Breakfast Cure · Sweet Cured Pork
Kapampangan Tocino
Photo: Obsidian Soul / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
In Pampanga, cured pork like this is traditionally called pindang, and it's often cooked by simmering the slices in a little water until it evaporates, then letting them fry in their own rendered fat.
Thin-sliced pork belly is cured for days in sugar, salt, annatto, and anise wine until it turns deep red, then fried until the edges caramelize into a sticky, sweet crust. Pampanga's market stalls and breakfast carinderias serve it with garlic rice and a fried egg as tosilog.
Why it's made this way: Pampanga's reputation as the Philippines' culinary capital shaped its own slower, more deliberate tocino-curing tradition, distinct from the faster commercial versions sold nationwide.
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