This is an updated version of a recipe originally published in 2006.
The name of the dish sounds Spanish but, surprisingly, it is also a staple in most Chinese restaurants in the Philippines. I’m pretty sure that the Chinese don’t call their version of this pork dish asado. It’s more probable that Filipinized Chinese used the term asado to refer to a Chinese pork dish that has a similar sweet-salty flavor. Of course, I’m guessing…
Filipino asado is a slab of pork braised uncut in a sweet-salty liquid, cooled and sliced, then served with the thickened braising liquid. The Chinese asado — at least, in Chinese restaurants in the Philippines — is roast marinated pork loin, sliced thinly and served as an appetizer, usually as part of an assorted cold meat dish.
In a comment thread in another post in some other part of this blog, there is a comment about how this dish could not be an asado because “asado” is derived from the Spanish word “asar” which means to roast, broil or barbecue. I forget in which post the comment was made although I am sure it is there somewhere because I always remember the really annoying comments. The person who posted the comment is not a Filipino. The thing about asado being derived from the Spanish word “asar” is correct but it is stupid to tell a population to call a dish something else because its name is grammatically incorrect in the context of another culture and language. It’s like saying that there is one universal definition for “asar” which would, again, be pretty stupid as there are, at the very least, five other meanings of “asar”:
1. A 19th century transcription of the name Osiris, an Ancient Egyptian deity of the underworld and resurrection
2. Asar, a horse-god revered in ancient Palmyra, possibly of Arabian origin
3. Asar, Aligudarz, a village in Aligudarz County, Lorestan Province, Iran
4. Asar Party, a former Kazakhstani political party
5. ASAR (Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar) instrument aboard the European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite
In the Filipino language, “asar” means annoyingly irritating or irritatingly annoying, whichever you prefer although both definitions are correct. And that person who said that Filipino asado cannot be asado is really beyond annoying and irritating.
So, again, Filipino asado is basically a braised dish, period.
Recipe: Pork asado with stir-fried kangkong
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 tbsps. of cooking oil
- a 1 to 1.5 kg. piece of roasting pork (belly, shoulder or loin), preferably with a thin layer of fat on one side
- 1/2 to 3/4 c. of dark soy sauce, depending on the saltiness of your brand of soy sauce or whether you’re using light or dark soy sauce
- 2 pcs. of star anise
- 2 laurel leaves
- 12 peppercorns
- 4-6 tbsps. of sugar
- 1 whole garlic
- 1 whole onion
- 1 tsp. of hoisin sauce
- water
- 2-3 tbsps. of tapioca or corn starch
- 1/2 tsp. of sesame seed oil
Instructions
- Prick the meat with a fork in several places.
- Heat the cooking oil in a large heavy pan. Lightly brown the pork, rolling it in hot oil to brown all sides evenly. Pour enough water to reach about half the height of the pork. Pour in the soy sauce and add the rest of the ingredients. What you’re looking for is an agreeable balance between the saltiness of the soy sauce and the sweetness of the sugar. So, use more or less of either ingredient to suit your taste. Bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer the pork, fat side up, for an hour to an hour and a half, depending on its thickness. Flip the pork halfway through the cooking time.
- Lift the pork out of the liquid, place on a plate and cool to room temperature, Cut into 1/4 inch slices and arrange on a serving platter.
- Strain the braising liquid. Reheat. Dissolve the starch in 1/8 cup of water. Pour into the braising liquid and cook, stirring, until thickened. Stir in the hoisin sauce and sesame seed oil, and stir well to blend.
- Pour the sauce over the sliced pork and serve.
Quick notes
If you want to dress up the everyday pork asado dish to serve for a special occasion like a Christmas party, arrange the pork slices on one side of the platter and fill the other half with some greens like stir-fried kangkong (water / swamp spinach) with oyster sauce.
To make the stir-fried kangkong with oyster sauce, cut one to two bunches kangkong into two-inch lengths. Stir fry in a couple of tablespoonfuls of very hot oil until just wilted, season with a little salt and pepper, add a couple of tablespoonfuls of oyster sauce and stir to blend.
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
Cooking time: 1 hour(s) 45 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 6
hello there! can u pls. share the complete ingredients and how to cook this so called pork asado?
keep it up
alam mo sassy cook itong asado na to may it be pork or chicken.. I have not ventured my experiments on this level yet.
star aniseed ha? did not think about this being used to pinoy cooking
Eden, there’s a link to page 2. It’s all there.
We call it sanque, actually, Sha. Come to think of it, I don’t know of any other recipe that uses star anise except asado and its variations.
hi ms. connie, pork asado is called cha – siu
in China, it one of our favorites there aside from their duck and chow fan ( yong chow in Hong kong )
about where to use sanke, we put sanke and cinammon bark in our pata tim. oh just 1 piece of each as it is very strong in flavor.
thanks ms. connie
Actually, Pinoy asado is based on char siu pork. But they are not exactly the same. In fact, asado is more like char siu plus hoisin sauce and cornstarch solution that is used as siopao filling.
Star anise is also used in cooking pata tim
If you check the thread, Sha was referring to Pinoy cooking. Pata tim isn’t Pinoy but Chinese.
I saw Delia (Smith) cook something like this which she says she learnt in Japan. I bought the star anise but never got to use it as I forgot the recipe!!! Buset na busy life.
Anyway salamat at nagpost ka hehehe Hindi ko alam asado pala tawag dun!
Hi sassy,
The meat is miticulously cut “hating kapatid”.
