October = Asian Month

I am so excited to kick off our first 'themed' month; ASIAN! I will be posting daily on what we are doing.  Today, October 1st, we got our shopping done. Stocked up on all of our Asian-y needs! (side note: I was also stopped in the meat section by the butcher letting me know

if I need anything 'special' he can prepare it at home and bring it in the next day, hmmm) 

Once our shopping was done we lugged it home and sprawled it out! This is what our kitchen looked like.

Now, seeing as it's 11:30PM and I'm all hopped up on Red Bull, I figured i'd get some prep out of the way.  First up "Tocino", its a common Filipino pork dish, best served over white rice.  This dish requires marination for at least 5 days, so we better'd get it going :) 

Pork Tocino

3 lb. boneless pork shoulder roast
1¼ cups pineapple juice
½ cup ketchup
½ cup lemon-lime soda
1/3 cup light soy sauce
2 cups brown sugar
1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Freeze pork shoulder roast for an hour or so to firm it up so that it’s easier to slice. Cut 1/4-inch slices of pork shoulder and place in a one gallon zipper-lock plastic bag.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients in bowl and then add to the meat. Seal the bag, doing your best to remove excess air. Let the pork cure in the refrigerator for a 4-5 days, flipping over the bag every day or so.
3. After curing, you can either cook the meat or portion them off into smaller bags and freeze them.
4. To cook the tocino, add a little water, marinade and a few slices of meat to a skillet. Over medium heat, let the liquid boil off and then fry the meat for a couple more minutes to caramelize it. There’s a lot of sugar in the marinade so make sure you don’t burn the meat.