Crispy Pata

[SheenaGreena]

I bought some pork hocks today ($1.20 for 2 so I bought 6) because I wanted to make some crispy pata. Ive been craving it ever since I had them at the Filipino food festival over the summer. I'm looking for a great tried and true recipe and perhaps a recipe for a condiment to serve it with? I had some kind of brownish gloopy sauce with it this summer that I didn't really like. I think it was a bit too sweet so I am looking for something a little more savory. Any ideas would be more than helpful. Thanks

[vice]

Can't help you on the recipe (though I'm eager to hear what others have to say), but my filipino ex would always serve it with a simple mixture of soy sauce and vinegar. I thought it worked pretty well - the acid helps cut the richness.

[docdix]

I think the brown sauce you had is what we traditionally use for roasted pig. for crispy pata we traditionally use around a 60-40 mixture of soy sauce, and vinegar (I like using apple cider vinegar), we then add maybe a third of a chopped red onion, a few pieces of crushed fresh garlic and one small chili pepper (we use one that is indegenous to us called "Labuyo" chili very hot). some friends have it German style with a mustard sauce but personally I like the soy vinegar combination as it does cut thru the fat as what the previous reply noted.

[SheenaGreena]

docdix, my friend said that her family makes the same exact thing except with the addition of kalamansi juice and a little bit of fish sauce. I like this combination very much actually because the brown sauce was so gloopy and cloying.

[jumanggy]

This isn't a tried recipe, but it's from Nora Daza, one of the most popular Filipino cookbook writers and chefs of all time.

2 pieces pork trotters (front ones preferred, more meat she says)

3 tbsp coarse salt

1 tsp monosodium glutamate... obviously optional

1 tbsp native vinegar (great write-up of Philippine vinegars here

2 pieces bay leaves

1 teaspoon black peppercorns, pounded

5-6 cups water

2 onions, chopped

a LOT of cooking oil for deep-frying

Clean the feet. Make longitudinal slits on the legs and marinate in salt, msg, vinegar, bay leaves, and pounded peppercorns for 3-12 hours in the fridge.

Transfer all this to a big enough pot and add enough water just to cover the meat (don't want to dilute the flavors too much, she says). Add salt (she doesn't say how much this time) and the onions then simmer until the meat is tender.

Drain the meat and hang in a cool place OR dry under the sun for 3-4 hours.

In a giant wok, pour some oil and add the meat. Turn on the heat and cover. Once the oil has stopped sputtering, remove the cover and continue frying until the skin is golden brown and crisp. Turn the meat and crisp the other side. Blisters should have formed, but if they haven't, repeat the frying.

Okay, so she's not the greatest recipe writer (even if the recipe above is in my own words), she could use a little more detail, but that's the recipe! Sauce is indeed vinegar, soy sauce with or without fish sauce, chili peppers, and minced garlic and/or onion.

[SheenaGreena]

does she really suggest cooking feet? I made the awful decision of deep frying some pigs feet last weekend. My mother had made some jokbal (korean pigs feet) and we had some leftover in the fridge. I figured I'd make a bastardized/lazy version of crispy pata and threw it in the deep fryer. Ugh, the collagen and gelatin from the feet was awful when heated up. I think shanks are better because they contain more meat than feet.

[docdix]

does she really suggest cooking feet? I made the awful decision of deep frying some pigs feet last weekend. My mother had made some jokbal (korean pigs feet) and we had some leftover in the fridge. I figured I'd make a bastardized/lazy version of crispy pata and threw it in the deep fryer. Ugh, the collagen and gelatin from the feet was awful when heated up. I think shanks are better because they contain more meat than feet.

important thing is to clean them well, season and leave for a few hours then boil them till cooked. drain and leave to dry either hanging in

the kitchen or uncovered in the fridge. we do it overnight. deep fry in very hot oil. you can opt to chop the hocks and trotters into more manageable sizes for frying. you can do the same thing with pigs ears too!

wash it down with beer

someone once roasted it in an oven and the skin crisped fairly well and all without the oil. make sure the oil is very hot and there is space between the pan and the skin, it crisps better when it's not on contact with the pan.

or you could just come to Manila and have your fill.

