Santacruzan ba kamo? Oh my God! I suddenly remember the horror I felt when I saw my face tagged in my hometown friend’s Facebook page.  In this age when the use of online social networking is so common, seeing your face in your ugly duckling stage blast from the past is just horrendous.  There were a couple of photos there taken when I was about 13 years old as Santacruzan’s Reyna Ezperanza – part of the group Fe, Esperanza, Caridad.  I commented (with a shriek), “Susginoo mukha akong manika ng mangkulam!”  Un-tag.  Un-tag!

These came to my mind right away when I read the theme for this month’s Kulinarya Cooking Club.  It is about “regional specialties during fiestas or Santacruzan, which are specially prepared by our moms” – wonderful theme by gracious hosts Dudut and Elizabeth.  Though a bit tricky for me; growing up in a suburban subdivision we don’t have fiestas.  And if ever we had one I don’t think my mom would be cooking any.  No offense to my loving mom – she’s great with home-style meals.

But there is no reason why I can’t cook something for this challenge.  During this time of the year we visit our parent’s friends who live in the neighboring barrios.  As we all know the Philippine fiesta table is always overflowing with all kinds of dishes and desserts but I normally concentrate on those uncommon on our dining table – like lechon, leche flan, morcon and embutido.  As we grew up, my siblings and I experimented on these dishes ourselves (never the lechon though) and such was the case with embutido.

For KCC, I experimented on using tin cans to shape embutido. There is nothing out of the ordinary here except for these tin cans, which I read quite a while ago that you can use instead of aluminum foil. I’ve always wanted to try it but never had the chance.  Round ones would make perfectly shaped embutido but I was not ready yet to open my canned creams and milk in my pantry.   I opened up 2 cans of corned beef instead, which I can prep for breakfast the next day.  The cans don’t have plastic linings and I thought it might be interesting to have the western meatloaf shape.  Nonetheless I intend to keep the ingredients as traditional as I can. In any case you want to try it, here is where you can find some info on using tin cans for cooking.

Ingredients:
500g minced pork
Carrot, approx. 3in long, cut into strips
Cheddar cheese, cut into 3in long strips
3in long sausage (I forgot to buy chorizo), cut into strips
1 hard-boiled egg, cut into wedges
2-3 tbsp chopped sweet pickled gherkins
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
1 small onion, chopped
1 large egg (or 2 small ones)
1 small box of raisins
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Mix together all the above ingredients except the hard-boiled egg, cheese, carrots and sausage. Leave for at least half an hour.

Using a small spatula, spread pork mixture on the bottom of the tin can. Then continue spreading a thin layer on all four sides.

Arrange strips of cheese, carrot and sausage on one narrow side. Press them into the mixture, and then spread another layer of pork mixture on top of them.  Place an egg slice with strips of cheese, carrot and sausage. Then press another layer of mixture on top.

Arrange, spread and press. Arrange, spread and press, making sure there are no air gaps. Repeat until the tin can is all filled up.

Apply another layer of mixture on the top of the tin can to seal edges of cheese, sausage and carrots. Cover the top with a piece of aluminum foil, folding the edges neatly on the sides to seal the tin can. I have more mixture left after filling up 2 tin cans so I roll them the traditional way on aluminum foil.

Steam for an hour.

When done, leave for a while to cool down then refrigerate for at least a day before serving.

When ready run a knife around the can then flip it over on a chopping board, the meatloaf will simply slide out.  Well, well, well… isn’t that gorgeous?

Slice it…

I thought about stuffing it with whole hard-boiled egg but personally I don’t like a big chunk on my embutido slice. But I guess that would really look pretty.

You may serve cold with your favorite condiment. We had ketchup and sweet chili sauce.

Or pan-fried.

Also, don’t miss Erwin’s post for KCC – Pinaupo.

“Kulinarya Cooking Club was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its colourful cuisine.

Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do. – Kulinarya Cooking Club

Iska

I am not a professional cook. My only claim to having a culinary background is a short stint as my dad’s teen ‘sous chef’ in his carinderia ages ago. Dad ran small eateries since I was a young kid - serving standard ‘turo-turo’ food ranging from the likes of menudo, adobo, pritong isda, dinuguan, binagoongan, bopis, munggo, pinakbet and giniling to merienda fares like goto, ginataan, pancit bihon, halu-halo and saging con yelo.

My father, a farmer in his hometown before working his way to becoming an accountant, definitely influenced my cooking in a lot of ways than I thought. My siblings and I were raised in a backyard full of fruit trees and vegetable garden. We spent weekends and the summer breaks running around with ducks, chickens, goats and pigs. I had wonderful memories of gathering eggs, butchering chickens, selling vegetables and the sweet aroma of preserved fruits. But my love for art led me to a degree in Architecture. Just few months after getting my license, I went abroad and lived independently at age 23. Definitely no maid, no cook, and a totally different food culture. Along the way I met lots of friends and spent what seemed a lifetime learning new tricks and recipes.

Now living in Auckland, I am a work-from-home mum who juggles time between work, fun and family - in pursuit of work-life balance. No matter how busy I am, I love the idea of cooking for my family. My blog chronicles home cooking greatly influenced by life outside my home country from Southeast Asia to Beijing and Auckland. And most of the time, being busy also means easy (sometimes quick), affordable meals.