Pork Afritada
This Filipino dish is somewhat similar to caldereta, mechado and menudo recipe that are tomato sauce based stews which I believe was introduced by the Spaniards in the Philippines.
This Filipino dish is somewhat similar to caldereta, mechado and menudo recipe that are tomato sauce based stews which I believe was introduced by the Spaniards in the Philippines.
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup water
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- vegetable oil
- 1 onion sliced
- 1 green bell pepper sliced
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 1 lb. pork cut into serving pieces
- 1 tablespoons patis (fish sauce)
- 4 potatoes peeled and quartered
- 1 red bell pepper sliced
- 2 tablespoons fine bread crumbs or flour or cornstarch to thicken
- Carbohydrate 63.2222258776221 g
- Cholesterol 77.1107029 mg
- Fat 71.6315963732506 g
- Fiber 9.91063655657815 g
- Protein 18.8291320233395 g
- Saturated Fat 25.8356076793844 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (703g)
- Sodium 6685.34101003514 mg
- Sugar 53.311589321044 g
- Trans Fat 3.60369939253047 g
- Calories 961 calories
Step-by-step
- Put pork in a bowl and season with salt & pepper. Let stand for 10 to 20 minutes.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir fry pork pieces until no longer pink and turn lightly brown.
- Add and saute garlic until fragrant. Stir in onion until soft and translucent. Season with Patis, then add potatoes. Stir fry for a few minutes.
- Pour in water and tomato sauce, bring to boil, then lower heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add in bell peppers and stir to blend. Correct seasonings if you wish. Thicken sauce with breadcrumbs (or flour, cornstarch). Simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and serve hot over rice.
Salt Penetration and Resting
Allowing the cubed pork to sit with salt and pepper for ten to twenty minutes achieves more than surface seasoning. Osmosis draws initial moisture outward, dissolving the salt on the meat's exterior before capillary action pulls those dissolved ions back inside. Skipping this rest leaves the interior entirely unseasoned regardless of how much salt coats the outside. When scaling this recipe upward for a larger group, maintain the ratio of one teaspoon of salt per pound of protein. Doubling the meat without increasing the resting window will result in uneven flavor distribution throughout the skillet.
Scaling and Liquid Ratios
Adjusting portion sizes in a braising environment requires precise liquid management. Doubling the ingredient quantities does not mean doubling the water or tomato sauce linearly. Liquids concentrate at different rates depending on the surface area of your cooking vessel. If you scale the recipe from four servings to eight, use a wider skillet rather than a deeper one to ensure the bell peppers and potatoes cook evenly without turning the sauce watery. Starches like breadcrumbs, flour, or cornstarch absorb excess moisture at the end, but they cannot fix an over-diluted braise that boiled down too quickly.
Visual Doneness Cues
Judging pork doneness in a tomato-based stew relies entirely on visual and textural inspections rather than probing internal temperatures. The pork pieces are ready for the liquid phase when their exterior surfaces show light browning and no pink remains. Potatoes signal the final stage of cooking when a fork pierces the center of a quartered chunk with zero resistance. If the starch offers any firm core resistance, extend the simmer by five-minute increments while monitoring the liquid level to prevent scorching at the bottom of the pan.
