Fried Pork? or Crispy Pata, take your pick


I saw an interesting news clip about 'fried pork'. Seems unappetizing if called by that name. Actually, fried pork is really Crispy Pata. It's prepared from the pig's front legs, "unahan" as the pork vendors call them. Perhaps, chefs call them  knuckles.

The following is a borrowed recipe from this site. It is very similar to what my Mom used to prepare whenever there is a special occassion.

Preparation & drying: 4 hours to 1 day
Estimated cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 Pata (front or hind leg of a pig including the knuckles)
1 bottle of soda (7Up or sprite)
1 tablespoon of salt
2 tablespoons patis (fish sauce)
1/2 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon of monosodium glutamate (MSG)
4 tablespoons of flour
Enough oil for deep frying
Enough water for boiling

Cooking Instructions:

Clean the pork pata by removing all hairs and by scraping the skin with a knife. Wash thoroughly. Make four to five inch cuts on the sides of the pata. On a deep stock pot, place the pata in water with soda and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the baking soda and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove the pata from the pot and hang and allow to drip dry for 24 hours. An alternative to this is to thoroughly drain the pork pata and refrigerate for a few hours. After the above process, rub patis or fish sauce on the pata and sprinkle flour liberally. In a deep frying pot, heat cooking oil and deep fry the pork pata until golden brown.

That should be crisp enough to eat with a crackle. There should be no left overs for this dish. Because, the next day it won't be as crisp anymore.

Sauce:

Mix 3/4 cup of vinegar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 1 head of diced onion and 1 hot pepper. Salt and pepper to taste.

Thanks to the  chow site for this recipe. And thanks to this site for the pic.

If ever I get the chance to cook this dish again, I will take a pic snippet. My son's camera is now available for borrowing ha ha.

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