[jumanggy]

(ooh, 500th post.)

It's a little confusing for me at least because pata means thigh as far as I know, but she specifies feet in the recipe, and I'm pretty certain that I see all the tarsal bones when eating crispy pata, and I still have to sort through ligaments and stuff, though it's never been a big deal. Perhaps the long simmering is a factor. In any case, you can "crispy pata" most any part of the pig, so go for it!

[Renn]

I've never had it be any part other than the trotters from older pigs (vs sucklings), though I don't see shanks being a dealbreaker. As long as there's lots of connective tissue and crispy skin, you're golden. If you suspect that you'll get unpleasant flavors from the feet, a plain water blanch before simmering should take care of things.

[docdix]

actually crispy pata includes any part of the leg from the thigh down. the trotters are fun to pick on though quite messy. the mid shank has a good balance of meat and skin while the thigh is definitely meaty. you can also try doing the same method using pork belly with the ribs in. have the butcher cut in between the ribs so you have a nice 1 inch pieces... we call that lechon kawali buy it pretty much has the same procedure as crispy pata.

I also enjoy this with a fermented vinegar based dipping sauce called pinakurat... funny name but it gives off an extra dimension to the dish.

[Domestic Goddess]

We, as a family, love, love, LOVE Crispy Pata (maybe that's why we all have high blood pressures). We can fix crispy pata (my mom and brother makes the best CP), but we have a suki (favorite vendor) in a small little town in Laguna, Philippines which makes the crispiest Crispy Pata with the juiciest meat and fat inside. (I'll tell you where for a price LOL)

Anyway, our family recipe is almost the same as Nora Daza's posted above by Jumanggy. The only difference is that we use pork legs (the trotters + a bit of the pork leg), we don't cut slits into the pork legs and no marinating. We clean the pork legs (razor blades are your friend) and then throw them into a pot with cold with garlic, onion, bay leaves, pepper corns, beef bouillon cubes, a little salt, vinegar and msg (yes msg). We boil the legs for about an hour and a half, take the trotters out, let them cool and dry overnight uncovered in the fridge. Then the next day the dried out trotters are fried, submerged in hot oil and once they're golden brown, they're ready baby!

Goodness, makes me want to go out and get some pig legs and make some tomorrow!

[SheenaGreena]

Hey doddie! Do you suggest rubbing the pork with patis and flour after they have been drying in the refrigerator? I notice a lot of recipes call for this, but I figured I'd just throw the pork into the oil sans flour. Skin should get crispy enough without a batter coating.

Right now I am currently brining the pork in a salt water/peppercorn solution. Either tonight or tomorrow I will start the boiling process. Can't wait to try this again!!!

Oh and I think for a korean touch, I will add crushed ginger to the water when cooking the pork. Ginger tends to get rid of the "porky" smell and adds a lovely flavor.

Edited January 21, 2010 by SheenaGreena (log)

[SheenaGreena]

I dont think the pork needs a coating of flour. I crisped up some pork skin last week without any sort of batter and it worked out well.

I made a dipping sauce with vinegar, soy sauce (all i had was the korean stuff), chopped chiles, crushed garlic, and fish sauce.

[SheenaGreena]

Well I tried deep frying it and it took FOREVER so I said eff it and threw it in the oven to broil it instead. It came out a little darker, but still pretty damn tasty if I do say so myself.

[jumanggy]

Way to go, Sheena. Sorry it didn't work out at the frying. All I can think is to make sure the surface is super-dry, and the oil, dangerously hot. Like, maybe-I-should-be-doing-this-outside hot. (Which, some kitchens in the Philippines actually are-- outside.)

[SheenaGreena]

Yeah I deep fried in the fry daddy, which was placed in the sun room (there is a drain in there in case anything goes awry). The skin was dry! I placed it in the fridge for a few hours uncovered. I have no idea why the skin wasn't getting crispy. I must've had that thing in there for over 5 mins. Oh well. I want to attempt to make sisig next