A vintage morcon recipe

Th excellent cooks of our hometown Biñan never used food enhancers, confident that natural flavors were better done without any “aids.”

Last week we looked back to the time of our youth and went down memory lane, food-wise. We noted that in our growing up years in our town (now a city) Biñan, those who were excellent cooks never used food enhancers and were simply confident that natural flavors were better done without any “aids.” And yes, we did have delicious dishes on our tables.

Reviewing our traditional recipe list, we thought of sharing the following recipe with home cooks.

Vintage Beef Morcon

Ingredients:

2 kilos beef tapadera

1/2 kilo pork fat without the skin, cut into strips to roll with the beef

1 stalk each celery and leek

5 cloves garlic, crushed

3 tomatoes, cubed

1 big onion, quartered

1/2 kilo pork liver, grill to half done, then pound or run through a meat grinder

4 tbsp light soy sauce

A pinch each of salt and ground pepper

One cup water

One can tomato sauce

One tbsp vinegar

Procedure:

Ask the butcher to make a mat of the beef, arrange the pork fat on the beef, roll and cut into four. Tie each roll to secure.

Put beef rolls in a pot with leeks, celery, tomatoes, onion, soy sauce, vinegar, ground pepper.

Cover and let simmer for a while. Add water. Bring to a boil and continue cooking until beef becomes tender. Add liver and tomato sauce. Cook for another 10 minutes, being very careful that the rolls do not stick to the pan. When done, let cool and slice. Serve with salad or light soup. That is one dish to serve on a special day.

Enjoy your Sunday!

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