Ate’s Patatim, The Recipe

A lot of people have been disappointed with my earlier patatim entry, probably because there was no recipe. Since I hate to disappoint, I am posting a version of my Ate’s patatim. I am changing one ingredient and substitute pineapple juice for it. I made a promise afterall not to reveal the recipe and a promise is a promise.

Warning: This is a bit complicated and requires long preparation. When making this dish, I do not make any measurements. I rely on tantyahan. The amount of the flavoring depends really on the size of the pata to be used. There should be enough liquid to inject to the meat and to serve as sauce. Also, the taste that I try to reach here is a balance of flavors. It should taste like achara. Not too sour, not too sweet, not too salty. Just right. So add the ingredients slowly and taste the flavoring before adding more.

Ingredients:
1 pork pata

For flavoring:
5 medium sized onions, sliced
pineapple juice, at least 3-4 cups
soy sauce
3 laurel leaves
1 pinch cumin
sugar
5-10 whole black pepper

Clean the pork, removing any unsightly hairs. Wash. Drain and set aside.

The Flavoring: In a blender, add the pineapple juice and the sliced onions. Blend until you can no longer see any onion slices floating around. Strain and put in a bowl. Add the soy sauce, laurel leaves, cumin, sugar and black pepper. Adjust the ingredients until an achara flavor is reached. Boil. Let cool. Strain.

Using an ordinary syringe, inject the flavoring into the pata. Be careful as you might hit bone and the needle would break. Place the pata in the fridge and let sit overnight. Set aside the remaining flavoring. In a deep pot, fry the pata in lots of oil to brown both sides. When golden brown, transfer to another pot and add the remaining flavoring. Since the pata will be boiled in the flavoring for a long time, there should be plenty of the liquid left over so that there would be some left over after the meat is soft. If the amount of flavoring is not enough, feel free to make another batch. Boil until the skin is gelatinous. Serve with the remaining sauce.