Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chop

There's a Vietnamese food joint I love and there's so much stuff on their menu that they have to number everything they make. This here is the famous Number 56. My favorite pork chop recipe and once you taste it, it could be yours as well. It's a great summer recipe because it's best grilled outdoors but since my grill is currently out of commission, I used my cast iron grill pan and it didn't disappoint. happy grilling! cheers.

you'll want to marinate this for at least 12 hours so plan of doing this the day before.

Marinade:
2 shallots, finely chopped

2 lemons, squeeze juice into marinade, cut into wedges then add to the mix.

3 Tbsp garlic, minced
1/3 cup light brown sugar 

2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1/4 cup fish sauce or patis
2 tablespoons mirin  or rice vinegar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
kosher salt
2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 bone-in pork chops

Black Eyed Pea Salad

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted and I'm not even sure why I'm posting now. Oh, I remember now, I've been in a whirlwind, roller coaster ride, anything else that represents chaos with a calming end. To ease back into things, why not start with a simple salad. I made this for my wife's lunch for the week. I had her taste it and it was love at first bite. hope you find it to be as enjoyable as she did. cheers!

Chicken Tinola

This is one of the dishes my Nanay and Mom made. As a kid, I remember being extremely happy and excited when I smelled or heard the word Tinola. I'm proud to say that I still get that feeling, even though i'm the one making it. It's an easy dish, using only 5 ingredients, but when you taste it, that's hard to believe. This is a Filipino dish and depending on the region, there are different ways to make it. Not sure which region this would be a part of so I would call this the Daisy Tinola, after my Mom. Who, no matter what, still makes it the best.

Final Product....let's begin.

The Pork Shall Rise Again!

This is dish is something I usually do with cuts of meat that are boneless. In this case, it's a thick cut of pork loin. It's super easy to make and comes in handy when you need a hearty dinner on a busy week night. You can also substitute chicken or beef for the recipe. it's all good! Another example of "simple can be delicious".

Ketchup Beef...seriously

We are far from April 1st, this is no joke! Ketchup Beef is delicious. My Nanay made this dish when I was 15 and it is easily one of the dishes that got me into cooking. We recently had a Christmas party at work and I made this along with Caldereta. I wasn't sure how people would receive it so I made two dishes, just in case one didn't work out. I didn't tell people it was ketchup beef, the sound might have prevented them from tasting it. Instead, I watched both dishes side by side and within 15 minutes, the Ketchup Beef was gone! GONE! I was elated to see it go but then I started to wonder why it was so popular. I know it's tasty but how can something as simple as Ketchup become so savory? How can the red stuff that comes free in almost every fast food restaurant make a dish taste so good? After a while, I broke down the ingredients in my head and realized that Ketchup may sound like a weird ingredient but I came to the conclusion that Ketchup is just one big short-cut and by using it, it turned this dish into a 4 ingredient recipe. and with that being said...here it is!

And so it begins

Hello there! I have this problem where I snack when I'm bored, and with this blog...things won't change, I'll just write about it afterwards. My name is Elmar. I was born in the Philippines, grew up in Guam, became a teenager in California and now I'm pretending to be a grown up in Michigan..so far I have them fooled...I'm not a professional Chef but I believe if what you cook tastes good, you're almost there. I also believe that in food and cooking, passion outweighs technicality. I'm not saying that food will taste good because you really want it to, but if you love it enough and keep at it, eventually it will get there. I know the proper way to cook Fried Chicken but I prefer the way my nanay (grandmother) made it. Her version is THE version and anything else is trying too hard. That's how I approach food...

I'm excited to get this thing going, Merry Christmas!