Barbecue: How to Make Filipino-Style Barbecue

Filipino-style barbecue is a popular street food in the Philippines and an everyday centrepiece for parties and special gatherings.

Commonly peddled on makeshift grill carts at street corners, these delicious pork skewers are widely appreciated as a slice of meat with large rice portions or as portable appetizers to accompany cold beer.

Every Filipino cook or household has its versions of barbecue pork, like most mainstream dishes. While most Filipino pork barbecue recipes use lemon juice and it appears to be healthy, most Filipinos use vinegar instead to help tenderize the meat.

FILIPINO-STYLE BARBECUE

  • Author: Romae Chanice Marquez
  • Recipe Category: Snack/Appetizer/Main Dish
  • Cuisine: Filipino

Barbecue in the Filipino style is typically enjoyed as an appetizer for snacks or parties. It’s famous street food, usually served with a side of dipping vinegar sauce, as well as a “pulutan”, or side dish with hard drinks. The whole preparation and cooking time is around 9 hours. This recipe serves at least 20 people. 

Filipino-Style Barbecue

The Filipino-Style Barbecue is usually paired with white rice. Photo credits to: @findyourhappyplate.

Filipino-Style Barbecue Ingredients

  • 6 pounds of pork, sliced to 2-inch wide and 1/2-inch thick pieces
  • 3 cups of 7-up, or any soft drink
  • 2 cups of soy sauce
  • 2 cups of vinegar
  • 2 cups of oyster sauce
  • 3 cups of brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of ground black pepper
  • 1 and 1/2 cups of garlic, peeled and minced
  • 12 Thai chilli peppers (siling labuyo), minced
  • 2 cups of banana ketchup
  • 1/2 a cup of sesame oil

For the dip,

  • 1 cup of white vinegar
  • 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1 and 1/2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
  • 3 Thai chilli peppers, chopped
  • 1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt

Filipino-Style Barbecue Instructions

Step 1: Rinse the strips of pork and drain well. Pat dry. Combine soft drink, soy sauce, vinegar, sauce of oyster, brown sugar, garlic, black pepper, and chilli peppers in a large bowl.

Step 2: To be fully incorporated, add pork and massage food. Marinate and transform meat once or twice. For best results, put in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. Place 2-3 slices of pork on each skewer.

Step 3: Combine the remaining cup of oyster sauce, banana ketchup, and sesame oil in a pan. Set aside. Grill the meat kebabs about 2 to 3 minutes each side over hot coals.

Step 4: When pork loses its colour, baste with a combination of oyster sauce-ketchup. Keep grilling and basting until meat is cooked through, turning on sides. Remove from heat and serve as is or in a sweet dip of vinegar.

Step 5: For the dip, combine vinegar, garlic, onion, chilli peppers, ground pepper, and salt in a bowl.

Filipino-Style Barbecue Additional Information

  • Per serving has Calories of 175,  Carbohydrates: 19g, Protein: 12g, Fat: 5g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 33mg, Sodium: 912mg. 
  • Soak the bamboo skewers in water for at least 30 minutes before skewing the meat to prevent burning during grilling.
  • Drain well and pat dry the sliced pork, so the excess fluid will not dilute the marinade.
  • For this recipe, remove the marinade and make a fresh batch of basting sauce for food safety. To can the marinade and remove any bacteria from the raw meat, bring to a boil for a good 10 to 15 minutes. 
  • This recipe serves at least 20 people.
  • Cook/prep time is around 9 hours.

About Filipino-Style Barbecue Recipe

The term barbecue comes from a Caribbean Indian tribe’s language called the Taino. Their term on an elevated wooden grate for grilling is barbacoa. According to Planet Barbecue, the name was first printed in a Spanish explorer’s account of the West Indies in 1526.

Since then, the term, as well as the traditional recipe, have spread like wildfire.

Conclusion

The Filipino-Style Barbecue is already a combination of influences from all around the world. However, it stays as one of the most famous dishes in the Philippines during celebrations because of its simplicity and ability to go well with other food. 

For more Filipino dishes, click here for more information.

Featured Image: https://lolakusinera.com/pork-inasal/ / Image 1, https://www.seriouseats.com/2012/06/grilling-tocino-filipino-style-pork.html / Image 2