Unfortunately I had similar experiences indeed and don't know what to do about it. Bought pork and it was delicious. Bought it again a few days later from the same vendor and it was crap. That was about to happen several times. I don't have any solution. It's just buying, cooking, praying.
I'm also not a fan of many Filipino dishes, Sinigang, my wife's fried chicken and chicken halang, halang being favorites. Grilled pork chops and I'll go with tomatoes, onion and okra in some foil is my standard. Shawn
A few things can be done with this, with a Pork Chop this can be tenderised using a meat hammer, or they can be braised for a long time, (cooked in a small mount of water over a long period) or they can be marinated in pineapple juice this must be done with care and for no longer than 30mins or they start to go mushy. I'm guessing meat there does not get Hung for any reasonable time often killed and grilled the same day, also it is likely fresh meat there has been stored at room temp for far too long and has to be used ASAP after being bought?
Belly pork......had an evening meal at a friends house Tuesday night. The meat was tender and when I asked what part of the pig to my surprise he said Belly pork! My past experienes with belly pork is mixed, sometimes as tough as leather or totally cremated or unchewable. Apparently the method used was to gently simmer in water before being placed in the oven to crisp up the crackling with no noticeable fat on the slim pieces of meat it melted in the mouth. Will try to achieve the same results next time, I usually never buy belly pork, because its just as expensive as lean pork chops..
I fully agree. Marinating the meat as your liking definitely would be definitely a good idea. We are doing that mostly when we are making bbq. Schashlik for instance, and it is delicious. Unfortunately I have to agree as well what you are stating in terms of the slaughtering methods and temperatures during transport and storage. Pigs get killed not in the way we know it from western countries and the whole procedure creates a lot of which results in an extremely high hormone output. And this causes hard and tough meet. In my experience the best way to handle it is to cook low and slow. A nice stew or goulash is much easier to prepare than a steak dinner or bbq. Anyhow we will not starve in the Philippines. Almost everything is available and if you are able to help yoursel you can enjoy lovely food. This might not be the case if you prefer to spend 120 Pesos at an eatery. Maybe you get disappointed.
Well, different people have different tastes. From my point of view there is nothing wrong with pork belly. We cook it low and slow on a bed of potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, bell pepper, onions and, if available, leek. Give it some time, the fat of the belly will melt and creates a wonderful sauce. Shortly before serving you add some tomato paste and if you like some red wine. I love it. I'll have it with a dark beer, cerveza negra from San Miguel, or a good glass of red wine. Life is great !!!
Carrots, potatoes and onions, I do wonder about the price of them there in PH, I remember this being mentioned here on DI last year and onions being priced at 10 times of that in the UK, I can buy a Kilo of Carrots here in UK for 60P=P40 it is even less than that if you are OK with misshaped ones and you can get 1.5kg for this same price, onions and potatoes being at a similar price, I'm giving Aldi prices, however even the higher priced Supermarkets here keep the prices of these 3 items as low as possible, sometimes they are sold as a Loss Leader to attract customers. 25yrs ago I would do a weeks food shop for my family of 4 for less than £100, today by working smarter I could do that same shop and not be spending much more than this, for example cutting out Heinz brands can be a big saving, a tin of their baked beans is around P100 and yet in Aldi you can have 4 tins of their own brand for that same price and by adding a squirt of tomato puree to them they are as good as it gets, mind you working family's are unlikely to have much time for this? it used to annoy me when I was working you tend to shop at weekends and all the old Fecking coffin dodgers would also be there blocking the aisles, they should ban these cupid auld stunts on the weekends, the same should be applied these disabled Feckers they get all the good parking spaces and the working folk have to haul a full trolley of shopping half way over the parking area, naw easy when it is P!shing Doon wi Rain as often happens here in Scotland. Now eating out here is a different kettle of different fish, the price of this must be around 400% more than it was 25yrs ago? perhaps fast take away food is killing them?
Prices for basic food like rice and vegetables did increase massively in the Philippines during the last 3 or 4 years, as well as prices for most of the other goods you need for daily life. In Europe, at least in Germany, prices dud increase as well but you can still buy the basics for an affordable price. Aldi is a very good example. Although they increased certain procucts massively it's still possible to get your shopping cart filled with what you need for a week. Beeing a 6/6 expat generally speaking meanwhile I spend the same amount for food and daily needs in Germany than I do in the Philippines. No difference at all anymore. That was different a few years back. I do not confirm that life in general is cheap in the Philippines. Not anymore. There are good reasons to live here, but if your main goal is to have a much cheaper life than in western places you should better look out for another place. Generally speaking. I am not pointing to you, Dave.
