Pansat & Mamsa Fried in Lard! :)

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I was at the Carbon market in Cebu a couple of hours ago and was so happy to go rooting around a bakery supplies store and found tons of pork LARD for sale! Having just experimented with the stuff a few days ago, finding it readily available was just serendipitous. So of course I bought two kilos of lard, without knowing how I was going to use it… until we got to the seafood section of the Carbon. We found incredibly fresh sea prawns for PHP400 a kilo (“pansat” in Cebuano), and jacks or talakitoks (“mamsa” in Cebuano) with eyes as clear as ice for PHP180 a kilo, so with reader APM’s reminder how good tilapia fried in pork lard tasted, I decided to deep fry the talakitok and prawns in pork lard for lunch. :)

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First, place two kilos of solidified lard in a large frying pan and turn the heat up high…

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Deep fry gutted and cleaned fish simply seasoned with salt and cracked black pepper. The smell of the fish frying in pork lard is amazing. The resulting fish was tasty, moist and if you didn’t tell guests what the fish was fried in, they wouldn’t know… but they would notice the fish was just a little bit more special… Not sure if the burning point of lard is higher as well, but the fish crisps up nicely and the insides are perfectly cooked. It didn’t take long at all to cook 1 kilo large fish…

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Once the fish were done, it seemed a waste not to use the hot lard again, so instead of grilling the enormous prawns we purchased, we made a chinese style salt, pepper and chili prawn coating with cornstarch and some dried siling labuyo flakes, and deep fried the prawns for about 90-120 seconds. They turned out utterly brilliant. You could almost eat the skin and coating it was so good. The brief swim in hot pork lard meant the meat was just cooked and still juicy. Perfect with some vinegar or lemon juice. Yum. So easy, so incredibly appetizing. :)

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35 Responses

  1. Mmmmm. Pork fat. Seafood in pork fat. Sounds simultaneously sinful and healthy!

  2. Smoke lard AFAIK has a higher smoke point than any vegetable oil and is high in vitamin D as well.
    As long as you fry food at a high enough temperature the food shouldn’t come out greasy.

  3. Seriously, did you really eat all that after frying them in lard? I read in earlier blog posts about your healthy eating habits…

    I must say, that looks so delicious… all that transfat!

  4. Hi MM. May I ask where in carbon you bought the pork lard? I try to make my own but never get beyond a half cup worth. I love lard on hot rice sprinkled with sea salt and paired with fish and itlog maalat, monggo soup and kinupusan na baboy. Childhood food ;-)

  5. Ging and Gia, the store was Ong Kin King & Co., 28-30 Plaridel Street, Cebu City, right by the Carbon market. They also have all kinds of packaging materials, ingredients, baking supplies, prague powder which so many readers have been emailing about, etc. It was PHP76 for a package. But I must say, homemade has more flavor, so if you are planning to put this on your rice, I would make it at home… Otherwise, for frying or adding to doughs, this works well… :) Eden, I ate 3 prawns and a bit of fish, lots of veggies and a cup of rice. bearhug, purico is vegetable shortening I think, like Crisco. Siopao, the shrimp wasn’t greasy at all. And I like the Vitamin D advisory, like Millet, a good excuse to reach for the lard… hahaha. Isa, good ying and yang this healthy and sinful combination. :)

  6. MM, We must have just missed each other at Ong Kin King today. Gosh, that place is amazing and full of surprises. Been buying my supplies there since 2007 and never bothered to ask if they had pork lard.

  7. Artisan, they have the lard in the more retail looking space beside the older bodega style store. The lard is in the back. :) Oh, and if you noticed all the tinderas and tinderos had Noy/Mar ballers on, then we were there before you, otherwise, you were there first. :)

  8. Have gone thru their newly opened “retail” space beside only once and noticed that they charge a bit more for the items. Must be for the ambiance….hehehehe ;-> . Anyway, I’ll ask my suki salesgirls next time i dropped by the bodega store.

    Looks like I was there ahead of you.

  9. Purico, of course—who can forget that…i remotely remember, as a young one,Purico, silverswan soy sauce on hot rice—sometimes with fresh eggs—LUNCH!

  10. Hi MM, next time try this recipe, good for your cholesterol.
    Deep fried 1 cup of oatmeal (not the instant) till golden brown. Drain and set aside.
    Heat some butter then mix your deep fried prawn and oat meal season with sugar, salt, chopped siling labuyo. If you can get fresh curry leaves throw in too. Enjoy a deep fried butter oats prawn! the oats make it sounds healthy right hehehe

  11. MM, ay grabe!

    junb, o kindred spirit, I’ve been searching and searching for this cereal prawn ‘mix’!
    If you know a good source or recipe, please do tell?

  12. frying in lard – just like what Max’s do with their chicken. malinamnam. a little transfat during special occasions is fine.’wag araw-araw.

  13. yup, no transfats. rich in Vit. D. yup, pork lard is on its way to becoming the next health food :-)

  14. from what i have heard, one of the secrets behind the tasty chicken of the largest(?) local chicken fastfood joint is that they simply deepfry their chicken in pork lard.

  15. @ Trin Try this

    Crispy Oat Prawns

    600g tiger prawns (Medium size)
    8 cloves shallots, chopped
    200g butter
    2 bird eye’s chilli, chopped
    10 curry leaves
    50g oats

    Slit the prawns at the back and remove the black vein. Pat dry the prawns sprinkle a bit of tapioca flour and deep fry till golden brown. Use lard the way MM do it :). Drain and set aside.

    On a wok stir fry the chopped shallots and add butter, chilli, curry leaves and oats till it turn crispy and golden brownl. Throw in the fried prawns and mix well season with sugar and salt.

    Enjoy !!!!

  16. My relatives in Mauban Quezon always cook their left over “catched” mackerel – in a palayok with fresh kamias and coconut vinegar. No stirring but slow simmer and constant addition of vinegar – result in a soft but intact “ginanga”ng galunggong”. This is done wth fresh dilis too. Now – – this is eaten with – – solid salted home rendered Lard! and they are great for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

  17. Hi, MM. We will be in Cebu last week of May. Can you recommend a good place to have dinner for my husband’s birthday celebration? Is Abaca highly recommendable? I don’t think I want to settle for the buffet at Shang! Hahaha! :)

  18. Whenever or wherever you see hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil that’s where you’ll find transfats. ;-)

  19. Mimac, I answered your question by email. Ley, I walked by the store for several years (it’s right beside the parking lot we use in the Carbon), and only looked in yesterday!

  20. @Candygirl Do you mean the pork skin ( chicharon) pounded. That willy be an interesting concept.

  21. Hi MM. I stand corrected for my comment on transfat in lard. I’d still go easy ( hinay- hinay) on it. Btw, luv your blogs on local palengkes.

  22. Hi MM. Would you know how lard is called in Filipino? Will ask my suki from Guadalupe Market where I can get them. Thanks!

  23. MM, what do you do with the lard after frying fish in it? It seems such a waste to just throw it away. Also, how do you dispose of it? I would imagine pouring it down the drain would be a no-no.

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