Home-made Chicken Tocino

Even since I stopped eating pork and beef, I have missed certain dishes that are so delicious and yet I have to tell myself it is part of my sacrifies for eating healthy. I would eat chicken dishes occasionally, but I still miss pork and beef dishes. But then I thought, wait, it is the flavor that I miss, and not the meat. And so that is one of the reasons why I experiment on food. For example, I love embotido (meatloaf) and lumpiang shanghai, so I used ground turkey instead of ground pork. That way, I don't have to 'sacrifies' as much. Healthy eating and healthy lifestyle should be fun and enjoyable.

One dish that we Filipinos can't live without is tocino. Tocino is  'bacon' in Spanish. Pork belly is typically used. We eat tocino for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We combine it with sunny side up egg and fried rice (tocilog). And of course don't forget the spicy vinegar as dipping sauce. Some prefers sliced tomatoes instead of vinegar. So yummy!! But to tell the truth,.I haven't eaten tocino in years! Imagine! I really miss the sweet taste of tocino in contrast to the spicy and sour taste of vinegar. This is when I thought of making chicken tocino.

Chicken tocino is not readily available in Asian and Filipino market. So I thought of making one myself. Making your own tocino is ideal because you won't be using preservatives and other chemicals they use in tocino. It is very easy to do, only takes less than 30 minutes to prepare.

First you would need skinless and boneless chicken legs (drumsticks). Sometimes stores don't have skinless and boneless one, and if they do, the price is doubled. Unless you prefer chicken breast so you wouldn't have to skin and de-bone. But in my opinion, drumsticks or thigh is better for tocino making.

So I bought 2 lbs of chicken legs. Now the challenge is how to skin and de-bone it. After a few tries, I was able to do it. Happy that I learned something new today. First, you need to cut the skin lengthwise towards the tip of the drumstick. This way, you could easily peel off the skin. Next find the area where the muscles (meat) are seperated. Cut through it to totally separate the meat. Using scissors, detach it from the bone. So easy to do. We now have skinless and boneless chicken legs.

But wait.... don't throw the skin and bone! You could make a chicken stock out of it by boiling it with 2 cups water!

After a few research and a few trials, I came up with my own version of chicken tocino. Below is my recipe which I'm happy to share with you.

Ingredients

2      lbs        chicken legs, skinless and deboned
1      cup       pineapple juice
1.      tbsp.    achuete oil
1/2   cup       brown sugar
1      tbsp      salt
1/2    tbsp      pepper
4      cloves  garlic, minced
2      pcs        star anise
2      pcs        bayleaf

Mix all.the ingredients. Marinate overnight.

Fry in pan with vegetable oil. Enjoy your tocino!!