Tocino, a traditional dish in Spanish-speaking countries and the Philippines, is made from diced pork that is marinated with spices and aged for at least three days. It is typically served with rice and eggs for breakfast and can be fried or boiled.
In several Spanish-speaking countries, especially Cuba and Puerto Rico, tocino di pork literally means “bacon” or simply “pork lard”. Containing a few strips of meat, this food has been prepared for generations as a charcuterie served mostly with some Caribbean dishes. In the Spanish-influenced Philippines, tocino is also a familiar treat, though its preparation is slightly more elaborate than its Latin American cousins, and it’s used there primarily for breakfast.
In Latin America, tocino is not prepared in the typically western way, in thin slices. Tocino in the Caribbean is actually diced, then fried as the long thin strips. This treat is added to several dishes or forms its center, arroz blanco with tocino or white rice with bacon.
The Filipino tradition is to serve tocino as a tapa or silog. That means it is served with fried rice and egg for breakfast. When bacon forms the appetizer of tapas, it is called bacsilog. This evolved from generations of Spanish colonialism in this Southeast Asian island nation.
To prepare the dish, strips of pork head, shoulder, or just fat – often with the skin included – are cut and aged for at least three days in a sealed refrigerated container. Prior to storage for seasoning, a combination of Philippine spices are added for an extended period of marinating in the refrigerator: salt, sugar, annatto for coloring, and aniseed wine, which has hints of licorice and tarragon aroma. Before the advent of refrigeration, it was also common for chefs to add the preservative potassium nitrate, or saltpeter, to the mix, but this is no longer necessary.
In modern times it is customary for Pinoy chefs to use a number of twists to make tocino. Some use garlic, citrus fruits like pineapple or orange juice, or a citrus soda like Sprite or 7-Up, along with other marinating flavors. After three days, the pork is removed from the refrigerator and pan-fried, just like the Westernized versions.
There shouldn’t be any oil needed in the pan, as the tocino has enough. Some forgo frying all together in favor of boiling bacon. A custom of the Kapampangan people of the Philippines is to mix the ingredients with the pork for several hours, then leave it out to marinate and ferment at room temperature. This dish is called burong babi.
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