I'm not sure what it actually is, but I do know that it looks like meat wrapped in cheese wrapped in meat. Yum!

It’s a crispy pork leg. We boiled it then let it cool and air dry then have it double fry 😁

That is the foreleg (the two front legs) of the pig up to the "shoulder". It is boiled in aromatics (garlic, ginger, onions, peppercorns, bay leaves), water, and vinegar (to neutralize the porky smell) until it is fork-tender. Then it is air-dried for hours before it is deep-fried. You eat that with a dip made from soy sauce, garlic, onions, chilis, sugar, and vinegar. The dip helps to cut through the unctuousness of the pork.

That, Lechon Kawali, and Pork Barbecue are the only 3 pork dishes I really like. The rest are okay to meh for me.

Lechin kawali + kare kare sauce is ❤️

Kare Kare sauce (aka the savory Peanut sauce) is easy to make. I take a few cups of the stock I boiled the meat in and reduce it before adding smooth Peanut Butter and toasted ground rice. You get a fuller-tasting sauce than if you just used a bouillon cube.

Porky smell , and unctuous ness, two reasons I only eat the heavily flavoured bacon only .

Properly made Lechon Kawali and Crispy Pata barely have the porky taste. That’s precisely why I like them. The spicy vinegar dip really works to cut that fatty mouth feel.

True. Personally, I usually use both the kaldo or boiling broth *and* a broth cube, and both peanut butter (Right now I have some Lily's) *and* a kare-kare mix because that has the toasted ground rice and the annato color but the peanut flavor isn't quite enough. I think the annato is pretty important for the color of the kare-kare though, if I didn't have mix I'd probably use annato powder as well for that.

I hope it's not just the sauce in OP's "Crispy kare-kare" (Sidenote: Isn't it funny that it became kind of trendy to make a "Crispy" version of something and it just means it's Lechon Kawali in the respective sauce.) but also the vegetables.

Have you tried Paksiw na Pata, Batangas Style? Not the kind that's kind of like humba. The recipes online seem to be missing banana blossoms, if you ever want to try it.

I like to make a patismansi dipping sauce plus the siling haba you cook with the paksiw. It might already be sour but I think the calamansi in the sauce adds a different fresh tang to the experience.

Yes I've tried it. I make Humba with Banana Blossoms (though I'm not a fan) and after I shut off the heat I add a couple of cans of Quail Eggs.

You can also make Paksiw na Pata using Pork Belly (and Pork Butt/Shoulder if you want more meat in it). I just broil it until the exterior is dark brown and then simmer it in water, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, garlic, onions, ginger (optional), peppercorns, and bay leaves. You can do it like the way they make Turon and fry it in oil with sugar instead of broiling it to give it color before simmering in that mixture.

I can't seem to find any Annatto powder anywhere (except on Amazon) and I much prefer that to the seeds since they work well when I make Longganisa and Tocino.

I prefer Beef Kare-Kare myself since I'm not a big Pork fan. Use the Beef ribs and shank with plenty of vegetables and Bagoong.

Just to be clear, I meant the kind that doesn't have soy sauce or sugar.

In Batangas, Paksiw na pata is made kind of like how one would make a paksiw na bangus or isda but with no eggplant or ginger, though I guess ginger can be optional.

I like to rinse the banana blossoms first because I feel like the fine powder surrounding adds some sort of bitterness, but I suppose banana blossoms are optional altogether.

I do sometimes make humba out of pork shoulder instead of pata, I usually have tausi and I add whole heads of garlic so I have some braised garlic as well that I can squeeze nice whole delicious cloves out of. I like to eat it with scrambled eggs, though hardboiled eggs are good, too.

Obviously the paksiw with soy sauce or humba, I don't eat with patismansi.

Oooohhhh I've never had THAT. Now, I must have it.

I suggested it because you did say you like crispy pata and you like the vinegar dip.

Batangas Style Paksiw na Pata is basically just doing the pork boiling step (same spices, basically) but with siling haba, optional banana blossoms, and with vinegar in the broth.

The pata is usually not whole. Sometimes when I make paksiw na pata, before I put more vinegar in, I set a slice or two aside to make into a sort of mini-crispy pata slice. It's not quite the same but it's close enough.

The broth gets quite sticky, as you might imagine.

Dammit, my mouth just involuntarily watered thinking about that.

Yes, I think beef kare-kare is the standard version, especially oxtail and oxtripe, but certainly only using ribs or shank would be very good, too.

I think you can sometimes find annatto powder or achiote paste in the Hispanic or Mexican spice section of supermarkets. Maybe you have a Mexican market near you if not a Filipino one. I mention this since you seem to not be in the Philippines.

I have plenty of Asian markets and I can get Annatto seeds easily, but the powder is difficult to come by. If I really want to bring out the redness in my Tocino or Longganisa, I can go through a 500 g container of Annatto powder very quickly.

Dammit, I'm hungry now and it is only 15:25 where I am.

Yeah, me too. I think I'll plan it for next time I go buy groceries.

You can skip the dried banana blossoms if you don't like them, especially since outside the Philippines I think the alternative you can usually find in Asian stores is dried lily buds which I think you definitely should rinse. But it's really not necessary. But definitely have whatever you use for siling haba cooking in there to add to your dipping sauce later on.

Have you tried checking the Hispanic or Mexican section of the regular supermarket or their markets? They use achiote powder, too. You may need to make sure you don't get one that's mixed with coriander or other spices.

I don't know what they call "siling haba" here. I've been wanting to get some to make my version of Dynamite Spring Rolls (I use longganisa meat instead of just regular minced pork) and multiple types of cheese.

Yes, and they have the seeds, not the powder. I'll just order it from Amazon or look for it in the US during a cross-border shopping trip.

I think I used to substitute a smaller Serrano (because I remember they can get quite big.) I think they might be spicier.

I've seen people use jalapeños for dynamite, though it's quite a girthy dynamite.

I was considering using Korean peppers but I don't know what their heat levels are. I want spicy but not painful levels of hotness.

According to Wikipedia, siling haba is 50,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) while Korean chili peppers are 1,500 SHU unless it's specifically a Chyeongyang chili pepper which is 10,000 SHU. I don't know if siling haba is quite that spicy since Serrano is supposedly 25,000-50,000 and I thought that was spicier than siling haba, so I think if it's a Chyeongyang chili pepper, you should go use that. 10,000 is only slightly spicier than a jalapeño (4,000-8,500 SHU).

This gives me sinister Lumpia ideas using Sichuan peppercorns and Cheongyang peppers.