The Filipino Meat and the best Barbecue – Fresh Meat, Salt and Pepper
There are some pure unadulterated food in this short life that you should eat before you die. One of them is fresh meat with only, i’ll let you read that again, only – salt and pepper on burning coal.
My aunt has a hog business. When they announce that they are slaughtering, it is a family affair. And no, they don’t surrender it to some butcher, they slaughter the hog with their bare hands. I mean, they do it themselves. And if you are thinking that a hog business always ends up in the slaughterhouse, the answer is no. Her hog business is raising hogs and selling them to people who raise hogs as well. So slaughtering a fattened pig for pork in our family, is a call for celebration. My goodness, such a long story to get into my point. Well my point is, the first cut of bacon meets salt and pepper and on to the waiting hot, smoking and open grill. And I tell you, there is nothing more porky than the taste of the freshly slaughtered meat of pork off a barbecue grill.
I have never appreciated Filipino meat until I tasted mass produced meat. If you have seen Jamie Oliver’s documentaries on caged chickens and intensive pig farming, you know what I mean.
Stop reading and click this to see what I mean.
These huge poultry and meat farms produce meat that stinks. That is my opinion. That opinion is coming from a person that has been immersed in a culture where people see the chicken or the pig roaming around the neighborhood before it melts in their mouth. The smell of free range and organic meat is so much different from the stinking “pig pen” smell of intensively farmed pig or caged chickens. I am right now sitting on our couch and remembering the smell of Philippine meat and it makes me want to start burning coals. The fresh, free range, organic meat that we enjoy in the Philippines is one of the things that I would never ever ever exchange with the comfort, always available, inexpensive frankinstein-meat. I remember the pigs in my aunt’s pen – every night they always enjoy leftover soup from Batchoy (noodle) shops with stacks and stacks of Kangkong (water spinach). Everytime I visit the pigs my aunt would say, “Look at how happy they are”. And I go “yeah!”
Now here I am, too far away from the Philippines and i’m missing virgin food.
So I bought myself expensive, free range and organic chicken thighs and cooked them on the grill with only salt and pepper. You should do this too:
Take the bone off meat. Use a small knife and make incisions near the bone and pull the meat off the bone. And slice to a little bit bigger than bite size pieces. We are slicing it to 2-inch squares because don’t want you to overcook or undercook it. In this way, if the heat is too high, it won’t be undercooked and we will use the burnt part on the skin as indication if it’s cooked or not. Because with that size of chicken pieces, once you see a little bit of black parts on the skin or on either side, it’s cooked. Be sure to have medium to high heat and not very high. The good thing about this is when you bite through the chicken, it is still moist and juicy. If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them below in the comments. I have a not so very good picture of it. Here:
Do this. This will change your life. Maybe a little bit. But it will.
Hi. I stumbled upon your site while looking for a pancit recipe. I really found this article interesting. I live in CA and have stopped eating meat a couple years ago because of the inhumane treatment of animals in almost all farms where we get our food. However, I still occasionally still miss Filipino food. I went to the Philippines recently and found it difficult to avoid/turn down meat. I’m curious where Filipino meat comes from and found very little information online. Perhaps you can provide more insight due to your connections/knowledge. I also read somewhere that America has been increasingly providing meat to the Philippines so I don’t know how much meat found in the Philippines is actually “free range” as you stated. I’m really just curious and would like to hear some of your thoughts.
Very good topic for discussion Pam. And to answer your question:
The following that you read above is from my own personal experience, although I would like to think that it is a general standpoint from Filipinos living in the Philippines specifically in rural areas. But then again, we can’t deny the fact that even in the Philippines, there are factories that mass produce meat. Now to get to the point;
As to where Filipino meat comes from, it depends on the meat and on the area. Rural villages have locals who supply the town’s meat fix. This is what I know – When I was in Iloilo ( a major city after Cebu and Davao), there’s this place that serves Soup Number 5, a soup made of bull’s penis and testicles, and the place that I am talking about is just beside a slaughterhouse. As from what I’ve heard from my visits there, meatb is sourced from local enterpreneurs. Local families who do hog business from the very start of their family tree or budding business enthusiasts. You can also tell that beef comes locally because it is only good for slow cooking, stews and soups – what I meant with that is, these cuts are so tough it can challenge pacquiao. If you visit a local wet market in suburban areas, they won’t have beef steak cuts because thick cut American steaks are of course not our kind of food.
Which leads me to your next question, if the US is providing meat to the Philippines. Yes, they are but these are more likely directed to the higher end of the market or expats that are living in the Philippines. A good example is Monterey which offers steak cuts. They have a section from nearly every Supermarket in almost all major cities. Specialty steakhouses even order their steaks either from Japan or Australia.
But! I think we have meat that is coming from China (everything comes from China these days). Let’s wait if someone can confirm that for us. Any takers from our readers?
in true filipino tradition, it is very hard not to pepper (verb) meat with whatever you can get you hands on like garlic, pepper (noun), soy sauce, vinegar etc.
however in previous occasions, i came to know and love meat seasoned with ground pepper and rock salt only especially if the meat is in its freshest..
@luis hahaha love how you said this is a verb and this is a noun. LOL! Fresh meat with salt and pepper FTW!
I was browsing through some sites where I could find organic meat in the Philippines and I stumbled upon yours. How do you know that the meat back home (Philippines) is organic? Are they(purely)grass fed? There are a lot of things to consider before we can say that it’s organic. I hope you can help me find some places where I can buy organic meat. Oh btw, if it’s from China, I wouldn’t touch it hehe just saying
Thank you in advance
I was looking for a barbecue recipe when I found this article. Thanks for sharing. Pinoy food are really good. I also love how you write. Keep up the good work mate.
@Ken I don’t know if you can find or purchase organic meat over the internet. What I suggest is, go to some rural area in the Philippines and buy a freshly slaughtered pig there. Most likely, that pig raomed around the area where children also play. Well… some children would rather play in a pigpen.
I think you are talking about beef because you said grass fed? Because I assume pigs don’t eat grass, neither chickens. As for beef; you’d rather buy beef abroad. Philippine beef is not really that admirable when you talk about steak. Plus, we don’t really eat a lot of beef don’t we?
I hope I answered your questions.
@tagalog love quotes. thank you. and yeah. nice handle. LOL!
So where can i buy free-range meats in the philippines? I’m also wondering about the chickens too, lately i’ve read an article saying they have ban the ship of bounty fresh that contains GMO Corns in negros. so yeah. I’m kinda depending on seafoods for protein sources.
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