New Discovery: Chicken Tocino

gdenby

Sorry, no pics, didn't know if the cook would turn out well, and it turned out so well, the food vanished.

Any rate... Came across a mention of a Filipino recipe for Chicken Tocino. It a sort of quick, sweet cure adapted from making a kind of bacon. There are many variations, the simplest of which is a blend of pineapple juice, soy sauce and lemon-lime soda.

I made up a blend that skipped the soda in favor of some real lemon and lime juice, along w. annatto powder, brown sugar, garlic, black pepper and ginger. Some recipes call for as little as a 1/2 hour soak for slices of chicken breast. I went for 24 hours, and used boneless thighs. Typically the pieces a fried, but I did a 400-ish quick raised direct cook. There was a vague bacon taste, but more savory than salty.

I'll mess w. mixes, curing time and such, but it worked out well. Also did fry some in the fat rendered from cleaning the chicken, and that was good too.

Something you might like to try as a bacon variation. I think I'll also try it on turkey.

blind99

Thanks for the idea - that sounds delicious!

gdenby

My wife and I were both pleasantly surprised. Not quite like any chicken I've ever made.

Legume

Sounds good, but wasn't there a big fight on here a month or two ago about Tocino? Same thing?

gdenby

If there was a fight, I didn't happen on the thread.

According to what I read, tocino is just generic Spanish for bacon. In Spain, its cured fat back, no meat. There are different varieties in various countries which were Spanish colonies. The chicken tocino appears to be going off in another direction. Generally sweeter. A few of the recipes also called for banana ketchup. I found some at a store, but was not quite ready to take that big a step outside of familiar foods.