Doesn’t the picture say it all? Excellent tocino made from native pork/domesticated boar with just four ingredients: salt, sugar, paprika and black pepper.
My post with recipe for pork tocino published nearly 5 years ago is the single most popular post out of nearly 2,600 on marketmanila.com. It has been visited at least 40,000 times, and I can only imagine the number of people who tried to make their own tocino as a result. The recipe I posted then was incredibly simple, and didn’t make use of saltpeter or salitre that is commonly added to commercially produced tocino.
For just under a kilo of sliced meat, I added about 2 tablespoons or so of sea salt (not iodized table salt) with large granules, and roughly 4 tablespoons of sugar. About 1-2 teaspoons of sweet paprika and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Let this “cure” in the fridge for about two days before frying this up in some oil. Alternatively, you might try and grill the tocino instead for a less fatty version of the all-time favorite. Serve with rice, a fried egg and lots of spicy vinegar. The flavor of the baboy ramo was distinctive but not overpowering. The color of the fried tocino was incredibly appetizing, yet no artificial colors or saltpeter was used. Delicious and something even a non-cook can do well. YUM. :)
33 Responses
let’s eat!
This looks much better than the commercially processed meats I see in the supermarkets.
I took some pork out of the freezer, will try it later this week.
Goodness, that looks amazing, Mr. Marketman!!! I will definitely try making it soon!
Yumm yumm yumm! Been thinking of making tocino for the past 4 days, MM. I’ll try your recipe since i have not used paprika as one of the ingredients in making tocino.
and i must say that’s one perfect sunny-side up as well!
I’ll definitely try this easy tocino recipe, thanks MM! Have several MM recipes already on queue =)
how’s the texture compared to supermarket pork, MM?? a bit tougher?
Yummy !!! This is a torture on a monday morning :) …Next time MM pls do this on Sunday morning instead :)
That egg looks fantastic!
“The flavor of the baboy ramo was distinctive byut not overpowering”… MM, seems like you’re in a hurry, eh?
Tocino looks superb, btw. I’ve tried baboy ramo, barbeque flavor.. yumm.
You make me hungry, MM. Sweet paprika is different from Spanish paprika? Something I could make at home, what I don’t like about commercially made tocino is that they are too sweet! I usually wash the tocino first before cooking. I’ll make some, with less sugar. Thanks.
hey there MM. seems a great alternative to the usual pork tocino and the more common tapang baboy ramo. i have been thinking of doing the home made tocino since the wifey has been instructed to avoid processed meat. and she has been craving tocino for the longest time. as gay said, is there a difference between spanish paprika and the sweet paprika you used? thanks.
This is something I can do! :D thanks!
I love gamey meats. i’d be happy with wild boar tapa alone. but this is a nice twist. tocinong usa (deer, not the country) sounds good as well
Well, I can definitely see why your tocino recipe was so popular – it is one of the less fiddly recipes I’ve seen and I like that there aren’t any preservatives… plus it looks so good! Now I don’t need to travel to the Filipino groceries to get my tocino fix. Thanks!
i will make this soon :)
waaahhhh, appetizing to say the least!
A tocino from a wild boar is not a bore
wow, craving for this now :)
i wish someone would teach me and the yayas how to cook an egg like that.
Ging: you have to ‘steam’ the egg while frying on medium heat, a takip for the frying pan, some oil and a sprinkle of water. Need to practice though.
You are making me lose my office’s Biggest Loser Contest!!!
this post made me more hungry… i’ll try your tocino recipe since there are times that i crave for tocino.
Hi everyone, my apologies for intermittent comments, we are traveling at the moment. And yes, there will be more typographical and spelling errors as I rushed to write dozens of posts to keep everyone amused while we are away (I don’t write posts on holiday) so please excuse the more blatant errors. As for paprika, there are several kinds, I used what is known as the sweet or not spicy paprika. Yes, supermarket paprika will work fine. It adds a bit of flavor and color without artificial coloring… As for the egg, you will all laugh, but I personally CANNOT FRY an egg properly for the life of me. The cook does a nice job and she carefully flicks hot oil onto the top of the egg while the bottom is cooking…
Oh, as for texture, this one was a bit chewier and less “SOFT” if you are comparing this to grocery tocino. Many grocery tocinos use meat tenderizers, almost to the extreme, and you get this bizarre almost gel-like consistency to the meat before it is cooked. Here we just pounded the meat silly. :)
must try this baboy ramo dish!
This sounds like how we do our tapa. Rock salt, sugar, lotsa pepper. And yes, to get an egg like that, you have to have enough oil to be able to flick it on top of the egg with the syense. Not the healthiest way but leaves with no raw egg whites and a nice runny yolk. =) I also break the whites so it spreads and i get “more” egg that way.
speaking of gamey meat, my mom adores tapang kalabang (but it oddly tastes like tocino since it is sweetish. I guess preparation would be the same thing? :) off to find carabao meat :D
Does this taste like the usual (butter-y) pork though? Is it a bit gamey? :)
ziggy, yes, a bit gamey but not overpoweringly so. It’s not as soft as the supermarket versions, which are unnaturally softened with either baking soda or other tenderizers almost to the point of breaking down the meat completely…
is it that easy to make a tocino? Now I don’t have to buy it from the oriental store. @Ging and Mimi…yes, I have mastered on how to do an overeasy egg. I spray the pan with Pam and add a little oil then fry until the white is cooked then add 1/4 cup water and cover it. Wait til it is done the way you want. It is easy to take it off the pan as the water steamed it. Use a glass cover so you do not have to keep taking off the cover to check it.
As for the egg – I also loved my “ÿolks”covered but still soft inside; instead of pouring hot oil on top of it, when its almost cooked, I covered the panfor 4 seconds (better with clear lid). I get the same kind of results just like the one in the picture.
Thanks Marketman. I have been doing my own tocino since I found your recipe in the archive and I like it very much because it’s healthy – no saltpeter, and I also use boneless skinless chicken meat. Now, I don’t have to buy those fat laden tocinos with saltpeter in the grocery. Your tocino recipe is also very delicious!