead use unsweetened pineapple juice? THAnks.
aachie58 says
thanx 4 sharing your talent in cooking….
i learned so much….
can i share a homemade tocino recipe n they used to sell this…
it’s a recipe of a very popular BBQ shop in the ’70s
for every kilo of meat sorry i’m now a muslim convert…
4 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp salt…. so its 1:4
u can adjust later accdg 2 ur taste…..
Elenor says
yeah, that’s what I learned…
Pen says
PP -- We love tocino and I want to try this recipe this weekend but I want to confirm: to qualify meat as “ham” it has to be cured so is this “pork ham” you speak of just the garden variety cured ham that you buy typically in the silver or gold package at the grocers? Or is this something different? I’m heading to WalMart. Can I pick any of these ingredients up at that store?
Panlasang Pinoy says
Pen, this is different from the cured garden variety hams in the deli shops. You will not find the ingredients at Walmart. I usually buy them online.
Pen says
Oh dear, I was afraid of that…can you steer me in the right direction? What site do you buy this from? Can I pick something up like this from a butcher shop? Would they know what I am talking about? Thanks again!
alfredo says
hi,we use to make tocino but with out those chemicals , like other you can use what you have in you`r cover it`s healthy no chemical only natural, use sukang paombong datu puti ,brown sugar ,red food color, salt iodize , and try ……
rajah kalipay says
Yummy treat… We may omit the preservatives if we will be cooking the Tocino immediately.
lezel says
gud day!balak k png e2 nlng epresnt q s product presnta2n.pwde p b 2 different meat ang ilagay s isng lalagyan?like chicken and fork or fork n beef.tnx