Just to let you know that asado could also be Portuguese! we write it with double s – assado.
regards
from Portugal
LOL Auee, time to buy star anise again?
Relly, I’m meticulous in that way, actually. I like equality.
Maria, thanks for that info.
Sassy, like all the recipes I got here, the asado was perfect!
I’m really really happy hehehe
Nandaya nga lang ako, I didn’t have hoisin sauce, I made do without it. Instead nilagyan ko ng sesame oil para mas aromatic.
My hubby says “parang sa siopao”, it was meant to be a compliment.
Great, Auee! Before I discovered hoisin sauce, I made do without it too.
Pardon my poor English because we do not speak it in my country. I believe you can understand too. I plan to travel Asia and maybe the Philippines so i look for information on the Internet. Now I know what food to try in the Philippines because of good information in your page. I be sure not to order food with the Spanish names because of many strange surprises.
hello there…i just want to ask where can i buy the star anise? Thank you.
Yeah, Luis, because Spanish dishes have been Filipinized over the centuries. It’s the Philippines, after all, and our native produce are not the same as those of Spain.
Vham, at the supermarket, dried spices section. You’ll also find star anise in most vegetable stalls in wet markets.
Thanks Connie! More power on your website..This would be a great help for me once i followed my husband in U.K. to cook for him:) God bless!
Hi,
This was my favorite dish when I was in college in the University Belt. Thank you so much for the recipe as I can cook this myself now here in Britain. Again, thanks for this brilliant website. Mabuhay!!!
I purchased a slab of porkchops about 12 inches long (the pork loins with the bone still intack) last week intending to use it for noche buena but failed to find a recipe which calls for this cut of meat. All recipes I found calls for the loins. Coul’d I use it for this ASADO recipe?
…Maybe you could suggest a recipe that uses this particular cut of meat.
THANKS so much!!!
Renato, you can use it for asado. Or you may try the humba recipe.
Im actually looking for chicken asado which Im planning to cook as one of our main dish in our town fiesta, but alas i found this pork asado. Oh well i just use the same ings. and use chicken instea. Thank for ur help. Can i invite u in our fiesta. Hehehe!
I did it!! It was the first time I used star anise
and the 1st time I cooked pork asado. It was a
success.The sauce was so gooood to put on top
of a hot,steaming rice.
Thanks…pic coming up
LOL Great!
Hi po. I was wondering kung pwede gumamit ng pata slice instead of the usual shoulder or sirloin?
Why not?
Hi, Miss Connie. I was just trawling around your site looking for a pork recipe for Easter lunch/dinner. Will try this asado recipe out, but I’m thinking of making it in a slow cooker. Should turn out great! And… now, I’ve just made myself hungry. LOL.
My husband was suddenly reminded of his mother’s asado. I want to cook the dish for him. Will try your recipe. Thanks.
Hi..bloghopping here! i like your recipes. i’d be following your site..happy cooking!
isn’t 3/4 c. of dark soy sauce a bit too much??
Did you cluck on the “please read…” link above the comment box? You should, you know.
i love this type of asado. in my province, asado is different – it is similar to menudo but without the liver and has fresh tomatoes as well as tomato sauce.
Yah, I seen recipes of Filipino asado with chopped tomatoes. Must try it one of these days.
ohh i remember this dish served at the Dainty Cafe in Baguio. We used to always go there during our stay in the city of pines back in the 70′s this is not only a delish dish to make, but quite nostalgic too. I will surprise my husband this Christmas and make it for him..it should bring back sweet memories
thanks for this recipe, it reminds me of my nanay & tio menong ??? I LOVE IT
ahahha natawa ako dito “beyond annoying and irritating!”
this looks amazing, nakakagutom as always. eto na rin yata magiging dinner namin mamaya.
Char Siu is Cantonese for “roasted.” so Asado is an acceptable translation into Spanish. But again, Pinoy cooks have modified the dish to suit their taste.
Hi Ms Connie,
I’ve read this recipe before this update and I’m now taking this chance to thank you for it. As a muslim, I do not eat pork so what I did is to substitute beef shanks for the pork… the result is soooo good,, Im continously bothered with requests to cook this again (and again), Now I always search/read your blog for other ‘pork’ recipes I could use to cook beef or chicken..
Thank you for sharing and more blessings for you and your family.
Ooooh, it is good to know that beef tastes good with the sauce too. Thanks for the feedback.
Ms. Connie:
I’m looking for something to do with my piece of pork that will be festive and something close to a ham – as my husband is missing the Phil ham for Christmas. I thinking this will do it hopefully, my mother-in-law’s ham recipe is quite ambitious for me to follow (it requires salitre, which I don’t think is available here in KL & requires smoking..which I have no clue how to do LOL).
Anyway, do you think this one is possible to do in a pressure cooker to shorten the cooking time and ensure that the meat is tender?
Yes it’s possible if the uncut pork can fit in your pressure cooker.
Personally, however, I’d recommend the Pork Hamonado which tastes and looks more ham-like than the asado.
@Connie Veneracion oh yes thanks!found your pork hamonado recipe
I’d have to collect the pork I ordered earlier then my oven here is an electric oven though hope i get the same quality merry christmas!
Electric oven is better in my experience.
this is another great recipe. I followed your recipe, but I cooked mine on low fire for a bit longer. I think i overdid it, because the pork just started to fall apart. lol. but it still tasted yummy. Thank you for sharing us your recipes
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