Comments on: Teriyaki Pork Belly a la Marketman

By: Marketman

Marketman — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:12:14 +0000

Cecilia, we do occasionally do vegetables and fruit… :) Johnny, Rustan’s Rockwell had the waton pork.

By: Cecilia

Cecilia — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:08:55 +0000

Pork! Pork! Pork! Love this site!

By: Johnny Sinon

Johnny Sinon — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:43:37 +0000

Hi Market Man, would like to ask which branch of Rustans supermarket you were able to get the Waton pork? Its not available in Shangri-la. Thanks

By: Marketman

Marketman — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:37:12 +0000

mommy, slice up some napa cabbage, clean some snow peas of their tough ends/string, then saute some bacon or pancetta or ham with some chopped onions, and over high heat, saute the veggies until just done. Serve hot. You may add a bit of vegetable oil at the beginning if you think the pancetta or bacon won’t render enough lard for the dish…

By: mommy

mommy — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:17:00 +0000

Hi MM, hope you’ll give details of your vegetable dish as well, as it really looks delectable. Thanks

By: Marketman

Marketman — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:58:43 +0000

Joey, no oil necessary, just lay them on the hot cast iron. The vegetable dish was just sauteed napa cabbage and snow peas with a little leftover pancetta or you could use bacon or a little of this pork belly as well. Just stir-fry for a few minutes and add salt and pepper to taste. Connie C, I wouldn’t know the details of the Waton pork, but those photos of the pigs on pasture sure look a lot better than the piggeries I have seen, and THEIR obvious lack of proper drainage and sewage… roelm, the interesting thing about the meat is that it was much pinker, so clearly different from penned in pigs. They reminded me a little of wild boar meat, but nowhere near as red as that. Blaise, yes, happy does seem a more apt description. Though I read somewhere once that pigs in the wild can go ferile? within months and revert to being snorting aggressive wild animals… that would be pretty cool to watch in a way. Maria, I would love to have purely organically raised pigs as well, but I suspect the cost of a free-range, mango, chico and vegetable fed pig would be roughly PHP18,000-20,000 per 40 kilo pig as opposed to say PHP4,000 for a piggery style, commercially fed pig… imagine selling a PHP25,000 lechon? Yikes. Lee, too funny.

By: Joey

Joey — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:14:51 +0000

MM, during cooking, did you put oil or just laid the bacon on the cast iron?

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:41:03 +0000

Hi Marketman. The teriyaki looks delectable, but my eyes immediately went to the vegetable dish you paired the pork with, shown in the last photo. What do you call this vegetable dish? I was going to look for its recipe in your archives. Thank you!

By: Connie C

Connie C — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:11:02 +0000

Muzzy, interesting website. Thanks.

Sorry, ever the paranoid and skeptic, hopefully they test those rivers periodically for contamination from run off especially that it sounds like hog raising on a giant scale for global consumption.

Do we have environmental laws in Pinas on how these farms handle their massive waste? Maybe recycled for fertilizing the cornfields where the super hogs roam freely? How about enforcement? I thought I’d ask. In the US, large poultry farms have moved their “dirty activities” to Mexico where laws are less restrictive if they have any at all. While we may be enjoying our super Waton pork, think of the community downstream who may be bathing and doing their laundry if not drinking out of the river waters. Aargh! A good start though.

By: roelm

roelm — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:18:21 +0000

Hi MM,
If they are grazing, it looks like their fat will be relatively high in omega-3 fatty acids as opposed to the omega-6 fatty acids they will be getting if they are grain-fed.

As to the probiotics used, are they doing fermentation of the hog food before it is fed? If so, they may be imitating what the ruminants do naturally using their four-chambered stomachs… I have encountered this type of fermentation technology used in Tiaong, Quezon …